PENTELI

'Pentéli' or 'Pendeli', (Greek: Πεντέλη, ancient forms: 'Pentele', 'Pentelikon' or 'Pentelicus' (Πεντελικός), and 'Vrilissos' or 'Vrilittos' (Greek: Βριλησσός, Βριληττός), Mendeli in medieval times) is a tall mountain and mountain range situated northeast of Athens and southwest of Marathon. The elevation is 1,109 m. The mountain is mainly covered with forests (about 60 or 70%). The mountain can be seen in southern Athens (Attica), the Pedia plain, Parnitha, and the southern part of the northern suburbs of Athens. Houses surround the mountain, especially in Vrilissia, Penteli, Ekali, Dionyssos and north of Gerakas.

Contents

About the mountain

History

See also

External links

About the mountain

Even since antiquity, Penteli has been famous for its marble which was used for the construction of the Acropolis and other buildings of ancient Athens. Penteli marble is flawless white with a uniform, faint yellow tint, which makes it shine with a golden hue under sunlight. The ancient quarry is protected by law and used exclusively to obtain material for the Acropolis Restoration Project. The roadway used to transport marble 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, Professor Manolis Korres in his award-winning book ''"From Pentelicon to the Parthenon"''.
A monastery is located in the middle of the mountain NE of city centre.

History

A fire in early July 1995 consumed much of the mountain forest and the eastern half became residential areas of the Athens area. The volume of smoke was tremendous; it nearly covered the entire northeastern part of Athens. All terrestrial television stations covered the fire, with the exception of some times on the weekend. The fire lasted about 5 days; it began on Friday and continued into the next week. It reached east of Penteli about 5:30 p.m. local time and then the Pentelis and Vrilissia, consuming a couple of houses on Friday night (about 9:00 p.m. EET, 7:00 p.m. UTC), the northern range on Saturday morning, then Rhea on Saturday afternoon, Anoixi on Monday, and Dionysus communities on Saturday. It consumed three quarters of the slopes of Penteli. It 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 whats left of nature from the mountain and streets are grid and circular. Lots are luxurious and later built several houses. A mining area also removed whats left from nature in the eastern half. The northern half remains heavily forested.
Series of fires also occurred after the major fire devastated the mountain range from 1998 to 2001. Much 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, mudslides blocked roads as a rock clogged off a residential road. Series of mudslides occurred several years later and devastated a few homes and continued some to this day.
Yet again after twelve years of the major fire, it sparked again near the urban areas of Athens first on June 30 in 2007, the same day as the Parnitha fire, a minor fire was seen northeast of Vrilissia and saw tens of houses and properties in flames and damages along with its forests. The fire even burnt its dry grass which was its problem, its people are favoring to remove the dry grass from future wildfires. It burnt tens of hectares and lasted during the late afternoon and the late night hours. Its fire was seen as far as the neighbourhood streets and Athens. One and a half month later, a huge fire battered the forests near Penteli and Vrilissia. Its wildfire was larger and some flames were towering as high as 50 to 60 m that it almost blocked the view of the sky along with its smoke. The fire spreaded to burn between tens and a hundred buildings, many of them were near the forest areas and the western portion that was 10 km long from north to south and 4 to 5 km wide from east to west. Firefighters along with its panick residents battled the blaze on its neighbourhood streets and helicopters sprayed out the blaze. The fire began in the afternoon hours and quickly spreaded. One fire was burning the entire tree and saw a black flame seconds later, another was one of their balconies with their grills were destroyed, several roofs collapsed. The fire lasted into the evening hours and saw its blaze burning near the town. The fire also burnt Vrilissia, eastern Nea Erythraia, Ekali, Dionyssos The cause of the fire was like most of the other fires in 2007 was arson, a former firefighter was charged with setting up a fire and is sentenced and jailed. During the country's worst fire that broke the 1950s record on August 26, 2007, fire that was arson caused ravaged the forests in the remainder of the area around Penteli and burnt pine, spruce and fir trees. The fire lasted for several days. It was not the same fire that arrived from Keratea and Markopoulo to the south. Penteli was on high alert during the fire.

See also

★ List of mountains in Greece

External links

★ 'Map and Aerial Photos':

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★ Street Map Information: Mapquest, LiveLocal, Google or Yahoo! Maps

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★ Satellite Images: Google or Microsoft Virtual Earth

★ Coordinates: