File:The Pnyx plateau (right) and the Acropolis of Athens with the Odeon of Herodes Atticus (left).jpg

English: The Pnyx functioned as a place of assembly (ekklesia) of the Athenian citizens at approximately the end of the Archaic period (around 500 B.C.) and is linked with the political reforms made by Kleisthenes. It functioned as an assembly place till the end of the 4th c. B.C., until its activities were transferred to the Theatre of Dionysos (on the South Slope of the Acropolis), consequently losing its primary political significance. This might explain why the ancient periegetic writer Pausanias did not make any reference to it, when he visited Athens in the 2nd c. A.D.

The first to investigate the area was George, Earl of Aberdeen, who revealed the Bema of the Pnyx and the rock-cut niches of the Sanctuary of Zeus Hypsistos. In 1835 the archaeologist K. Pittakis discovered a boundary stone bearing the inscription “HOROS PNYKOS”.

The assembly (ekklesia) met ten times a year. The epistates (superintendant) of the prytaneis (the executive committee of the boule) presided over these meetings, assisted by a secretary and a herald who made the announcements. Sacrifices were offered to Zeus Agoraios before the commencement of the assembly, for its smooth conduct. While the orator spoke from the bema, the audience sat on the rock surface but later wooden benches were added. The corps of the prytaneis, who were assisted by archers, was responsible for the maintenance of order and sat on the lower tier of the speaker’s platform.

The Pnyx includes three architectural phases :

During phase I (6th-5th c. B.C.), a semicircular auditorium was created, defined by a rectangular wall to the north. The bema (the speaker’s platform) was placed on the north and the orators had their backs turned to the Acropolis. The seating capacity is estimated at 5,000 people. This is the Pnyx of Aristophanes, where speakers like Miltiades, Themostocles, Aristides and Pericles swayed the populace and influenced the fortunes of the city.

During phase II (end of 5th century B.C.) the auditorium was enlarged and a major retaining wall was erected to the north. The stairways led from the northeast into the auditorium. The bema was moved from north to south. This transformation is attributed to the Thirty Tyrants of 404-403 B.C. (Plutarch. Them., 19). The seating capacity at this phase is estimated at 6,000 people. The orators Demosthenes, Aeschines and Isocrates spoke here.

During phase IIII (4th c. B.C.), which is visible today, the general orientation remained the same but extensions to the audirotium were made on a grand scale. A new monumental retaining wall was erected, made from immense blocks. Its main access was an enormous starcase set in the middle of the concave arc. The maximum seating capacity of the concave, with a depth of 70 m. and diameter 120 m., is estimated at 13,500 people. The bema of the third period, the famous “Lithos” (stone), survives intact and is the most distinctive monument of the site. Its façade, carved on the rock, is 9 m. long. Three steps lead to its top level (1,10 m. in total). The Gallery where the proedroi (leaders) of the ekklesia sat was higher. The big rectangular cutting above the bema for the Altar of Zeus Agoraios (patron of the orators) also belongs to the third period. At the time of Augustus (1st c. B.C.), this altar was moved to the Agora and set up in front of the Metroon. It appears that at this phase the upper terrace, south-west of the Pnyx, was constructed.

The ambitious plan of reconstructing Pnyx III, which included the erection of the East and West Stoas to accommodate large numbers of people, never materialized, possibly because in the same period the construction of the Theatre of Dionysus was completed and consequently the assembly was transferred there. Another aspect of happening this was the construction of the Diateichisma. This phase dates back to the time of the orator Lycurgus, in 330-326 B.C.

Text credit: Archaeological site of the Pnyx inscription.