Eridanos was one of the rivers that irrigated the Athenian basin since prehistory together with Ilissos and Kifissos. Its violent flux and (unstable) route through the centre of the densely populated city were the main reasons that led to its (subterranean in parts) canalization in different periods, since antiquity. Major intervention was its mud-brick vault covering, in Hadrian’s time (2nd c. AD) and its conversion to a sewer.
Today, it is one of the city’s invisible natural elements, almost unknown to the Athenians, and only indicated through subtle signs.
The article is a day’s route along Eridanos’ riverbed, describing τηε afore mentioned signs, the recently excavated remains in METRO stations (i.e. Syntagma Sq., Monastiraki) together with references drawn from the ancient writers and older excavations (i.e. in Kerameikos).
But to return to Eridanos: The rushing torrent is mentioned very sporadically in the ancient sources; their oligology may be due to the works to control its flow. A brief survey gives some recurrent mythological elements while the topographical information is minimal (see mainly Plato, Pausanias, Strabo). More information became known after the excavations for the Athens Metropolitan Railway in the early 90s.
In summary
Eridanos, the smallest of the three rivers of Athens but also the main axis of drainage for the centre of the city in all periods, had a continuous flow, often changed its course and flooded during heavy rains as it received water from the Acropolis, the Areopagus, the Pnyka and also from other small streams and torrents (fig.1). These data caused the Athenians to deal with the problem of controlling the riverbed over time at various points of its route (see below). The most important intervention was, of course, in the Roman period (2nd century AD), where the river was covered with a brick arch and turned into a closed sewer-culvert (fig.6).
Route
Dexameni Square 11.24 am
Bibliography maintains that Eridanos originates in the Southern foothills of Lycabettus (fig. 1), somewhere to the NW of Dexameni square. My search for the river traces among huge cars, parking lots and stray dogs, fruitless. The river's route to the Syntagma sq. is also problematic. The propylon of the Hadrian's Reservoir, which is partially preserved in the homonymous square, has no relation to the river, as is often considered; the water it collected came from Parnitha mountain. I descend towards the Syntagma sq.
Syntagma square 11.41 am
The metro's excavations brought to light important finds of various periods. This area, which was outside the walls of the city and until the years of Hadrian, was an idyllic location with abundant water; to the south (of the hill of Agios Athanasios or Agios Thomas, which existed until the construction of the Palace / Parliament in 1836) the Ilissos flowed while Eridanos passed under the contemporary Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This dictated the various uses of the area in the past, all related to water: the excavators - apart from the diachronically used byroad cemetery - found foundries of the 5th c. BC, a large late Roman complex with bathing facilities, parts of the Peisistrateion and the Roman aqueduct, the water network of the Ottoman Empire, but also one of the ancient Gymnasiums of Athens, the so-called Lyceum, associated with Aristotle.
The momentum the river gained while descending from Lycabettus was also registered in the excavations with the presence of small beds next to the central bed, while it should not be a coincidence that, later, the fountain located at the junction of Othonos & Amalias was called Boubounistra, due to the noise caused by the waters.
The central bed of Eridanos was revealed across Amalias Avenue, at the height of Othonos Street, in a width that, together with its banks, exceeds 50m. Part of it, and some illuminating drawings, can be seen in the METRO underground station of Syntagma (fig. 2).
From there, the river flowed (downhill) at the location of today's Othonos street (fig.3) and continued to Mitropoleos street. At the junction of Mitropoleos & Penteli streets, in front of the ancient gates of Diochares (Voulis & Apollonos), a marsh would have formed, known from inscriptions as "Telma tis Athenas", which was created by the drainage of the river's waters.
Walking towards Monastiraki, some nice models of the "Unification of the Archaeological Sites of Athens" come to mind, which in the pre-2004 Olympic newsletters predicted the emergence of Eridanos along the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens. Images without comments (fig.4).
Monastiraki 12.14 p.m.
While the river was almost cemented during the construction of the station in Monastiraki station, the 1st Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities and Attiko Metro S.A. undertook the enhancement of some remains at this point (fig.5). There, among others, one can see the late classical river bed as well as the two paths that defined the building line on either side. More legible is the Hadrian phase (2nd AD), in which - as mentioned - Eridanos is covered with a brick construction and turned into a sewer (fig. 6). If one mentally follows the course of the bricks, i.e. from the point where the river enters the wall (to head towards the ancient Agora) they will find that Eridanos is visible inside the lines of the electric railway; a sad concrete channel defines its course (fig. 7).
Adrianou Street (fig. 8)
A little further down, on Adrianou Street, next to the square of Agios Filippos, the American School of Classical Studies in Athens excavated part of Eridanos' riverbed (fig.9). Further down the street, I think I locate the drain from which Eridanos flows into Adrianou Street after heavy rainfall. I might be wrong. However, trying to avoid the drama that was playing out above the river that morning, I delayed the photo (fig.10) and entered the ancient Agora with a vague thought of the wet element: the tears and the river.
Market 12.37 p.m.
In the foothills of Adrianou Street on the side of the Acropolis, to the North and West of the ancient Agora, the ancient valley of Eridanos was located. The installation of the electric railway (in 1869) which cut the Agora in two is the second major project, which overwhelmingly altered the landscape; several centuries earlier (in the second half of the 6th century BC) the building program of the Peisistratids in the area provided for the filling up of the Eridanos valley and its submerging; the engineers of the time installed two underground channels through which the river would flow. There, they connected the Great Drain, which, crossing the Agora from North to South, carried the waste water of the buildings and water of the streams from the surrounding hills (fig.11).
The filling of the valley and the encasement of the river provided the (flat) ground for the formation of the Panathenaic Road at that point as well as important public buildings, such as the Stoa Basileios and the Stoa Poikile, a little later (fig.12).
The project, respecting the proportions, reminds a little of the decision to encase Ilissos in the period 1941-1954, which was inaugurated by Metaxas with the characteristic "Thaptomen ton Ilison" (We bury Ilissos); its place was taken by Michalakopoulou, Vasileos Konstantinou and Kallirois streets.
I leave the Agora and mentally follow the river in a zigzag path to Melidoni Street. From there and from the recently formed Ermou, one can observe the built riverbed as well as the river itself, which passes through the archaeological site of Kerameikos from SE to NW before disappearing below Piraeus street (fig.13).
Kerameikos 12.56 p.m.
Kerameikos, where the ground surface of the archaeological site is at the level of Classical period (3m. Lower than the level of the city), is the only point where one can observe Eridanos as a natural element of the city. Around it there is a very important ecosystem (fig.14).
In 478 BCE with the construction of the Themistocleian wall, the river bed was defined and built. Until then, Eridanos flowed through the great cemetery of the Athenians changing its course sometimes, defining the position of the burials for each period and creating a marsh in the west. Additions to the built bed exist from various periods (394 BCE, 307 BCE, 86 BCE) (fig. 13, 15).
Eridanos exited the city from a specially designed point North of the Sacred Gate and flowed between the burial monuments, almost parallel to the ancient Hiera Odos (Sacred Way) up to approximately today's Piraeus Street (fig.16). The river later moves south and joins the Ilisos flowing into the Faliriko Delta.
I am standing in front of the railings, which define Kerameikos to the North. A group of teenagers, a lady with her shopping bags, dozens of cars, hundreds of Athenians pass over the imaginary continuing course of Eridanos, oblivious. A landscape that changes, naturally or artificially, above and below ground. Aristotle was right: "You can never step into the same river twice."
However, the plane trees alongside Mitropoleos street, the deeper level of Kapnikarea church caused by the river's alluvium, Dörpfeld's testimonies about the uses of water for irrigation, washing and watermills at the end of the 19th century, the architectural remains at Monastiraki station, all indications of a fluid force that, despite the losses, still flows steadily, underground. Eridanos continues to exist silently under tons of cement and asphalt. The journey has almost reached its end. After all, it is different for everyone.
8/11/07
stelios.lekakis@monumenta.org
Bibliography - Ammerman, A.J., 1996. The Eridanos valley and the Athenian Agora, στο American Journal of Archaeology 100, 699-715.
- Dörpfeld, W., 1888. Der Eridanos στο ΑΜ 13, 211-220.
- Ζαχαριάδου, Ο., 2000. Σταθμός Σύνταγμα, στο Παρλαμά, Λ., Σταμπολίδης, Ν. (επιμ.), Η Πόλη κάτω από την Πόλη. Ευρήματα από τις ανασκαφές του Μητροπολιτικού Σιδηροδρόμου των Αθηνών. Αθήνα, 149-161.
- Lang, M., 1968. Waterworks in the Athenian Agora, ASCSA, Princeton.
- Knigge, U., 1990. Ο Κεραμεικός της Αθήνας. Ιστορία-Μνήμεια-Ανασκαφές. Αθήνα.
- Μπαζιωτοπούλου-Βαλαβάνη, Ε., Τσιριγώτη-Δρακωτού, Ι., 2000. Σταθμός Κεραμεικός, στο Παρλαμά, Λ., Σταμπολίδης, Ν. (επιμ.), Η Πόλη κάτω από την Πόλη. Ευρήματα από τις ανασκαφές του Μητροπολιτικού Σιδηροδρόμου των Αθηνών. Αθήνα, 264-275.
- Παρλαμά, Λ., Σταμπολίδης, Ν. (επιμ.), 2000. Η Πόλη κάτω από την Πόλη. Ευρήματα από τις ανασκαφές του Μητροπολιτικού Σιδηροδρόμου των Αθηνών. Αθήνα.
- Travlos, J., 1980. Pictorial dictionary of ancient Athens. New York.
- ΥΠ.ΠΟ, 2004. Ηριδανός, το ποτάμι της αρχαίας πόλης. Αθήνα.
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