HYMETTUS, MOUNT

Modern Greek ros, Imitts, limestone mountain southeast of Athens, Greece. With a peak elevation of 3,366 ft (1,026 m), the 11-mi- (18-km-) long ridge is divided into two small series of peaks by the gorge of Pirnari in the southwest. The ancient quarries of Kara marble are located near the monastery of Karais. The limestone is honeycombed with many ancient tombs between the villages of Kar, Trkhones, and Komnin. The aromatic plants and flowers of the mountainside, described by the Roman poet Ovid in Ars amatoria (c. 1 BC), have long since vanished, but there is beekeeping as in antiquity. An extensive reafforestation program after World War II produced some visible results. A small monastery, the Kaisarian, stands on the site of a spring renowned in the ancient world for its curative properties.