Athens

== Etymology and names==
{{Further|Names of European cities in different languages (A)}}

In [[Ancient Greek language|Ancient Greek]], the name of the city was {{lang|grc|Ἀθῆναι}} (''Athênai'', {{IPA-grc|atʰɛ̂ːnai̯|pron}} in [[Attic Greek|Classical Attic]]), which is a plural word. In earlier Greek, such as [[Homeric Greek]], the name had been current in the singular form though, as {{lang|grc|Ἀθήνη}} (''Athḗnē'').<ref>As for example in [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Od.+7&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0135 Od.7.80] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418015639/https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Od.+7&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0135 |date=18 April 2021 }}</ref> It was possibly rendered in the plural later on, like those of {{lang|grc|Θῆβαι}} (''[[Thebes, Greece|Thêbai]]'') and {{lang|grc|Μυκῆναι}} (''[[Mycenae|Μukênai]]''). The root of the word is probably not of Greek or [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] origin,<ref name="Beekes2009">{{Citation |last=Beekes |first=Robert S. P. |title=Etymological Dictionary of Greek |date=2009 |page=29 |place=Leiden and Boston |publisher=Brill |author-link=Robert Beekes}}</ref> and is possibly a remnant of the [[Pre-Greek substrate]] of Attica.<ref name="Beekes2009" /> In antiquity, it was debated whether Athens took its name from its patron goddess [[Athena]] ([[Attic Greek|Attic]] {{lang|grc|Ἀθηνᾶ}}, ''Athēnâ'', [[Ionic Greek|Ionic]] {{lang|grc|Ἀθήνη}}, ''Athḗnē'', and [[Doric Greek|Doric]] {{lang|grc|Ἀθάνα}}, ''Athā́nā'') or Athena took her name from the city.<ref name="Burkert1985">{{Citation |last=Burkert |first=Walter |title=Greek Religion |date=1985 |url=https://archive.org/details/greekreligion0000burk/page/139 |page=[https://archive.org/details/greekreligion0000burk/page/139 139] |place=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=0-674-36281-0 |author-link=Walter Burkert}}</ref> Modern scholars now generally agree that the goddess takes her name from the city,<ref name="Burkert1985" /> because the ending -''ene'' is common in names of locations, but rare for personal names.<ref name="Burkert1985" />

According to the ancient Athenian [[founding myth]], Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war, competed against [[Poseidon]], the God of the Seas, for patronage of the yet-unnamed city;<ref name="Kerényi1951">{{Citation |last=Kerényi |first=Karl |title=The Gods of the Greeks |date=1951 |url=https://archive.org/details/godsofgreeks00kerrich/page/124 |page=[https://archive.org/details/godsofgreeks00kerrich/page/124 124] |place=London, England |publisher=Thames and Hudson |isbn=0-500-27048-1 |author-link=Károly Kerényi |url-access=registration}}</ref> they agreed that whoever gave the Athenians the better gift would become their patron<ref name="Kerényi1951" /> and appointed [[Cecrops I|Cecrops]], the king of Athens, as the judge.<ref name="Kerényi1951" /> According to the account given by [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Pseudo-Apollodorus]], Poseidon struck the ground with his [[Trident of Poseidon|trident]] and a salt water spring welled up.<ref name="Kerényi1951" /> In an alternative version of the myth from [[Vergil]]'s poem ''[[Georgics]]'', Poseidon instead gave the Athenians the first horse.<ref name="Kerényi1951" /> In both versions, Athena offered the Athenians the first domesticated [[olive tree]].<ref name="Kerényi1951" /><ref name="Garland2008">{{Cite book |last=Garland |first=Robert |title=Ancient Greece: Everyday Life in the Birthplace of Western Civilization |date=2008 |publisher=Sterling |isbn=978-1-4549-0908-8 |location=New York}}</ref> Cecrops accepted this gift<ref name="Kerényi1951" /> and declared Athena the patron goddess of Athens.<ref name="Kerényi1951" /><ref name="Garland2008" /> Eight different etymologies, now commonly rejected, have been proposed since the 17th century. [[Christian Lobeck]] proposed as the root of the name the word {{lang|grc|ἄθος}} (''áthos'') or {{lang|grc|ἄνθος}} (''ánthos'') meaning "flower", to denote Athens as the "flowering city". [[Johann Christoph Wilhelm Ludwig Döderlein|Ludwig von Döderlein]] proposed the stem of the verb {{lang|grc|θάω}}, stem θη- (''tháō'', ''thē-'', "to suck") to denote Athens as having fertile soil.<ref>''[[Great Greek Encyclopedia]]'', vol. II, Athens 1927, p. 30.</ref> Athenians were called [[cicada]]-wearers ({{lang-grc|Τεττιγοφόροι|links=no}}) because they used to wear pins of golden cicadas. A symbol of being [[Autochthon (ancient Greece)|autochthonous]] (earth-born), because the legendary founder of Athens, [[Erechtheus]] was an autochthon or of being musicians, because the cicada is a "musician" insect.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ToposText |url=https://topostext.org/work/240#tau.377 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225005003/https://topostext.org/work/240#tau.377 |archive-date=25 February 2021 |access-date=27 March 2020 |website=topostext.org}}</ref> In classical literature, the city was sometimes referred to as the [[City of the Violet Crown]], first documented in Pindar's ἰοστέφανοι Ἀθᾶναι (''iostéphanoi Athânai''), or as {{lang|grc|τὸ κλεινὸν ἄστυ}} (''tò kleinòn ásty'', "the glorious city").

During the medieval period, the name of the city was rendered once again in the singular as {{lang|el|Ἀθήνα}}. Variant names included Setines, Satine, and Astines, all derivations involving [[false splitting]] of prepositional phrases.<ref name="Bourne1887">{{Cite journal |last=Bourne, Edward G. |year=1887 |title=The Derivation of Stamboul |journal=American Journal of Philology |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=78–82 |doi=10.2307/287478 |jstor=287478}}</ref> King [[Alfonso X of Castile|Alphonse X of Castile]] gives the pseudo-etymology 'the one without death/ignorance'.<ref>'General Storia' (Global History)</ref>{{page needed|date=November 2020}} In Ottoman Turkish, it was called {{Script|ar|آتينا}} ''Ātīnā'',<ref>''Osmanlı Yer Adları'', Ankara 2017, ''s.v.'' [https://www.devletarsivleri.gov.tr/varliklar/dosyalar/eskisiteden/yayinlar/genel-mudurluk-yayinlar/osmanli_yer_adlari.pdf full text] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200731234949/https://www.devletarsivleri.gov.tr/varliklar/dosyalar/eskisiteden/yayinlar/genel-mudurluk-yayinlar/osmanli_yer_adlari.pdf |date=31 July 2020 }}</ref> and in modern Turkish, it is ''Atina''.