Choragic Monument of Lysicrates

The Lysicrates Monument is a small circular structure from the 4th century BC at the eastern foot of the Acropolis in Athens' Plaka district. It is considered the earliest surviving building to use the Corinthian order on an exterior facade. The wealthy Athenian Lysicrates commissioned it in 335/334 BC after a boys' chorus he sponsored won at the Dionysia festival. A bronze tripod, the actual victory prize, originally stood on top. The monument survived chiefly because it was walled into a Capuchin monastery from the 17th century; Lord Byron lodged there in 1810/11 and worked nearby. Today the monument stands freely on a quiet square in a side street below the Acropolis cliffs, impressive simply by its sheer age: a fully preserved private endowment from classical Athens, sitting in the middle of a residential quarter.