Athens

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Athens , Gr. Athínai, city (1991 pop. 2,907,179; 1991 urban agglomeration pop. 3,072,922), capital of Greece, E central Greece, on the plain of Attica, between the Kifisós and Ilissus rivers, near the Saronic Gulf. Mt. Aigáleos (1,534 ft/468 m), Mt. Parnis (4,633 ft/1,412 m), Mt. Pendelikón (3,638 ft/1,109 m), and Mt. Hymettus (3,370 ft/1,027 m) rise in a semicircle around the city. The capital of Attica prefecture, Athens is Greece's largest city and its administrative, economic, and cultural center. Greater Athens, which includes the port of Piraiévs and numerous suburbs, accounts for most of Greece's industrial output. Manufactures include silk, wool, and cotton textiles, machine tools, steel, ships, food products, beverages, chemicals, pottery, printed materials, and carpets. Greater Athens is a transportation hub, served by rail lines, major roads, airlines, and oceangoing vessels. There is a large tourist industry. Water for the city is supplied by the Marathón reservoir (1931), formed by a dam made of Pentelic marble.

The main landmark of Athens is the acropolis (412 ft/126 m high), which dominates the city and on which stand the remains of the Parthenon , the propylaea , and the Erechtheum . Occupying the southern part of Athens, the Acropolis is ringed by the other chief landmarks of the ancient city—the Pnyx, where the citizens' assemblies were held; the Areopagus ; the Theseum of Hephaesteum, a well-preserved Doric temple of the 5th cent. BC; the old Agora and the Roman forum; the temple of Zeus or Olympieum (begun under Pisistratus in the 6th cent. BC and completed in the 2d cent. AD under Hadrian, whose arch stands nearby); the theatre of Dionysius (the oldest in Greece); and the Odeum of Herodes Atticus .

There are many Roman remains in the "new" quarter, built east of the original city walls by Emperor Hadrian (1st cent. AD); there the modern royal palace and gardens also stand. The stadium is E of the Ilissus River. Parts of the ancient city walls are still visible, particularly at the Dipylon, the sacred gate on the road to Eleusis; however, the Long Walls connecting Athens and Piraiévs have almost entirely disappeared. The most noteworthy Byzantine structures are the churches of St. Theodora and of the Holy Apostles, both built in the 12th cent. Athens is the see of an archbishop who presides over the Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church. The city is the seat of the National and Capodistrian Univ. (1837), a polytechnic institute, an academy of sciences, several schools of archaeology, and many museums and libraries. A nuclear research center is nearby, at Aghia Paraskevi.

History

The cultural legacy of ancient Athens to the world is incalculable; to a great extent the references to the Greek heritage that abound in the culture of Western Europe are to Athenian civilization. Athens, named after its patron goddess Athena, was inhabited in the Bronze Age. Its citizens later proudly claimed that their ancestors had lived in the city even before the settlements of Attica were molded into a single state (according to legend, by Theseus ).

Early History

According to tradition, Athens was governed until c.1000 BC by Ionian kings, who had gained suzerainty over all Attica. After the Ionian kings Athens was rigidly governed by its aristocrats through the archontate (see archons ), until Solon began to enact liberal reforms in 594 BC Solon abolished serfdom, modified the harsh laws attributed to Draco (who had governed Athens c.621 BC), and altered the economy and constitution to give power to all the propertied classes, thus establishing a limited democracy. His economic reforms were largely retained when Athens came under (560–511 BC) the rule of the tyrant Pisistratus and his sons Hippias and Hipparchus . During this period the city's economy boomed and its culture flourished. Building on the system of Solon, Cleisthenes then established (c.506 BC) a democracy for the freemen of Athens, and the city remained a democracy during most of the years of its greatness.

A Great City-State

The Persian Wars (500–449 BC) made Athens the strongest Greek city-state. Much smaller and less powerful than Sparta at the start of the wars, Athens was more active and more effective in the fighting against Persia. The Athenian heroes Miltiades , Themistocles , and Cimon were largely responsible for building the city's strength. In 490 BC the Greek army defeated Persia at Marathon . A great Athenian fleet won a major victory over the Persians off the island of Salamis (480 BC). The powerful fleet also enabled Athens to gain hegemony in the Delian League , which was created in 478–477 BC through the confederation of many city-states; in succeeding years the league was transformed into an empire headed by Athens. The city arranged peace with Persia in 449 BC and with its chief rival, Sparta, in 445 BC, but warfare with smaller Greek cities continued.

During the time of Pericles (443–429 BC) Athens reached the height of its cultural and imperial achievement; Socrates and the dramatists Aeschylus , Sophocles , and Euripides were active. The incomparable Parthenon was built, and sculpture and painting flourished. Athens became a center of intellectual life. However, the rivalry with Sparta had not ended, and in 431 BC the Peloponnesian War between Sparta and Athens began.

The war went badly for Athens from the start. The Long Walls built to protect the city and its port of Piraiévs saved the city itself as long as the fleet was paramount, but the allies of Athens fell away and the land empire Pericles had tried to build already had crumbled before his death in 429 BC The war dragged on under the leadership of Cleon and continued even after the collapse of the expedition against Sicily, urged (415 BC) by Alcibiades . The Peloponnesian War finally ended in 404 BC with Athens completely humbled, its population cut in half, and its fleet reduced to a dozen ships.

Under the dictates of Sparta, Athens was compelled to tear down the Long Walls and to accept the government of an oligarchy called the Thirty Tyrants . However, the city recovered rapidly. In 403 BC the Thirty Tyrants were overthrown by Thrasybulus , and by 376 BC Athens again had a fleet, had rebuilt the Long Walls, had re-created the Delian League, and had won a naval victory over Sparta. Sparta also lost power as a result of its defeat (371 BC) by Thebes at Leuctra ; and, although Athens did not again achieve hegemony over Greece, it did have a short period of great prosperity and comfort.

The Decline of Athens

The growth of Macedon's power under Philip II heralded the demise of Athens as a major power. Despite the pleas by Demosthenes to the citizens of Athens to stand up against Macedon, Athens was decisively defeated by Philip at Chaeronea in 338 BC The city did not dare dispute the mastery of Philip's son and successor, Alexander the Great. After his death Athens revolted (323–322 BC) against control by Macedon, but the revolt was quashed, and Athens lost its remaining dependencies and declined into a provincial city. Its last bid for greatness (266–262 BC) was firmly suppressed by Antigonus II , king of Macedon.

Through the troubled times of the Peloponnesian War and the wars against Philip, Athenian achievements in philosophy, drama, and art had continued. Aristophanes wrote comedies, Plato taught at the Academy, Aristotle compiled an incredible store of information, and Thucydides wrote a great history of the Peloponnesian War. As the city's glory waned in the 3d cent. BC, its earlier contributions were spread over the world in Hellenistic culture.

Athens became a minor ally of growing Rome, and a period of stagnation was broken only when the city unwisely chose to support Mithradates VI of Pontus against Rome. As a result, Athens was sacked by the Roman general Sulla in 86 BC Nevertheless, Athens sent out many teachers to Rome and retained a certain faded glory as a moderately prosperous small city in the backwash of the empire. It remained so until the time when the Eastern Empire began to fall to the barbarians. Athens was captured in AD 395 by the Visigoths under Alaric I.

From Byzantine to Ottoman Rule

Athens became a provincial capital of the Byzantine Empire and a center of religious learning and devotion. Following the creation (1204) of the Latin Empire of Constantinople (see Constantinople, Latin Empire of ), Athens passed (1205) to Othon de la Roche, a French nobleman from Franche-Comté, who was made megaskyr [great lord] of Athens and Thebes. His nephew and successor, Guy I, obtained the ducal title, and the duchy of Athens, under Guy I and his successors, enjoyed great prosperity while becoming thoroughly French in its institutions. In 1311 the duchy was captured by a band of Catalan soldier-adventurers who offered (1312) the ducal title to King Frederick II of Sicily, a member of the house of Aragón. Members of the house of Aragón carried the title, but Athens was in fact governed by the "Catalan Grand Company," which also acquired (1318) the neighboring duchy of Neopatras.

The French feudal culture disappeared, and Athens sank into insignificance and poverty, particularly after 1377, when the succession was contested in civil war. Peter IV of Aragón assumed sovereignty in 1381 but ruled from Barcelona. On his initiative, the devastated duchy was settled by Albanians. Athens again prospered briefly after its conquest in 1388 by Nerio I Acciajuoli, lord of Corinth, a Florentine noble. Under the Acciajuoli family's rule numerous Florentine merchants established themselves in Athens. However, the fall of the Acropolis to the Ottoman Turks in 1458 marked the beginning of nearly four centuries of Ottoman rule, and Athens once more declined. Venice, which had held Athens from 1394 to 1402, recovered it briefly from the Turks in 1466 and besieged it in 1687–88. During the siege the Parthenon, used by the Turks as a powder magazine, was largely blown up in a bombardment.

Modern Athens

Modern Athens was constructed only after 1834, when it became the capital of a newly independent Greece. Otto I , first king of the Hellenes (1832–62), rebuilt much of the city, and the first modern Olympic games were held there in 1896. The population grew rapidly in the 1920s, when Greek refugees arrived from Turkey. The city's inhabitants suffered extreme hardships during the German occupation (1941–44) in World War II, but the city escaped damage in the war and in the country's civil troubles of 1944–50.

The 1950s and 60s brought unbridled expansion. Land clearance for suburban building caused runoff and flooding, requiring the modernization of the sewer system. The Mornos River was dammed and a pipeline over 100 mi (160 km) long was built to Athens, supplementing the inadequate water supply. The development of a highway system facilitated the proliferation of automobiles, resulting in increased air pollution. This accelerated the deterioration of ancient buildings and monuments, requiring preservation and conservation programs as well as traffic bans in parts of the city. The Ellinikon airport was modernized and enlarged to accommodate increased tourism. A strong earthquake jolted the city in 1999, and in 2004 the summer Olympic games were held there again.

Bibliography

The Greek geographer Pausanias wrote an extensive description of ancient Greece. Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, and Polybius were great Greek historians. Modern general works on ancient Greece include those of J. B. Bury and Michael Rostovtzeff. See also A. H. M. Jones, Athenian Democracy (1957, repr. 1986); J. C. Hill, The Ancient City of Athens, Its Topography and Monuments (rev. ed. 1969); C. M. Bowra, Periclean Athens (1971); R. Meiggs, The Athenian Empire (1972); W. S. Ferguson, Hellenistic Athens (1986); D. Kagan, The Fall of the Athenian Empire (1987); M. H. Hansen, The Athenian Democracy in the Age of Demosthenes (tr. 1999). See also bibliography under Greece.

Athens The capital of modern Greece, historically an ancient Greek city-state. It was formed as a result of the unification of a number of small villages of the surrounding region of Attica. It was first under the rule of hereditary kings, and monarchy was followed by a long-lived aristocracy, first successfully challenged by SOLON in 594 BC. Tyranny was established by PISISTRATUS, temporarily in 561 and more permanently in 546, until his son Hippias was driven out in 510. Within a few years Cleisthenes had put the ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY on to a firm footing.

In 490 BC and 480–479 the city-state enjoyed success in the GREEK-PERSIAN WARS. Subsequently its rulers transformed the DELIAN LEAGUE into the ATHENIAN EMPIRE. The city supported brilliant artistic activity, attracting artists from throughout the Mediterranean. However, it was defeated by Sparta in the PELOPONNESIAN WAR, losing by 404 the empire, almost all its fleet, and the city walls. It recovered remarkably in the 4th century BC and led the resistance to PHILIP II of Macedonia. The city was a centre of philosophy, science, and the arts, centred on the ACADEMY.

Athens was prey to the successors of Alexander the Great, losing its independence in 262 BC, though regaining it in 228. After supporting MITHRIDATES VI, King of Pontus, (120–63 BC) against Rome, it was successfully besieged by his antagonist, SULLA, and sacked (87–86). From then on its importance was as a university town which attracted many young men, particularly Romans. This apart, the city underwent a prolonged period of historical obscurity and economic decline. It was captured by the Turks in 1456, and suffered during the Venetian siege of 1687.

Athens (Athínai), Greece, USA Greece: according to legend, the gods of Olympus proclaimed that a city founded by Cecrops, a Phoenician, should be named after the god who could produce the most valuable legacy for mortals. Athena (in Latin, Minerva), goddess of war, produced an olive tree, the symbol of peace and prosperity; Poseidon, god of the sea, produced a horse, a symbol of strength and endurance (although it is also said that he caused a spring of salt water to flow on the Acropolis having struck it with his trident). The gods chose Athena. The actual origin of the name is unknown, but it may be associated with akté ‘beach’ or ‘raised place (from the sea)’. The city was destroyed by the Persians in 480 bc, captured by the Romans in 86 bc, sacked by a Germanic tribe, the Heruli, in 267, and captured by the Crusaders in 1204. It fell to the Ottoman Turks after a siege in 1458; they held it until 1829 (and the Acropolis until 1833). It then became the capital of the newly independent Kingdom of Greece.

Athens1 City (1990 pop. 45,734), seat of Clarke co., NE Ga., on the Oconee River, in a piedmont area; inc. 1806. The city was founded as the site of the Univ. of Georgia. Its industries include poultry processing, research and development, and the manufacture of textiles, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, and clocks and watches. Numerous Georgia statesmen have lived in Athens, and some of their houses are among the city's fine examples of classic revival style—the Howell Cobb house (1850), the T. R. R. Cobb house (1830–43), and the Joseph H. Lumpkin house (c.1845). 2 City (1990 pop. 21,265), seat of Athens co., SE Ohio, on bluffs overlooking the Hocking River, in a coal-mining area of the Appalachian foothills; inc. 1811. Printing and tool-making industries are in the city. Athens was surveyed in 1795–96 by the Ohio Company of Associates as the site of a university and was settled shortly thereafter. It is the seat of Ohio Univ. Wayne National Forest lies to the north.

Athens (Athínai) Capital and largest city of Greece, situated on the Saronic Gulf. The ancient city was built around the Acropolis, a fortified citadel, and was the greatest artistic and cultural centre in ancient Greece, gaining importance after the Persian Wars (500–449 bc). Athens prospered under Cimon and Pericles during the 5th century bc and provided a climate in which the great classical works of philosophy and drama were created. The most noted artistic treasures are the Parthenon (438 bc), Athena Parthenos (a Doric statue), the Erechtheum (406 bc), and the Theatre of Dionysus (c.500 bc, the oldest of the Greek theatres). Modern Athens and its port of Piraeus form a major Mediterranean transport and economic centre. Overcrowding and severe air pollution are damaging the ancient sites and the tourist industry. Other industries: shipbuilding, paper, steel machinery, textiles, pottery, brewing, chemicals and glass. Pop. (2002 est.) 757,400.

Athens. By the 1st cent. AD the city was important only for its schools of philosophy. It was visited by St Paul, but his preaching seems to have met with little response (Acts 17: 16–34). There was a Christian community in Athens in the 2nd cent. It appears to have been one of the earliest centres of a philosophical interpretation of Christianity, though its schools were closed by Justinian in 529 for their support of paganism. Soon afterwards the Parthenon and other temples were converted into churches.

Athens the capital of Greece, originally a flourishing city state of ancient Greece, which was an important cultural centre in the 5th century bc.
Athens of America Boston.
Athens of the North Edinburgh.

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