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The Monastery of Kaisariani lies in a verdant valley on the western slopes of Mt. Hymettus. The sources refer to it as “Kaisariani”, a name of unconfirmed origin, “Kyriani”, “Sancta Siriani” during the period of Frankish rule, and the Monastery of Koç basi (“Ram’s Head”) during the Ottoman period. The first Christian center had been founded southwest of the Monastery on the hill of the Cemetery of the Fathers or Frangomonastiro at a location overlooking the basin of Athens and the Saronic Gulf. Here are preserved the ruins of a 10th century Byzantine church built on the foundations of a 5th-6th c. three-aisled basilica, the church of Aghios Markos (St. Mark) of the Frankish period, and the 17th century church of the Taxiarchs, the monastery’s cemetery church. In the late 11th c., the monastery was moved to its present location.
