Filopappou

Filopappou Review

This summit includes Lofos Mousson (Hill of the Muses), whose peak offers the city's best view of the Parthenon, which appears almost at eye level. Also there is the Monument of Filopappus, depicting a Syrian prince who was such a generous benefactor that the people accepted him as a distinguished Athenian. The marble monument is a tomb decorated by a frieze showing Filopappus driving his chariot. In 294 BC a fort strategic to Athens's defense was built here, overlooking the road to the sea. On the hill of the Pnyx (meaning "crowded"), the all-male general assembly (Ecclesia) met during the time of Pericles. Originally, citizens of the Ecclesia faced the Acropolis while listening to speeches, but they tended to lose their concentration as they gazed upon the monuments, so the positions of the speaker and the audience were reversed. The speaker's platform is still visible on the semicircular terrace; from here, Themistocles persuaded Athenians to fortify the city and Pericles argued for the construction of the Parthenon. Farther north is the Hill of the Nymphs, with a 19th-century observatory designed by Theophilos Hansen, responsible for many of the capital's grander edifices. He was so satisfied with his work, he had "servare intaminatum" ("to remain intact") inscribed over the entrance.