The bones of prehistoric animals -
mastodons,
rhinoceros,
antelope, and
giraffe, along with giant
turtles,
hyenas and other animals no longer extant in the area - have been found among the limestone crags of the mountain that looms over the present suburb of Athens. The Penteli mountains were renowned in
Classical Greece as well as in the
Roman Empire as a source of "Pentelic"
marble, notably used to build the
Parthenon and the
Tower of the Winds. The Romans constructed a 140-foot water tower and aqueduct to supply water to the city of Athens. Penteli is the site of the ancient town of
Pentele. During the
Greek War of Independence, the French
philhellene Sophie de Marbois-Lebrun, Duchess of Plaisance supported the revolutionary leaders. When she settled in Greece in 1834, she bought large plots of land in Athens and on the Penteli mountain. She had the
Rododafni Castle built for her. In July 1995, Penteli was ravaged by a large forest fire. According to Turkish former prime minister,
Mesut Yilmaz, many of the forest fires that burned the Greek countryside during that summer were actually
started by Turkish secret service agents. The forests of Penteli suffered damage again from the
August 2007 fires. ==Historical population==