Philopappos Hill and Monument

Philopappos or Hill of the Muses, as it was called in ancient times, is located southwest of the rock of the Acropolis. Its current name came from the Philopappos Monument, erected by the Athenians in honor of the great benefactor of their city, the grandson of King Antiochus IV of Commagene, Julius Antiochus Philopappos, who bore the honorary title of Roman Highness and loved the city of Athens very much. In fact, he was declared as a Citizen of Athens at the end of the 1st century AD and had been honored with various offices of the city. In the 1950s, the excavations of the archaeologist Ioannis Travlos brought to light new evidence and it was finally revealed that the monument was actually the Mausoleum of Philopappos. Today there is an inscription and a wall of the majestic Mausoleum, which is decorated with reliefs from the life of Philopappos. Pausanias the Traveler mentions this particular monument for its many decorative elements, although he didn’t consider it to be equal to the other monuments of the Classical Athens and the Hellenistic Period.