Mount Pentelicus or Pentelikon (, or ) is a mountain in
Attica
Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean S ...
,
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
, situated northeast of
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
and southwest of
Marathon. Its highest point is the peak ''Pyrgari'', with an elevation of 1,109 m.
[ The mountain is covered in large part with forest (about 60 or 70%), and can be seen from southern ]Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
(Attica
Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean S ...
), the Pedia plain, Parnitha, and the southern part of the northern suburbs of Athens. Houses surround the mountain, especially in Vrilissia
Vrilissia ( el, Βριλήσσια) is a suburban municipality of the North Athens regional unit, in the Attica region. It is located in the Athens basin, at the southwestern foot of the Penteli Mountain. At the 2011 census, the municipality had ...
, Penteli
Penteli ( el, Πεντέλη) is a village and a municipality in the North Athens regional unit, Attica, Greece. It belongs to the Athens rural area. It takes its name from Mount Pentelicus.
Municipality
The municipality Penteli was formed at th ...
, Ekali
Ekali ( el, Εκάλη) is an affluent suburb of Athens, Greece. Located to the north of the city centre, it is a green and lush area home to many of the country's most powerful business and shipping families. Since the 2011 local government refo ...
, Dionysos
In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Romans ...
and north of Gerakas
Gerakas ( el, Γέρακας) is a suburb of Athens and a former municipality in East Attica, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pallini, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit.
In antiquity Gera ...
. Marble from Mount Pentelicus is of exceptionally high quality and was used to construct much of the Athenian Acropolis
The Acropolis of Athens is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens and contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, the most famous being the Parthenon. Th ...
. Later, Pentelic marble was exported to Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, where it was used in construction and in sculptures.
In ancient times it was also called Brilissos or Brilittos (, ) which is the origin of the name of the nearby suburb of Vrilissia.
Mountain
Mount Pentelicus has been famous for its marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...
since antiquity. Pentelic marble was used for the construction of buildings in ancient Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
, particularly the Acropolis. The ancient quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...
is protected by law, and used exclusively to obtain material for the Acropolis Restoration Project
An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens, ...
. The roadway used to transport marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...
blocks from the quarry to the Acropolis in antiquity is a continual downhill, and follows the natural lay of the land. It has been researched and fully documented by the chief Acropolis restoration architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
, Professor Manolis Korres Manolis ( el, Μανώλης, Μανόλης) is a Greek masculine given name, which is sometimes a contraction of Emmanouil. It may refer to:
*Manolis Anagnostakis (1925–2005), Greek poet and critic at the forefront of the Marxist and existenti ...
, in his award-winning book ''From Pentelicon to the Parthenon''. A monastery is also located in the middle of the mountain, north-east of city center.
Pentelic marble
Pentelic marble is white with a uniform, faint yellow tint, which makes it shine with a golden hue under sunlight. Pentelic marble is calcitic in composition with quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical ...
as an accessory mineral. It is fine grained with sporadic calcitic fossil clasts
Clastic rocks are composed of fragments, or clasts, of pre-existing minerals and rock. A clast is a fragment of geological detritus,Essentials of Geology, 3rd Ed, Stephen Marshak, p. G-3 chunks, and smaller grains of rock broken off other rocks ...
. Pentelic marble is divided into 3 units distinguishable by δ13C and δ18O values. δ13C and δ18O values have been used to precisely match marbles from the Acropolis to their source quarries. The Elgin Marbles
The Elgin Marbles (), also known as the Parthenon Marbles ( el, Γλυπτά του Παρθενώνα, lit. "sculptures of the Parthenon"), are a collection of Classical Greece, Classical Greek marble sculptures made under the supervision of th ...
have been traced to Unit 3 using this method.
Fires
A fire in early July 1995 consumed much of the mountain forest, and the eastern half became residential districts of the Athens area. The volume of smoke was tremendous; it nearly covered the entire northeastern part of Athens, and all terrestrial televisual media covered the fire. The blaze lasted about five days; it reached east of Penteli about 5:30 p.m. local time, and then into the Pentelis and Vrilissia, consuming a group of houses on Friday night (about 9:00 p.m. EET, 7:00 p.m. UTC), the northern range on Saturday morning, Rhea on Saturday afternoon, Anoixi on Monday, and the Dionysus communities on Saturday. It consumed three quarters of the slopes of Mount Pentelicus, and was the worst forest fire Athens and Greece had seen in the 20th century. Housing development took place in the eastern half of the mountain which removed what was left of nature from the mountain, and streets are grid and circular. Many are luxurious and several houses were later added; a mining area also removed what was left from nature in the eastern half. The northern half remains heavily forested.
A series of fires also occurred after the major fire devastated the mountain range, from 1998 to 2001. Many of the fires were arson-related and suspects were arrested. After the major forest fire of July 1995, three years later in the area of Drafi
Drafi ( el, Ντράφι) is a residential settlement located in a semi-mountainous slopped region in the municipal unit of Pikermi, in the municipality Rafina–Pikermi, East Attica, Greece. It is situated east of Athens city center, on the slope ...
, mudslides blocked roads as a rock clogged off a residential road; a series of mudslides also occurred several years later and devastated some homes, continuing in part to this day.
Yet again, twelve years after the major fire, flames once more encroached on the urban areas of Athens from June 30, 2007, the same day as the Parnitha fire, and a minor fire was seen northeast of Vrilissia
Vrilissia ( el, Βριλήσσια) is a suburban municipality of the North Athens regional unit, in the Attica region. It is located in the Athens basin, at the southwestern foot of the Penteli Mountain. At the 2011 census, the municipality had ...
, in which tens of houses and properties fell to the flames, along with its forests. The fire even burnt its dry grass which was the chief pattern of spread; the people of the area now favor removal of dry grass from future wildfires. The blaze burnt tens of hectares and lasted through the late afternoon to the late-night hours, and was seen as far as neighborhood streets and broader Athens. One and a half months later, a huge fire yet again battered the forests adjoining Penteli and Vrilissia. This time the wildfire was larger and more destructive, with flames towering as high as 50 to 60 m, and almost blocking any view of the sky, along with an attendant smoke. The blaze spread, burning tens or hundreds buildings, many of them near the forested areas, and a western portion 10 km long from north to south, and 4 to 5 km wide from east to west. Firefighters along with the neighborhood's panicked residents battled the blaze on neighborhood streets, and helicopters sprayed the blaze. The fire had begun in the afternoon hours and quickly spread. One conflagration burnt trees in seconds, another extended to balconies with grills destroyed, and several roofs collapsed - the blaze lasted into the evening hours and its head burnt near the town, while Vrilissia, eastern Nea Erythraia, Ekali, and Dionyssos were also hit. Its cause, like most of the fires of 2007, was arson; a former firefighter was charged with fire-setting and has been sentenced and jailed. During the country's worst ever fire, which broke the 1950s record on August 26, 2007, flames sparked by arson ravaged the forests of the remainder of the area around Mount Pentelicus and burnt pine, spruce and fir trees, lasting for several days; this was not the same blaze that had arrived from Keratea
Keratea ( el, Κερατέα) is a town in East Attica, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lavreotiki, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 129.864 km2. It is part of ...
and Markopoulo to the south.
In July 2022 another wildfire destroyed several hectares of forest land.
See also
*Aloula Aloula ( el, Αλλούλα) is a location on Penteliko Mountain, Attica, Greece. Its interest and importance stem from the fact that much of the marble used to build the Parthenon and other famous monuments of antiquity were from the so-called "Pe ...
*List of mountains in Greece
A list of mountains in Greece:
See also
* Mount Kythnos
* Movri
* Omplos
* Pantokrator (Corfu)
* Skollis
External linksMaps of mountains in Greeceby Geopsis
{{List of mountains in Europe
Greece
*
Mountains
Greece
Greece,, or , romaniz ...
References
{{Landmarks of Attica
Ancient Greece
Landforms of Attica
Pentelicus
Landforms of East Attica
Landforms of North Athens (regional unit)