1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Philon

PHILON, Athenian architect of the 4th century B.C., is known as the planner of two important works—the portico of the great Hall of the Mysteries at Eleusis and an arsenal at Athens. Of the last we have exact knowledge from an inscription. E. A. Gardner (Ancient Athens, p. 557) observes that it “ is perhaps known to us more in detail than any other lost monument of antiquity.” It was to hold the rigging of the galleys; and was so contrived that all its contents were visible from a central hall, and so liable to the inspection of the Athenian democracy. (See Athens.)