Introduction to Athens (Modern)
Athens, Greece (modern Greek: Athinai,), the largest city and the nation's capital. It was one of the most powerful of the ancient Greek city-states, as well as a center of beauty and learning. Athens played a major role in shaping Western civilization. The city was named for Athena, its patron goddess.
The Modern City
Athens, with its suburbs, occupies much of the plain of Attica, which lies at the southern tip of Greece. Distant, low mountains, including the Aigaleas, Imittos, Pendeli, and Parnis ranges, flank the city on three sides. Several isolated hills, including the Acropolis, interrupt the plain within Athens. The Acropolis, rising 512 feet (156 m) above sea level, is the site of the Parthenon and other ancient ruins and is Athens' best-known landmark. The terrain is open and low-lying southward from Athens to the Aegean Sea and Piraeus, the chief port of Greece.
When Athens was made the capital of Greece in 1834, its few citizens lived in a cluster of houses at the base of the Acropolis. The building of a modern city began during the reign of Otto I, Greece's first king (1833-62). Much of Athens as it is known today dates from the late 19th and the 20th centuries.
Places of InterestOmonia (Concord) Square, upon which several main thoroughfares converge, is a major center of the city's commercial activity. Venizelou and Stadiou avenues, lined with fashionable hotels and fine shops and stores, lead southeastward from Omonia to busy Sintagma (Constitution) Square. Facing the square is the former Royal Palace (built 1836-42), where parliament now meets. Nearby are the opera, the National Library, a university, the Academy of Athens, and the spacious National Garden. Adjoining the garden is the Panathenean Stadium, or Stadio, completed in the 1890's on the site of the city's ancient stadium. It was the scene in 1896 of the first modern Olympic Games.
Kolonaki, northeast of Sintagma Square, is a fashionable residential area. Between the square and the Acropolis lies the Plaka, heart of the old quarter, which dates, for the most part, from the early 19th century. Its narrow cobblestone streets are lined with low, light-colored stucco buildings. Many of the city's nightclubs and restaurants are here. Here, too, is the Metropolis, the cathedral of Athens (built 1840-55) and the seat of the archbishop who presides over the Greek Orthodox Church. Nearby is the former cathedral, built in the 12th century in the Byzantine style of architecture.
Remains of the Agora, the principal marketplace of ancient Athens, border the Plaka. Overlooking the Agora is the Temple of Hephaistos, also called the Theseion, the best-preserved ancient monument in Athens. Excavations have been made in the Agora, and the finds housed in the Agora Museum. South of the Plaka is the Acropolis, crowned by the Parthenon. The partly restored Odeum of Herodes Atticus, a theater built into the side of the Acropolis, is the scene of the annual Athens Festival. Concerts, opera, ballet, and classical drama are performed here.
Institutions of higher learning include the National Capodistrian University of Athens, the National Metsovian Technical University, and various specialized colleges and institutes.
Athens has a number of noted museums. The Benaki Museum features Greek and Byzantine art. In the National Archeological Museum is one of the world's largest collections of Greek and Roman antiquities. The Byzantine Museum is noted for collections of icons and sculptures. Housed in the National Library are more than 2,000,000 volumes. In June 2009, the Acropolis Museum opened. It holds many of Athens' treasured artifacts.
EconomyAthens and its port, Piraeus, on the southwest, form the economic heart of Greece. The Athens area produces most of the nation's industrial output, with most of the heavy industry concentrated in Piraeus. Factories and mills manufacture textiles, clothing, chemicals, metal goods, building materials, and machinery. Food processing, oil refining, shipbuilding, and printing and publishing are carried on. The tourist industry contributes heavily to the city's economy. In Athens, the nation's financial hub, are many banks, insurance companies, and brokerage firms.
Athens is the crossroads of the Greek central transportation system. It is served by a number of highways and railways. Athens International Airport, northeast of downtown Athens, handles domestic and international flights.
The Ancient City
Archeologists have little knowledge of the buildings and structures of ancient Athens before 480 B.C., when it was destroyed by the Persians. The city that arose after Persia's defeat became the cultural center of the classical world. Its art, literature, and philosophy were the fountainhead of Western and Middle Eastern culture. So strong was the Athenian creative force that even after the political collapse of the Athenian Empire in 404 B.C. Athens retained its cultural supremacy in Greece. When the Greeks came under outside domination, the foreign rulers constructed public buildings and monuments in Athens as testimonials to its prestige and enduring greatness.
The middle period of the fifth century B.C., during which the city's most beautiful buildings were constructed, is known as Athens' Golden Age, or Age of Pericles (after its leader during this period). The city at that time centered around the Acropolis and the Agora. The Panathenaic Way, a road named for a great annual religious procession that passed over it, crossed the Agora diagonally, and wound up to the Acropolis.
Between the Agora and the Acropolis on the west was the Areopagus (the Hill of Ares, or Mars), where the court of the same name had its sessions. The citizens' Assembly gathered usually at the Pnyx, a natural amphitheater to the southwest. The city was enclosed by a wall, from which extended the so-called Long Walls that formed a protected passageway to the port of Piraeus.
On the Acropolis Pericles built the Parthenon, dedicated to the city's patron goddess, Athena, the Temple of Athena Nike, and the Propylaea. A theater and temple dedicated to Dionysus were built along the south foot of the Acropolis. Facing the Agora were the Temple of Hephaistos, government offices, and stoas (open-fronted buildings housing shops and promenades). Another temple, the Erechtheum, was built on the Acropolis after the death of Pericles.
In the latter part of the fourth century B.C., when Greece had come under Macedonian rule, the theater of Dionysus was rebuilt in stone, and a stadium was constructed outside the city walls to the southeast. In the second century B.C. Antiochus IV had construction resumed on the Temple of the Olympian Zeus, which had been started in the sixth century in the southeast corner of the city. The temple was completed under the Roman emperor Hadrian in 129 A.D.
The Romans added many structures to Athens—two theaters, including the Odeum of Herodes Atticus; a library; a market and several stoas; temples; and an aqueduct. Hadrian built a walled suburb, known as New Athens, adjacent to the city on the east. The stadium was rebuilt in marble.
Life In Classical Athens
The city-state of Athens consisted of the peninsula of Attica, with the city of Athens as its capital. During the Golden Age the city-state ruled an empire that stretched from Attica completely around the rim of the Aegean Sea. Colonies of Athenian citizens were maintained in subject territories.
Free men of Attic parentage were automatically Athenian citizens. For administrative purposes, each citizen was assigned to a territorial unit called a deme. Several demoi made up a phyle (tribe); Athens had 10 phylai. Excluded from citizenship were women, aliens, and slaves. It is estimated that in the mid-fifth century the population of Attica was more than 300,000, of whom only about 40,000 were citizens. Probably a third of the population consisted of slaves, taken as captives in war or bought from slave dealers. Few slaves were Greeks. Also, alien free men, both Greek and foreign, may have equaled the citizens in number.
GovernmentThe government of Periclean Athens was more democratic than any ever known before in the world. Athens' legislative body was the Ecclesia (Assembly), which consisted of the entire body of citizens. The chief executive body was composed of 10 strategoi (generals) elected annually by the Assembly and eligible for reelection. A forceful general, such as Pericles, could assume the powers of commander in chief and act as chief executive as long as he was reelected. The Council of Five Hundred was made up of 50 men from each phyle, chosen annually by lot. The Council proposed legislation to the Assembly, which voted on it.
The judicial system was headed by nine archons (high magistrates) chosen annually by lot. They presided over jury courts for which a panel of 6,000 jurors was drawn each year, several hundred serving each day. Former archons formed the Aeropagus, at one time the highest court but restricted in the fifth century mainly to homicide cases. Under Pericles the lower classes became eligible for public offices formerly held only by the upper classes, and jurors and other officials began for the first time to receive salaries.
Way of LifeAthens lived by commerce, trading olive oil and wine for much-needed grain. Other products included silver, from the mines at Mount Laurium, marble, and pottery. Although businesses and industries might be owned by citizens, they were operated almost entirely by aliens, with slave labor. Athenians considered any occupation other than agriculture and military service to be degrading. Lower-class citizens farmed; upper-class men spent most of their time at the Agora, in discussion and in running the government.
Women of the upper classes lived rather secluded lives, in charge of their households. Most of the work, however, was performed by slaves. Women received no education other than training in domestic matters; this training they passed on to their daughters.
Citizens' sons were sent to school from age 6 to 14 or older. The schools, all privately run, emphasized poetry, music, and physical fitness. Wealthy students received higher education in oratory, philosophy (which included science), and history. Young men were also given military training.
The Athenians lived in a rather austere fashion. Homes were plain and sparsely furnished. Clothing consisted of two woolen garments, a tunic and a mantle. Food was carefully prepared, but simple, and the diet contained little meat. A favorite recreation for men was the banquet. Popular forms of public entertainment were festivals, athletic games, and the theater. The Panathenaic Festival, held annually in Athens, featured competitions in musical performances, poetry readings, and athletic events, as well as religious ceremonies.
History of Ancient Athens
According to Greek tradition, Athens was founded by the Attic king Cecrops, and all of Attica was united under Athenian rule by Theseus in the 13th century B.C. Athens does, in fact, date back to the Mycenaean era that preceded the Dorian invasion of Greece about 1100 B.C. The invaders were repelled from Attica, and Athens escaped being conquered. Refugees from the Dorians crowded into the Attic peninsula, and some crossed the Aegean Sea to Asia Minor where they settled the region of Ionia.
Growth Toward DemocracyLittle is known about Athens during Greece's so-called Dark Ages—the period after the Dorian conquest. All Attica had been incorporated into the Athenian city-state probably by the end of the eighth century B.C. The government had evolved from rule by a king to rule by three archons, chosen by the Areopagus. The ruling class consisted of landed aristocrats. The peasants, struggling to grow grain in poor soil, lived in poverty and were reduced to serfdom when they could not pay their debts.
Athenian law was codified by Draco in the seventh century B.C. Meanwhile, the condition of the poor was so bad that Athens was threatened with revolution. About 594 Solon became archon and instituted many reforms, including cancellation of debts, planting the hillsides in vineyards and olive groves, and giving prosperous merchants and farmers a part in government.
A struggle for political power among various factions followed, but in 546 B.C. Pisistratus, a leader of one of the factions, gained control and governed the city as a tyrant (illegal ruler) until 527. Rule by tyrant continued until about 510. Inspired by cultural achievements in Ionia, with which close contacts were maintained, Athens in the Age of Tyrants entered an era of cultural development.
Under a liberal leader, Cleisthenes, a constitution was drawn up in the last years of the sixth century B.C. The Council of Five Hundred was established and given many of the powers of the Areopagus. The board of 10 generals and the device of ostracism had their beginnings about the time of Cleisthenes. (For details of the governmental system, see subtitle Life in Classical Athens: Government, in this article.)
The Golden AgeIn the mid-sixth century B.C. Ionia had come under Persian rule. The Ionians revolted in 499 and, with Athenian aid, had some temporary success. The Persians put down the revolt, however, and in 490 sent an army into Attica. An Athenian victory at Marathon ended the first invasion, but there was a second in 480. Athens was destroyed, but a Greek navy composed mainly of Athenian ships then defeated the Persians at Salamis.
After the Persian Wars Athens held a predominant position in Greece. It was strongly fortified and kept in top fighting form by its ruling generals, including Themistocles, Cimon, and Pericles. The Athenian fleet swept pirates from the Aegean Sea. A mutual defense organization, the Delian League, was organized by the Athenian statesman Aristides in 477 B.C. Powerful and prosperous, Athens became increasingly autocratic in its foreign affairs. In 443 it reorganized the Delian League into the Athenian Empire.
With the wealth gained by tribute and from the silver mines of Mount Laurium, Pericles ordered handsome buildings to be constructed under the direction of the sculptor Phidias. Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles wrote their tragic dramas; Herodotus, his History. Socrates and Anaxagoras taught philosophy.
Sparta and the other Greek city-states watched Athens' growth with apprehension. War between the Athenian Empire and the Peloponnesian League, headed by Sparta, broke out in 431 B.C. It ended in 404, with Athens' complete defeat and dissolution of its empire. Sparta spared the city from destruction, however, and Athens' cultural life continued much as before. The fourth century was the age of Plato, Xenophon, Isocrates, Demosthenes, and Aristotle. When in 339 B.C. Philip of Macedon brought his army into Greece, Athens joined with Thebes to oppose him, but fell to defeat at Chaeronea in 338.
The Hellenistic and Roman PeriodsAthens was regarded as the center of art and learning throughout the era of Macedonian rule. When Rome annexed Greece in 146 B.C., only Alexandria, Egypt, rivaled Athens in intellectual activity. In 88 B.C. Athens joined Mithridates, king of Pontus, in a revolt against Rome. Two years later the Roman general Sulla captured Athens, inflicting great damage on it. The war wrecked the Athenian economy. Only in philosophy did the city remain preeminent.
It became fashionable for Romans to study in Athens. Several Roman emperors, notably Hadrian, did much to restore the city. Then a raid by barbarian Goths in 267 A.D. brought new destruction. The founding in 330 of Constantinople as the new capital of the Roman (later Eastern Roman, or Byzantine) Empire furthered Athens' decline, as Constantinople became the center of the new Eastern Christian culture. The Visigoths under Alaric held Athens briefly in 396. In 529 the Eastern Roman emperor Justinian closed the pagan School of Athens, and the community sank into oblivion.
History Since Ancient Times
The Slavic migrations into Greece that began in the sixth century did not reach Athens. When the armies of the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople in 1204 and set up the Latin Empire of Constantinople, Athens became a principality within this empire, and for the next 250 years the city was ruled by a succession of Burgundian, Catalan, Sicilian, and Florentine nobles. Athens was an independent duchy from 1270 until 1456, when it was conquered and annexed by the Ottoman Empire. Defenders on the Acropolis held out until 1458.
Athens was admired by the Turks and was allowed some degree of self-government during the 400 years of Ottoman rule. The Venetians in 1687 captured the city and held it for six months. During the initial siege the Parthenon was severely damaged. The city itself was devastated during the conflict.
During the Greek War of Independence (1821-27), Athens changed hands several times. In 1834 it became capital of the independent kingdom of Greece. Since then a continuous program of archeological research and restoration has been conducted by Greek and foreign organizations.
Construction began on a subway system in the 1990's to help reduce automobile traffic and pollution, a major problem in the city. In 2004 Athens was the site of the Summer Olympic Games.
Population: the city, 784,110; Greater Athens, 3,096,775.