The Rhodope massif has been traditionally considered to be a pre-Mesozoic element that remained stable during the Tertiary. This idea has been partly supported by previous palaeomagnetic results on plutonic and volcanic rocks ranging in age from Palaeocene to Oligo-Miocene. However, new palaeomagnetic data from additional sites on Tertiary magmatic rocks of the western Greek Rhodope show declination values indicating, in most cases, a clockwise rotation, whereas inclinations are systematically lower than those corresponding to the actual latitudinal position of the Rhodope. Our results, together with previously published ones, are discussed in the light of recent ideas proposed for the Rhodope and the north Aegean region. We suggest that at least the western part of the Greek Rhodope has been clockwise rotated after the Oligocene. North-south to NE-SW extension tilted the formations towards the north or north-east, producing apparently high inclinations, if the alternative pole position for Eurasia proposed by Westphal (1990) is adopted.