Kaisariani Monastery

This guide to Kaisariani Monastery in Athens traces the carved ram's-head fountain on the hillside wall back to a spring once sacred to Aphrodite, said to cure barrenness, and to the source of the river Ilissos beneath ancient Athens. It follows the monks who settled here by 1100, kept bees on the slopes, and built a library of manuscripts, including a stay by the philosopher George Gemistos Plethon. It also touches the monastery's stripping and closure, and the Athenians who carried books down to the Acropolis during the war of independence. Look for the ram's head carved into the eastern wall as you listen.