History of Athens

The history of Athens

The History of Athens is one of the longest of any city in Europe and in the world.
Athens has been continuously inhabited for over 3,000 years, becoming the leading
city of Ancient Greece in the first millennium BC; its cultural achievements during
the 5th century BC laid the foundations of western civilization. Its infrastructure is
exemplar to the ancient Greek infrastructure.

During the Middle Ages, the city experienced decline and then recovery under the
Byzantine Empire, and was relatively prosperous during the Crusades, benefiting
from Italian trade. After a long period of decline under the rule of the Ottoman
Empire, Athens re-emerged in the 19th century as the capital of the independent
Greek state.

Here are a few of the milestones regarding the background of Ancient Athens,
throughout recorded history.

Origins and Setting

Athens History

Athens began its history in the Neolithic as

a hill-fort on top of the Acropolis ("high
city"), some time in the turn between the
fouth and the third millennium BC. The
Acropolis is a natural defensive position
which commands the surrounding plains.
The settlement was about 20 km (12 mi)
inland from the Saronic Gulf, in the centre
of the Cephisian Plain, a fertile dale
surrounded by rivers. To the east lies Mount
Hymettus, to the north Mount Pentelicus.

As part of Athens in ancient times, the River Cephisus flowed in ancient times
through the city. Ancient Athens occupied a very small area compared to the
sprawling metropolis of modern Athens. The walled ancient city encompassed an area
measuring about 2 km from east to west and slightly less than that from north to
south, although at its peak the city had suburbs extending well beyond these walls.
The Acropolis was just south of the centre of this walled area. The Agora, the
commercial and social centre of the city, was about 400 m (1,312 ft) north of the
Acropolis, in what is now the Monastiraki district. The hill of the Pnyx, where the
Athenian Assembly met, lay at the western end of the city.

One of the most important religious sites in ancient Athens was the Temple of
Athena, known today as the Parthenon, which stood a top the Acropolis, where its
evocative ruins still stand. Two other major religious sites, the Temple of Hephaestus
(which is still largely intact) and the Temple of Olympian Zeus or Olympeion (once
the largest temple in Greece but now in ruins) also lay within the city walls.

Early History

The Acropolis of Athens was inhabited from Neolithic times. By 1400 BC Athens had
become a powerful center of the Mycenaean civilization. Unlike other Mycenaean
centers, such as Mycenae and Pylos, Athens was not sacked and abandoned at the
time of the Doric invasion of about 1200 BC, and the Athenians always maintained
that they were "pure" Ionians with no Doric element.

By the 8th century BC Athens had re-emerged, by virtue of its central location in the
Greek world, its secure stronghold on the Acropolis and its access to the sea, which
gave it a natural advantage over potential rivals such as Thebes and Sparta. From
early in the 1st millennium, Athens was a sovereign city-state, ruled at first by kings
(see Kings of Athens). The kings stood at the head of a land-owning aristocracy
known as the Eupatridae (the "well-born"), whose instrument of government was a
Council which met on the Hill of Ares, called the Areopagus. This body appointed the
chief city officials, the archons and the polemarch (commander-in-chief).

During this period Athens succeeded in bringing the other towns of Attica under its
rule. This process of synoikismos - bringing together in one home - created the largest
and wealthiest state on the Greek mainland, but it also created a larger class of people
excluded from political life by the nobility. By the 7th century BC social unrest had
become widespread, and the Areopagus appointed Draco to draft a strict new lawcode
(hence "draconian"). When this failed, they appointed Solon, with a mandate to create
a new constitution (594).

Reform and Democracy

Reform and Democracy

The reforms of Solon dealt with both

political and economic issues. The
economic power of the Eupatridae was
reduced by abolishing slavery as a
punishment for debt, breaking up large
landed estates and freeing up trade and
commerce, which allowed the emergence of
a prosperous urban trading class. Politically,
Solon divided the Athenians into four
classes, based on their wealth and their
ability to perform military service. The poorest class, the Thetes, who were the
majority of the population, received political rights for the first time, being able to
vote in the Ecclesia (Assembly), but only the upper classes could hold political office.
The Areopagus continued to exist but its powers were reduced.

The new system laid the foundations for what eventually became Athenian
democracy, but in the short term it failed to quell class conflict, and after 20 years of
unrest the popular party led by Peisistratus, a cousin of Solon, seized power (541).
Peisistratus is usually called a tyrant, but the Greek word tyrannos does not mean a
cruel and despotic ruler, merely one who took power by force. Peisistratus was in fact
a very popular ruler, who made Athens wealthy, powerful, and a centre of culture, and
founded the Athenian naval supremacy in the Aegean Sea and beyond. He preserved
the Solonian constitution, but made sure that he and his family held all the offices of
state.

Kariatides

Peisistratus died in 527, and was succeeded

by his sons Hippias and Hipparchus. They
proved much less adept rulers, and in 514
Hipparchus was assassinated after a private
dispute over a young man (see Harmodius
and Aristogeiton). This led Hippias to
establish a real dictatorship, which proved
very unpopular and was overthrown, with
the help of an army from Sparta, in 510. A
radical politician of aristocratic background,
Cleisthenes, then took charge. He was the one who established democracy in Athens.

The reforms of Cleisthenes replaced the traditional four "tribes" (phyle) with ten new
ones, named after legendary heroes and having no class basis: they were in fact
electorates. Each tribe was in turn divided into three trittyes while each trittys had one
or more demes (see deme) - depending on the population of the demes -, which
became the basis of local government. The tribes each elected fifty members to the
Boule, a council which governed Athens on a day-to-day basis.

The Assembly was open to all citizens and was both a legislature and a supreme court,
except in murder cases and religious matters, which became the only remaining
functions of the Areopagus. Most offices were filled by lot, though the ten strategoi
(generals) were, for obvious reasons, elected. This system remained remarkably
stable, and with a few brief interruptions remained in place for 170 years, until
Alexander the Great conquered Athens in 338 BC.

Classical Athens

Parthenon

Prior to the rise of Athens, the city of Sparta

considered itself the leader of the Greeks, or
hegemon. In 499 BC Athens sent troops to
aid the Ionian Greeks of Asia Minor, who were rebelling against the Persian Empire
(see Ionian Revolt). This provoked two Persian invasions of Greece, both of which
were defeated under the leadership of the Athenian soldier-statesmen Miltiades and
Themistocles (see Persian Wars).

In 490 the Athenians, lead by Miltiades, defeated the first invasion of the Persians,
guided by the king Darius at the Battle of Marathon. In 480 the Persians returned
under a new ruler, Xerxes. The Persians had to pass through a narrow strait to get to
Athens. A call had been sent via a runner to Sparta for help. The Spartans were in the
middle of a religious festival, and so could only send three hundred men. The 300
Spartans and their allies blocked the narrow passageway from the 200,000 men of
Xerxes (the Battle of Thermopylae). They held them off for a number of days, but
eventually all but one Spartan was killed. This forced the Athenians to evacuate
Athens, which was taken by the Persians and seek the protection of their fleet.
Subsequently the Athenians and their allies, lead by Themistocles had defeated the
still vastly larger Persian navy at sea in the Battle of Salamis. It is interesting to note
that Xerxes had built himself a throne on the coast in order to see the Greeks defeated.
Instead, the Persians were routed. Sparta's hegemony was passing to Athens, and it
was Athens that took the war to Asia Minor. These victories enabled it to bring most
of the Aegean and many other parts of Greece together in the Delian League, an
Athenian-dominated alliance.

The period from the end of the Persian Wars to the Macedonian conquest marked the
zenith of Athens as a center of literature, philosophy and the arts . In this society, the
political satire of the Comic poets at the theaters, had a remarkable influence on
public opinion. Some of the most important figures of Western cultural and
intellectual history lived in Athens during this period: the dramatists Aeschylus,
Aristophanes, Euripides and Sophocles, the philosophers Aristotle, Plato and
Socrates, the historians Herodotus, Thucydides and Xenophon, the poet Simonides
and the sculptor Phidias. The leading statesman of this period was Pericles, who used
the tribute paid by the members of the Delian League to build the Parthenon and other
great monuments of classical Athens. The city became, in Pericles's words, "the
school of Hellas".

Athens History

Resentment by other cities at the hegemony

of Athens led to the Peloponnesian War in
431, which pitted Athens and her
increasingly rebellious sea empire against a
coalition of land-based states led by Sparta.
The conflict marked the end of Athenian
command of the sea. The war between the
two city-state Sparta had defeated Athens.

The democracy was briefly overthrown by a

coup in 411 due to its poor handling of the war, but quickly restored. The war ended
with the complete defeat of Athens in 404. Since the defeat was largely blamed on
democratic politicians such as Cleon and Cleophon, there was a brief reaction against
democracy, aided by the Spartan army (the rule of the Thirty Tyrants). In 403,
democracy was restored by Thrasybulus and an amnesty declared.

Sparta's former allies soon turned against her due to her imperialist policy and soon
Athens's former enemies Thebes and Corinth had become her allies. Argos, Thebes,
Corinth, allied with Athens, fought against Sparta in the indecisive Corinthian War
(395 BC - 387 BC). Opposition to Sparta enabled Athens to establish a Second
Athenian League. Finally Thebes defeated Sparta in 371 in the Battle of Leuctra.
Then the Greek cities (including Athens and Sparta) turned against Thebes whose
dominance was stopped at the Battle of Mantinea (362 BC) with the death of its
military genius leader Epaminondas.

By mid century, however, the northern Greek kingdom of Macedon was becoming
dominant in Athenian affairs, despite the warnings of the last great statesman of
independent Athens, Demosthenes. In 338 BC the armies of Philip II defeated the
other Greek cities at the Battle of Chaeronea, effectively ending Athenian
independence. Further, the conquests of his son, Alexander the Great, widened Greek
horizons and made the traditional Greek city state obsolete. Athens remained a
wealthy city with a brilliant cultural life, but ceased to be an independent power. In
the 2nd century, after 200 years of Macedonian supremacy, Greece was absorbed into
the Roman Republic.

Roman Athens

Roman Athens

In 88-85BC, most Athenian houses and

fortifications were leveled by Roman
general Sulla, while many civic buildings
and monuments were left intact. Under
Rome, Athens was given the status of a free
city because of its widely admired schools.

The Roman emperor Hadrian would

construct, a library, a gymnasium, an
aqueduct which is still in use, several
temples and sanctuaries, a bridge and would finance the completion of the Temple of
Olympian Zeus.

The city was sacked by the Heruli in 267 AD resulting in the burning of all the public
buildings, the plundering of the lower city, and the damaging of the Agora and
Acropolis. After this the city to the north of the Acropolis was hastily refortified on a
smaller scale with the Agora left outside the walls. Athens remained a centre of
learning and philosophy during 500 years of Roman rule, patronized by emperors
such as Nero and Hadrian.
But the conversion of the Empire to Christianity ended the city's role as a centre of
pagan learning; the Emperor Justinian closed the schools of philosophy in 529 AD.
This is generally taken to mark the end of the ancient history of Athens.

Byzantine Athens

Byzantine Athens

By 529 AD, Athens was under rule by the

Byzantines and had grown out of favor. The
Parthenon and Erechtheion were
transformed into churches. During the
period of the Byzantine Empire Athens was
a provincial town, and experienced
fluctuating fortunes. In the early years many
of its works of art were taken by the
emperors to Constantinople.

Furthermore, although the Byzantines retained control of the Aegean and its citys
throughout this period, during the seventh and eighth centuries direct control did not
extend far beyond the coast. From about 600 the city shrank considerably due to
barbarian raids by the Avars and Slavs, and was reduced to a shadow of its former
self. As the seventh century progressed, much of Greece was overrun by Slavic
peoples from the north, and Athens entered a period of uncertainty and insecurity. The
one notable figure from this period is the Empress Irene of Athens, a native Athenian,
who seized control of the Byzantine Empire in a palace coup.

By the middle of the 9th century, as Greece was fully reconquered again, the city
began to recover. Just as other cities benefited from improved security and the
restoration of effective central control during this period, so Athens expanded once
more.

The invasions of the Turks after the battle of Manzikert in 1071 and the ensuing civil
wars largely passed the region by, and Athens continued its provincial existence
unharmed. When the Byzantine Empire was rescued by the resolute leadership of the
three Komnenos emperors Alexios, John and Manuel, Attica and the rest of Greece
prospered.

Archaeological evidence

Archaeological evidence tells us that the

medieval town experienced a period of rapid
and sustained growth, starting in the
eleventh century and continuing until the
end of the twelfth century. The agora or
marketplace, which had been deserted since
late antiquity, began to be built over, and
soon the town became an important centre
for the production of soaps and dyes. The growth of the town attracted the Venetians,
and various other traders who frequented the ports of the Aegean, to Athens. This
interest in trade appears to have further increased the economic prosperity of the
town.

The 11th and 12th centuries were the Golden Age of Byzantine art in Athens. Almost
all of the most important Byzantine churches around Athens were built during these
two centuries, and this reflects the growth of the town in general. However, this
medieval prosperity was not to last. In 1204, the Fourth Crusade conquered Athens
and the city was not recovered from the Latins before it was taken by the Ottoman
Turks. It did not become Greek in government again until the 19th century.

Latin Athens

From 1204 until 1458, Athens was ruled by Latins in three separate periods. It was
initially the capital of the eponymous Duchy of Athens, a fief of the Latin Empire
which replaced Byzantium. After Thebes became a possession of the Latin dukes,
which were of the Burgundian family called De la Roche, it replaced Athens as the
capital and seat of government, though Athens remained the most influential
ecclesiastical centre in the duchy and site of a prime fortress. In 1311, Athens was
conquered by the Catalan Company, a band of mercenaries called almogávares. It was
held by the Catalans until 1388. After 1379, when Thebes was lost, it became the
capital of the duchy again. In 1388, the Florentine Nerio I Acciajuoli took the city and
made himself duke. His descendants ruled the city (as their capital) until the Turkish
conquest of 1458. It was the last Latin state in Greece to fall.

Burgundian period

Under the Burgundian dukes, a bell tower was added to the Parthenon. The
Burgundians brought chivalry and tournaments to Athens; they also fortified the
Acropolis. They were themselves influenced by Greek culture and their court was a
syncretistic mix of classical knowledge and French knightly haute couture.

Catalan period

The history of Catalan Athens, called Cetines (rarely Athenes) by the conquerors, is
most obscure. Athens was a veguería with its own castellan, captain, and veguer. At
some point during the Catalan period, the Acropolis was further fortified and the
Athenian archdiocese received an extra two suffragan sees.

Florentine period
The Florentines had to dispute the city with the Republic of Venice, but they
ultimately emerged victorious after seven years of Venetian rule (1395-1402).

Othman Athens

Othman Athens

Finally, in 1458, Athens fell to the Ottoman

Empire. As the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II
the Conqueror rode into the city, he was
greatly struck by the beauty of its ancient
monuments and issued a firman (imperial
edict) forbidding their looting or
destruction, on pain of death. The Parthenon
was converted into Athen's main mosque.

Despite the initial efforts of the Ottoman

authorities to turn Athens into a model provincial capital, the city's population
severely declined and by the 17th century it was a mere village. Great damage to
Athens was caused in the 17th century, when Ottoman power was declining. The
Turks would begin a practice of storing gun powder and explosives in the Parthenon
and Propylaea. In 1640, a lighting bolt would strike the Propylaea, causing its
destruction.

In 1687, Athens was besieged by the Venetians, and the temple of Athena Nike was
dismantled by the Ottomans to fortify the Parthenon. A shot fired during the
bombardment of the Acropolis caused a powder magazine in the Parthenon to
explode, and the building was severely damaged, giving it the appearance we see
today. The occupation of the Acropolis continued for six months, but even the
Venetians participated in the looting of the Parthenon. One of the west pediments of
the Parthenon would be removed causing even more damage to the structure. The
following year Turkish forces set fire to the city. Ancient monuments were destroyed
to provide material for a new wall with which the Ottomans surrounded the city in
1778.

Othman Athens

Between 1801 and 1805 Lord Elgin, the

British resident at Athens, removed reliefs
from the Parthenon (see Elgin marbles for
more detail.) Along with the Panatheniac
frieze, one of the six caryatids of the
Erechtheion was extracted and replaced with
a plaster mold. All in all, fifty sculptural
pieces were carried away from the
Parthenon including three fragments
purchased by the French.
In 1822 a Greek insurgency captured the city, but it fell to the Ottomans again in
1826. Again the ancient monuments suffered badly. Partially funded by Lord Byron,
the Greeks continued to fight. Ottoman forces remained in possession until 1833,
when they withdrew and Athens was chosen as the capital of the newly established
kingdom of Greece. At that time the city was virtually uninhabited, being merely a
cluster of buildings at the foot of the Acropolis, where the Plaka district is now.

Modern Athens

Modern Athens

In 1832, Otto, Prince of Bavaria was

proclaimed King of Greece. He adopted the
Greek spelling of his name, King Othon as
well as Greek national dress, and moved the
capital of Greece back to Athens. Othon's
first task as king was to make a detailed
archaeological and topographical survey of
Athens. He assigned Gustav Eduard
Schaubert and Stamatios Kleanthes to
complete this task. At that time Athens had
a population of roughly 4,000-5,000 people, located in what today covers the district
of Plaka in Athens.

Athens was chosen as the Greek capital for historical and sentimental reasons, not
because it was a large city: there are few buildings in Athens from the period of
Byzantine Empire and the 18th century. Once the capital was established there, a
modern city plan was laid out and public buildings erected.

The finest legacy of this period are the buildings of the University of Athens (1837),
Old Royal Palace (now the Greek Parliament Building) (1843), the National Garden
of Athens (1840), the National Library of Greece (1842), the Greek National
Academy (1885), the Zappeion Exhibition Hall (1878), the Old Parliament Building
(1858), the New Royal Palace (now the Presidential Palace) (1897) and the Athens
Town Hall (1874).

Athens experienced its first period of explosive growth following the disastrous war
with Turkey in 1921, when more than a million Greek refugees from Asia Minor were
resettled in Greece. Suburbs such as Nea Ionia and Nea Smyrni began as refugee
settlements on the Athens outskirts.

Modern Athens

Athens was occupied by the Germans

during World War II and experienced
terrible privations during the later years of
the war. In 1944 there was heavy fighting in the city between Communist forces and
the royalists backed by the British.

After World War II the city began to grow again as people migrated from the villages
and islands to find work. Greek entry into the European Union in 1981 brought a
flood of new investment to the city, but also increasing social and environmental
problems. Athens had some of the worst traffic congestion and air pollution in the
world. This posed a new threat to the ancient monuments of Athens, as traffic
vibration weakened foundations and air pollution corroded marble. The city's
environmental and infrastructure problems were the main reason Athens failed to
secure the 1996 centenary Olympic Games.

After this, both the city of Athens and the Greek government, aided by European
Union funds, undertook major infrastructure projects such as the new Athens Airport
and a new metro system. The city also tackled air pollution by restricting the use of
cars in the centre of the city. As a result, Athens was awarded the 2004 Olympic
Games. Despite the scepticism of many observers, the games were a great success and
brought renewed international prestige (and tourism revenue) to Athens.