Modern Description:
"Pieces of this medieval wall have been excavated in the Theatre of Dionysos, the Agora, and Kanellopoulos Museum. It was built by the Franks to protect the approaches to the Acropolis, between 1225 and 1250 CE (dated by a closed cistern of a Byzantine neighborhood at the Theatre of Dionysos, overbuilt by part of the wall). It takes its name from Rizokastro, a neighborhood on the upper N slope of the Acropolis. (""The sections of the fortifications assigned by Travlos to the Rizokastro were uncovered by the excavations of the Archaeological Society on the south slope of the Acropolis (in the Theatre of Dionysos in 1862, the Stoa of Eumenes in 1877, and the Odeion of Pericles in 1914), and those of the American School of Classical Studies in the area of the Klepsydra in 1943. The section next to the Odeion of Herodes Atticus was always visible, as is clear from the drawing made by Fauvel at the end of the 18th century (Fig. 4), and a further section was revealed by the demolition of the houses above the Odeion of Pericles in 1967. A new section was identified in 1971 beneath the ground floor of the building that is now the Kanellopoulos Museum, and a further section was recently (1981) identified by K. Tsakos at Odos Epicharmou 19. The remains of ancient blocks in the pavement of Odos Prytaneiou 9, 3/5 should also be attributed to the Rizokastro. Much of the monument was demolished during the excavations of 1862, 1877, and an unidentified excavation in the east parodos of the Theatre of Dionysos sometime after 1894 (Figs. 7-8). Its present condition is also the result of other, recent work: parts of it to the west and northwest of the Acropolis were incorporated into the remodelling of the entrance to the Acropolis, and into the retaining wall in Odos Theorias. In the Theatre of Dionysos, the section in the east parodos was restored with blocks lying scattered in the area after 1913 (Figs. 8-9), and the remains of the wall in the west parodos were strengthened by a new wall in 1965 (Figs. 12- 15). In the Odeion of Pericles, the remains of the wall were used as foundations, in 1970 for the new wall enclosing the archaeological site in Odos Thrasyllou, and in 1980 for a channel to drain off the rain-water from the auditorium of the Theatre of Dionysos (Fig. 11); in 1985, new channels were built on top of the latter to lead off rain-water and waste from the Acropolis Museum. In the east parodos of the Theatre of Dionysos, the measures taken to strengthen the retaining wall necessitated a partial restoration of it, involving the concealment and demolition of the few remains of the wall still preserved above it.""
Delt. Christ. Arch. 1989. )
Wikidata ID: Q110834541Trismegistos Geo: 364"
Info: ToposText editors 
(JBK)
