Phaleron
Despite the antiquity, size, and importance of Phaleron, little of a precise nature is known of its Classical topography and monuments, even though it is clear from Pausanias especially that the number of its sanctuaries and altars was large. The general location of the deme is, however, well established: Herodotos (6.116) associates Athens' first port and arsenal with Phaleron; Pausanias describes it as on the coast (1.1.2), more specifically, 20 stades from both Athens (8.10.4) and Cape Kolias (1.1.5), the latter to be identified as Haghios Kosmas; and Strabo names it first in his enumeration of the coastal demes E of Piraeus (9.21). These indications, while not in complete harmony, still heavily favor the identification of the area and headland around the Church of Haghios Georgios in Palaion Phaleron as the site of the ancient town, with the broad open roadstead of the Bay of Phaleron between it and Mounychia to the W as the harbor. Discoveries at this location have been, and are still being, made suitable for a deme. Perhaps of greatest significance are the traces of a series of conglomerate blocks that have been followed across the heights of Old Phaleron to the sea, and interpreted as belonging to the Phaleric Wall recorded by Thucydides (1.107.1). Modern development, however, not only has obliterated almost all such ancient remains, but has also changed the very nature and position of the coastline.
BIBLIOGRAPHYJ. Day, “Cape Colias, Phalerum and the Phaleric Wall,” AJA 36 (1932) 1-11; R. Scranton, “The Fortifications of Athens at the Opening of the Peloponnesian War,” AJA 42 (1938) 525-36MI; A. Kalogeropoulou, Δύο ἀττικὰ ἐπιτύμβια ἀνάγλυφα, ArchDelt 24 (1969) Α. Μελέται, 211-19; J. Travlos, Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Athens (1971) 160, 164M.
C. W. J. ELIOT- Hdt. 5.116
- old seaport of Athens: Paus. 1.1.2, 4, Paus. 1.28.9, Paus. 1.36.4, Paus. 10.35.2
- distant twenty furlongs from Athens: Paus. 8.10.4
- scene of a battle between the Pisistratids and the Spartans: Hdt. 5.63
- destroyed by Aeginetans: Hdt. 5.81
- Xerxes' fleet there: Hdt. 8.66, Hdt. 9.32
- flight of Persian ships thither: Hdt. 8.91