Philopappos Monument
A Commagenian prince who became both Roman consul and Athenian citizen earned a marble tomb facing the Acropolis — carved in Latin and Greek, each identity given its own niche.
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Built in 116 AD by his sister Julia Balbilla and the citizens of Athens, this two-story mausoleum on Mouseion Hill holds the remains of a prince who simultaneously held Roman magistrate rank and Athenian civic identity. The carved frieze and bilingual inscriptions make that unlikely double life legible in stone.
What to look for
- Lower frieze showing Philopappos riding a chariot in consular procession, led by lictors
- Three upper-level statue niches — Antiochus IV on the left, Philopappos at center, and the empty right niche where Seleucus I Nicator's statue has been lost
- Greek inscription in the niche below the central figure naming him as a citizen of the deme of Besa; Latin inscription in the left niche recording his titles and rank under Emperor Trajan
On Mouseion Hill (Philopappou Hill), southwest of the Acropolis — an open-air site reachable on foot from the Acropolis south slope.
Philopappos Monument is one of 36 sights worth the detour in Athens, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Athens pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Athens
- ParthenonA temple built to celebrate a war victory that went on to become a church, a mosque, and a gunpowder depot — blown apart in 1687 and still being reassembled.
- Acropolis of AthensA flat-topped rock 150 m above the city where Pericles spent the 5th century BC erecting the buildings that still define Athens.
- Platonic Academy (Akadimia Platonos)Aristotle studied here for twenty years before leaving to found his own school — and the word "academy" has followed ever since.
- Classical AthensDemocracy was invented here in 508 BC — and it took a bribe at Delphi to get it started.
- Olympic Stadium Athens "Spyros Louis"Santiago Calatrava's white steel roof arches over the same track where Athens opened the 2004 Olympics — and hosted three Champions League finals.
- ErechtheionThe one Greek temple that broke every rule of classical architecture — and scholars still can't agree on what it was actually called.