Philopappos Hill

The best view of the Acropolis isn't from the Acropolis — it's from this pine-covered hill directly southwest, where the Parthenon fills your entire field of vision without a single railing, scaffolding, or selfie stick in the way. Philopappos Hill is where Athenians go to escape tourists, walk their dogs, and watch the sun set behind the Saronic Gulf while the Acropolis turns from white to gold to burning orange.

The hill is named after Gaius Julius Antiochus Epiphanes Philopappos, a Syrian prince from the Kingdom of Commagene who became an Athenian citizen and Roman consul in the second century AD. When he died in 116 AD, the grateful citizens of Athens built him a monument on the summit — a partially surviving marble facade that once stood 12 meters tall, decorated with relief sculptures showing Philopappos riding in a chariot as Roman consul. It's one of the few funerary monuments from Roman Athens that's still in situ.

But the hill's history goes much deeper. On its slopes are caves traditionally identified as the Prison of Socrates — rock-cut chambers where the philosopher supposedly awaited execution in 399 BC after being convicted of corrupting Athenian youth. Most historians believe the actual prison was near the Agora, but the association stuck. During World War II, Greeks hid priceless artifacts from the Acropolis and the National Archaeological Museum inside these chambers to protect them from Nazi looting.

The Pnyx, the hillside where Athenian citizens gathered to vote in the world's first direct democracy, is just a short walk along the ridge. Pericles, Demosthenes, and Themistocles all addressed the assembly from its carved speaker's platform. Democracy literally started on this hillside.