Mount Pentelicus

“ There in the Parthenon are the sculptures of Phidias, and yonder in the temple of the Dioscuri, the paintings of Polygnotus,—ideal beauty bodied forth to lure the souls of men to unseen and eternal worlds. If they turn to the east, the isles of the Ægean look up to them like virgins who welcome happy lovers; to the west, Mount Pentelicus, from whose heart the architectural glory of the city has been carved, bids them think what patience will enable man's genius to accomplish ”

“ Of Mount Pentelicus, from whence the marble was dug that constructed the public edifices of Athens. The modern name is Mount Mendeli. An immense cave, formed by the quarries, still remains, and will till the end of time.
[Mendeli is the ancient Pentelicus. "The white lines marking the projecting veins" of marble are visible from Athens (Geography of Greece, by H.F. Tozer, 1873, p. 129) .] ”

“ When we look at a distant mountain it seems to be partly hidden by a peculiar haze that is the color of the sky at that time; we are really looking at the mountain through a portion of the sky. While in Athens I took a trip to the top of Mount Pentelicus, which separates the plains of Athens on the south from those of Marathon on the north. ”

“ The first Greek writer who applies the name of Pentelicus to this mountain is Pausanias; but as Strabo (ix. p. 399) speaks of Pentelic marble, we may infer with Leake that the celebrity of the marble quarried in the demus of Pentele, upon the side of Mt. Brilessus, had caused the name of Pentelicus to supplant that of the ancient Brilessus. The plain of Athens is bounded on the south-east by the lofty range of Mt. Hymettus, which is separated from that of Pentelicus by a depression about two miles in length. ”

“ The view from the top is the clearest and most comprehensive that can be obtained of the Attic peninsula. Conspicuous below us on the north is the sickle-shaped bay of Marathon. The snowy peak of Parnassus closes the prospect on the west; the mountains of Euboea bound it on the north; and to the south, in clear weather, the island of Melos is faintly visible at a distance of ninety to a hundred miles. On the ridge, a little below and to the south-east of the summit of Pentelicus, there is a small platform, which on three sides shows traces of having been hewn out of the rock. ”

“ Giles Fletcher, Christ’s Triumph over Death (1610) .
Pentheus (2 syl.) , a king of Thebes, resisted the introduction of the worship of Dyoni ́sos (Bacchus) into his kingdom, in consequence of which the Bacchantes pulled his palace to the ground, and Pentheus, driven from the throne, was torn to pieces on Mount Cithæron by his own mother and her two sisters.
He the fate [may sing]
Of sober Pentheus.
Akenside, Hymn to the Naiads (1767) .
Pentweazel (Alderman) , a rich city merchant of Blowbladder Street. He is wholly submissive to his wife, whom he always addresses as “Chuck.” ”

“ Some masses of more resistant or more favorably situated rocks are almost sure to maintain at least moderate heights above the general plain level. Geologically recently upraised, fairly well developed peneplains are southern New England and the great region of eastern Canada. The remarkably even sky lines of these regions mark the peneplain level before the uplift took place, and occasionally masses, called “monadnocks” from Mount Monadnock in southern New Hampshire, rise above the general level. ”

“ From this side, the view illimitably extended to the sides of the Pentelicus, the great white pile which overhangs Athens; across the sad-colored olive groves; the dusty plain; the gray sides of Hymettus, rounded like an old man's spine; and that beautiful Saronic Gulf, so blue that one might say that a strip had fallen from the sky. Assuredly, Mrs. Simons had not a mind turned to admiration, and yet, she confessed that the price for such a beautiful sight would be very high in London or Paris. ”

“ Thus, at the north end of the Pentland Hills the rocks are entirely of volcanic origin, and though, as we trace them southwards away from the centre of eruption, they diminish in thickness, they include hardly any interstratified sandstones and conglomerates until they finally begin to die out.
The distances to which the lavas and tuffs have been erupted from the chief vents of a district vary up to 15 or 20 miles. Those of the Pentland Hills extend from the Braid Hill vent for 10 miles to the south-west. Those of the Biggar centre stretch for about 16 miles to the north-east. ”

“ The strata of the summits cannot be discriminated at a distance. They are too near the laccolite in hardness to differ from it in the style of their sculpture.
Of the minor laccolites of the cluster there are three so closely joined to the chief that they merge topographically with the mountain. They are not well exposed for study. The smallest, which overlooks the pass between Mount Hillers and Mount Pennell (A, Figure 28) has probably lost the whole of its cover and with it so much of its substance that the original form and surface cannot be seen. Its floor is probably the Tununk sandstone. ”

“ He is fresh from his studies, and familiar with what books teach of the geography of Greece and the topography of Athens. He needs not to be informed which mountain-range is Parnes, and which Pentelicus,—which island is Salamis, and which Egina. Yet much of what he sees is a revelation to him. The mountains are higher, more varied, and more beautiful than he [Pg 81] had supposed, Lycabettus and the Acropolis more imposing, Pentelicus farther away, and the plain larger, the gulf narrower, and Egina nearer and more mountainous, than he had fancied. ”

“ The mountain-valley, which in later times bore the name of Thessaly, was bounded to the west by Pindus, to the south by Othrys, to the east by Pelion and Ossa, and to the north by Olympus, under which name the ancient writers, for example Herodotus, also include the chain which in after-times (probably from an Illyrian word) 63 was called the Cambunian mount. The course of the Peneus is so situated as to divide the open plain to the south, the ancient Pelasgic Argos, from the mountainous district to the north ”

“ Mount Pennell is nearly as smooth as Mount Ellen. Mount Ellsworth is nearly as rugged as Mount Holmes. One may ride to the crest of Mount Ellen and to the summit of Mount Pennell; he may lead his sure-footed cayuse to the top of Mount Hillers; but Mounts Ellsworth and Holmes are not to be scaled by horses. The mountaineer must climb to reach their summits, and for part of the way use hands as well as feet.
In a word, the ruggedness of the summits or the differentiation of hard and soft by sculpture, is proportioned inversely to the altitude. ”

“ Just as the pirates gained the foot of the rocks, which hid us for a moment from their view, we bent over the sea, and plunged down together head foremost. Peterkin behaved like a hero. He floated passively between us like a log of wood, and we passed the tunnel and rose into the cave in a shorter space of time than I had ever done it before.
Peterkin drew a long, deep breath on reaching the surface; and in a few seconds we were all standing on the ledge of rock in safety. Jack now searched for the tinder and torch, which always lay in the cave. ”

“ The marble quarry of Mount Pentilicus, from which the materials for the temples and principal edifices of Athens are supposed to have been brought, was, in those days, one of the regular staple curiosities of Greece. This quarry is a vast excavation in the side of the hill; a drapery of woodbine hangs like the festoons of a curtain over the entrance; the effect of which, seen from the outside, is really worth looking at, but not worth the trouble of riding three hours over a road of rude and rough fragments to see: the interior is like that of any other cavern. ”

“ Peter’s affords the best sample of modern art in Rome178, so does the Pantheon exhibit the most satisfactory and best-preserved specimen of ancient art; for, notwithstanding the injuries it has sustained by the hands of barbarians of all ages, no signs of natural decay are yet visible; and with this magnificent model before their eyes, it appears strange, that the architects of St. Peter’s should not have accomplished [Pg 276] their task more worthily. The Pantheon seems to be the hemispherical summit of a modern temple, taken off and placed on the ground ”

“ Pantelleria.—This island, lying between the coast of Sicily and Cape Bon in Africa, is wholly volcanic. It has a circumference of thirty miles, and from its centre rises an extinct crater-cone to a height of about 3000 feet. The flanks of this volcano are diversified by several fresh craters and lava-streams, while hot springs burst out with a hissing noise on its southern flank, showing that molten matter lies below at no very great depth. ”

“ It was high on the slope of one of the boundary mountains, almost at the edge of the gleaming white glacier of the summit. It was fast in the shadow of a huge, bluish ice cave, and long icicles dripped from its eaves and glittered like jewels in the sunshine.
82“And are you, too, blind?” he asked of the man who lived in this high house.
“Yes,” replied the old man, sorrowfully. “I am no better than all the others in this valley, no matter how high I live above them. I, like them, am awaiting the rescuer who shall return my sight and bring revenge upon our toothless enemy.” ”

“ Then, sir, as Tib gave a whoop I nearly fell from the swerving, bouncing seat. For the crater was very small and for all the world like the saucer track we occasionally see at the Garden for endurance races. Midway between the crumpled, weathered edges and the mouth of the pit, where the sides broke off and descended abruptly, was a ribbon of lava that apparently formed a complete circle. ”

“ Above these dwindling representatives of the northern andesitic lavas comes the continuation of the white band of tuffs and breccias of Caerketton and Scald Law (4) , which in turn dips under the highest group of andesites. The Carboniferous strata (5) are brought in by the fault (f) . In little more than two miles beyond this line of section the volcanic series disappears, and the Old Red Sandstone for a brief space consists only of sedimentary deposits.
Besides the remarkable alternation of basic and acid ejections, there is a further notable feature in the geology of the Pentland Hills. ”

“ At the upper end of the creek was a small hollow or cave in the rock, which sheltered us from the fury of the winds and waves; and as the rock extended in a sort of ledge over our heads, it prevented the spray from falling upon us.
“Why,” said Peterkin, beginning to feel cheery again, “it seems to me that we have got into a mermaid’s cave, for there is nothing but water all round us; and as for earth and sky, they are things of the past.” ”

“ His mother Agavê, with her sisters, and a large body of other women from Thêbes, had gone out from Thêbes to Mount Kithærôn to celebrate their solemnities under the influence of the Bacchic frenzy. Thither Pentheus followed to watch them, and there the punishment due to his impiety overtook him. The avenging touch of the god having robbed him of his senses, he climbed a tall pine for the purpose of overlooking the feminine multitude, who detected him in this position, pulled down the tree, and tore him in pieces. ”

“ Peterkin laughed.
“Hush!” whispered Eilidh, with smiling eyes: and then in her sweet, low voice resumed the tale of the Children of Lir, from where Ian had stopped.68
It was at the edge of winter when Fionula and her brothers reached the wild bleak seas of the Moyle.
At first there was no too bitter cold or too fierce tempestuousness to make their evil lot still more hard to bear; but sad indeed were their hearts as day after day they saw nothing but the same grey skies, the same grey wastes and dark sullen waves, the same bleak, rocky coasts inhabited only by the cormorant and the sea-mew. ”

“ The wind, sweeping up the slope of Penetier, carried a strong, pungent odor of burning pitch. It brought also a low roar, not like the wind in the trees or rapid-rushing water. It might have been my imagination, but I fancied it was like the sound of flames blowing through the wood of a campfire.
“Fire! Fire!” exclaimed Hiram, with another ominous shake of his head. “We must be up an' doin'.”
“The forest's greatest foe! Old Penetier is doomed!” cried Dick Leslie. “That line of fire is miles long, and is spreading fast. It'll shoot up the canyons and crisscross the forest in no time. ”

“ Penthesilea, virgin queen of the man-defying virgins—fairest of earth’s fair daughters—had left her boundless plains beside the cold Thermodon—had called her quivered heroines from warring with the mountain pard, and chasing the huge urus of the plain, to launch the unerring shaft and ply the two-edged axe against the sevenfold shield of Salamis, against the Pelian spear. ”

“ The pyramidal shadow of the mountain reached across the whole island, and far into the sea on the other side. I counted from hence forty-four little mountains (little I call them in comparison of their mother Etna, though they would appear great any where else) in the middle region on the Catania side, and many others on the other side of the mountain, all of a conical form, and each having its crater; many with timber trees flourishing both within and without their craters. ”

“ All round us the horizon was piled with mountains. Indeed the whole Peninsula is a sea of mountains, in which peaks on peaks are tossed up like waves. It seems as if they had been thrown up out of a lake of fire; as if in a remote geological period, when the body of our planet was a molten mass, and material forces were acting with an intensity and violence of which we have no conception, in some tremendous convulsion the flaming crests were tossed against the sky, and then suddenly arrested by the Creator's hand, which held them fixed in their utmost wildness, so to remain forever. ”