The quarries at Penteli (ancient Mount Pentelikon), just north-east of Athens, were an important source of white marble throughout the Classical, Hellenistic and Roman periods. The major monuments of 5th century BC Athens were almost all built in this high-quality, golden-hued stone and from the 2nd century BC onwards, Pentelic marble was exported to Italy. More
Throughout the 2nd and 1st centuries BC and the 1st century AD, Pentelic marble was one of the favoured materials for architectural projects at Rome and it continued to be used for sarcophagi and statuary in the 2nd and first half of the 3rd century AD. Major extraction at the Pentelic quarries appears to have declined in the mid 3rd century AD, perhaps following the Herulian sack of Athens in AD 267.
Bernard, S. G. (2010). ‘Pentelic marble in architecture at Rome and the Republican marble trade’, Journal of Roman Archaeology 23: 35–54.
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Goette, H. R., Polikreti, K., Vakoulis, T., and Maniatis, Y. (1999). 'Investigation of the blue-grey marble of Pentelikon and the equivalent hymettian: possible uses in antiquity', in M. Schvoerer (ed.). Archéomatériaux: marbres et autres roches: ASMOSIA IV, Bordeaux-Talence, 9-13 octobre 1995: actes de la IVème Conférence internationale de l'Association pour l'étude des marbres et autres roches utilisés dans le passé. Bordeaux: 83–90.
Pike, S. (1999), 'Preliminary results of a systematic characterization study of Mount Pentelikon, Attica, Greece', in M. Schvoerer (ed.). Archéomatériaux: marbres et autres roches: ASMOSIA IV, Bordeaux-Talence, 9-13 octobre 1995: actes de la IVème Conférence internationale de l'Association pour l'étude des marbres et autres roches utilisés dans le passé. Bordeaux: 165–70.
Pike, S. (2009). ‘A stable isotope database for the ancient white marble quarries of Mount Pentelikon, Greece,’ in Y. Maniatis (ed.). ASMOSIA VII: actes du VIIe colloque international de l'ASMOSIA organisé par l'Ecole française d'Athènes, le National Center for Scientific Research Dimokritos, la 18e éphorie des antiquités préhistoriques et classiques, Kavala, et l'Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration, Thasos, 15-20 septembre 2003 = proceedings of the 7th International Conference of Association for the Study of Marble and Other Stones in Antiquity, organized by the French School of Athens, the National Center for Scientific Research "Dimokritos," the 18th Ephoreia of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities (Kavala), and the Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration, Thassos, September 15-20, 2003 (Bulletin de correspondance hellénique. Supplément 51). Athens: 699–708.
