Athens

== History ==
{{Main|History of Athens}}
{{For timeline}}
{{Quote box
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| quote = [[List of kings of Athens|Kingdom of Athens]] 1556 BC–1068 BC<br/>
[[Classical Athens|City-state of Athens]] 1068 BC–322 BC<br/>
[[League of Corinth|Hellenic League]] 338 BC–322 BC<br/>
[[Kingdom of Macedonia]] 322 BC–148 BC<br/>
[[Roman Republic]] 146 BC–27 BC<br/>
[[Roman Empire]] 27 BC–395 AD<br/>
{{Flag|Eastern Roman Empire}} 395–1205<br/>
{{Flagicon image|Arms of the House of de la Roche.svg}} [[Duchy of Athens]] 1205–1458<br/>
{{Flag|Ottoman Empire}} 1458–1822, 1827–1832<br/>
{{Flag|Greece}} 1822–1827, 1832–present
}}

=== Antiquity ===
{{main|Classical Athens|Hellenistic Greece|Roman Greece}}
The oldest known human presence in Athens is the Cave of Schist, which has been dated to between the 11th and 7th millennia BC.<ref name="ethnos.gr">{{Cite web |date=July 2011 |title=v4.ethnos.gr – Οι πρώτοι… Αθηναίοι |url=http://www.ethnos.gr/article.asp?catid=22784&subid=2&pubid=2530782&tag=8796 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721080919/http://www.ethnos.gr/article.asp?catid=22784&subid=2&pubid=2530782&tag=8796 |archive-date=21 July 2011 |access-date=26 October 2018 |publisher=Ethnos.gr}}</ref> Athens has been continuously inhabited for at least 5,000 years (3000 BC).<ref>S. Immerwahr, The Athenian Agora XIII: the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, Princeton 1971</ref><ref name=tung/> By 1400&nbsp;BC, the settlement had become an important centre of the [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] civilization, and the [[Acropolis of Athens|Acropolis]] was the site of a major [[Mycenae]]an fortress, whose remains can be recognised from sections of the characteristic [[Cyclopean]] walls.<ref>Iakovides, S. 1962. 'E mykenaïke akropolis ton Athenon'. Athens.</ref> Unlike other Mycenaean centers, such as [[Mycenae]] and [[Pylos]], it is not known whether Athens suffered destruction in about 1200&nbsp;BC, an event often attributed to a [[Dorians|Dorian]] invasion, and the Athenians always maintained that they were pure [[Ionians]] with no Dorian element. However, Athens, [[Bronze Age collapse|like many other Bronze Age settlements]], went into economic decline for around 150 years afterwards.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Last Mycenaeans and Their Successors; an Archaeological Survey, c. 1200–c. 1000 B.C. |last=Desborough |first=Vincent R. d'A |author-link=Vincent Desborough |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1964 |location=Oxford |page=113}}</ref> [[Iron Age]] burials, in the [[Kerameikos]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Little |first=Lisa M. |date=1988 |title=A Social Outcast in Early Iron Age Athens |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/148450 |journal=Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens |volume=67, No. 4 |issue=Oct. – Dec. 1998 |pages=375–404 |jstor=148450 |via=JSTOR}}</ref> and other locations, are often richly provided for and demonstrate that from 900&nbsp;BC onwards Athens was one of the leading centres of trade and prosperity in the region.<ref>Osborne, R. 1996, 2009. ''Greece in the Making 1200–479&nbsp;BC''.</ref>
[[File:L'Olympieion_(Athènes)_(30776483926).jpg|thumb|The ruins of the [[Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens|Temple of Olympian Zeus]], conceived by the sons of [[Peisistratus]]]]

By the sixth century BC, widespread social unrest led to the reforms of [[Solon]]. These would pave the way for the eventual introduction of democracy by [[Cleisthenes]] in 508&nbsp;BC. Athens had by this time become a significant naval power with a large fleet, and helped the [[Ionian Revolt|rebellion of the Ionian cities]] against [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]] rule. In the ensuing [[Greco-Persian Wars]] Athens, together with Sparta, led the coalition of Greek states that would eventually repel the Persians, defeating them decisively at [[Battle of Marathon|Marathon]] in 490&nbsp;BC, and crucially at [[Battle of Salamis|Salamis]] in 480&nbsp;BC. However, this did not prevent Athens from being [[Achaemenid destruction of Athens|captured and sacked twice]] by the Persians within one year, after a heroic but ultimately failed resistance at [[Battle of Thermopylae|Thermopylae]] by [[Sparta]]ns and other Greeks led by [[Leonidas I|King Leonidas]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lewis |first=John David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BHe0KeXyL_AC&pg=PA34 |title=Nothing Less than Victory: Decisive Wars and the Lessons of History |date=25 January 2010 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1400834303 |access-date=24 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200312034708/https://books.google.com/books?id=BHe0KeXyL_AC&pg=PA34 |archive-date=12 March 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> after both [[Boeotia]] and [[Attica]] fell to the Persians.

[[File:Map athenian empire 431 BC-no.svg|thumb|[[Delian League]] under the leadership of Athens before the [[Peloponnesian War]] in 431 BC]]
The decades that followed became known as the [[Fifth-century Athens|Golden Age of Athenian democracy]], during which time Athens became the leading city of [[Ancient Greece]], with its cultural achievements laying the foundations for [[western culture|Western civilization]].<ref name=britannica /><ref name= bbc /> The playwrights [[Aeschylus]], [[Sophocles]] and [[Euripides]] flourished in Athens during this time, as did the historians [[Herodotus]] and [[Thucydides]], the physician [[Hippocrates]], and the philosopher [[Socrates]]. Guided by [[Pericles]], who promoted the arts and fostered democracy, Athens embarked on an ambitious building program that saw the construction of the Acropolis of Athens (including the [[Parthenon]]), as well as empire-building via the [[Delian League]]. Originally intended as an association of [[Greek city-state]]s to continue the fight against the Persians, the league soon turned into a vehicle for Athens's own imperial ambitions. The resulting tensions brought about the [[Peloponnesian War]] (431–404&nbsp;BC), in which Athens was defeated by its rival Sparta.<ref>[[Xenophon]], ''[[Hellenica]]'', 2.2.20, 404/3</ref>

[[File:The_Parthenon_in_Athens.jpg|thumb|The [[Parthenon]] on the [[Acropolis of Athens|Acropolis]] hill in Athens]]
By the mid-4th century BC, the northern Greek kingdom of [[Macedon]] was becoming dominant in Athenian affairs. In 338&nbsp;BC the armies of [[Philip II of Macedon|Philip II]] defeated an alliance of some of the Greek city-states including Athens and Thebes at the Battle of Chaeronea. Later, under Rome, Athens was given the status of a [[free city (classical antiquity)|free city]] because of its widely admired schools. In the second century AD, The Roman emperor Hadrian, himself an Athenian citizen,<ref>Kouremenos, Anna (2022). "'The City of Hadrian and not of Theseus': A Cultural History of Hadrian's Arch". In A. Kouremenos (ed.) ''The Province of Achaea in the 2nd century CE: The Past Present''. London: Routledge. https://www.academia.edu/43746490/_2022_The_City_of_Hadrian_and_not_of_Theseus_a_cultural_history_of_Hadrians_Arch</ref> ordered the construction of a library, a gymnasium, an aqueduct which is still in use, several temples and sanctuaries, a bridge and financed the completion of the [[Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens|Temple of Olympian Zeus]].

[[File:The_Clocktower_of_Andronicus_Cyrrhestes_(Tower_of_the_Winds)_at_night_on_May_19,_2021.jpg|thumb|[[Tower of the Winds]] in the [[Roman Agora]], the second commercial centre of ancient Athens]]
In the early 4th century AD, the [[Eastern Roman Empire]] began to be governed from [[Constantinople]], and with the construction and expansion of the imperial city, many of Athens's works of art were taken by the emperors to adorn it. The Empire became Christianized, and the use of [[Latin]] declined in favour of exclusive use of [[Medieval Greek|Greek]]; in the [[Roman imperial period (chronology)|Roman imperial period]], both languages had been used. In the later Roman period, Athens was ruled by the emperors continuing until the 13th century, its citizens identifying themselves as citizens of the Roman Empire ("''[[Rhomaioi]]''"). The conversion of the empire from paganism to Christianity greatly affected Athens, resulting in reduced reverence for the city.<ref name=tung/> Ancient monuments such as the Parthenon, Erechtheion and the Hephaisteion (Theseion) were converted into churches. As the empire became increasingly anti-pagan, Athens became a provincial town and experienced fluctuating fortunes.

The city remained an important center of learning, especially of [[Neoplatonism]]—with notable pupils including [[Gregory of Nazianzus]], [[Basil of Caesarea]] and emperor [[Julian (emperor)|Julian]] ({{Reign|355|363}})—and consequently a center of paganism. Christian items do not appear in the archaeological record until the early 5th century.<ref name="ODB">{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Gregory|first1=Timothy E.|last2=Ševčenko|first2=Nancy Patterson|title=Athens|pages=221–223|editor-last=Kazhdan|editor-first=Alexander|editor-link=Alexander Kazhdan|year=1991|encyclopedia=[[The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium]]|location=Oxford and New York|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-504652-6}}</ref> The sack of the city by the Herules in 267 and by the [[Visigoths]] under their king [[Alaric I]] ({{Reign|395|410}}) in 396, however, dealt a heavy blow to the city's fabric and fortunes, and Athens was henceforth confined to a small fortified area that embraced a fraction of the ancient city.<ref name="ODB" /> The emperor [[Justinian I]] ({{Reign|527|565}}) banned the teaching of philosophy by pagans in 529,<ref>Alan Cameron, "The Last Days of the Academy at Athens," in A. Cameron, Wandering Poets and Other Essays on Late Greek Literature and Philosophy, 2016, (Oxford University Press: Oxford), pp. 205–246</ref> an event whose impact on the city is much debated,<ref name="ODB" /> but is generally taken to mark the end of the ancient history of Athens. Athens was sacked by the [[Slavs]] in 582, but remained in imperial hands thereafter, as highlighted by the visit of the emperor [[Constans II]] ({{Reign|641|668}}) in 662/3 and its inclusion in the [[Theme of Hellas]].<ref name="ODB"/>

=== Middle Ages ===
{{Further|Byzantine Greece|Duchy of Athens}}
[[File:At_the_Byzantine_Monastery_of_Daphni_on_October_31,_2019.jpg|thumb|The [[Daphni Monastery]], an eleventh-century [[Byzantine]] monastery northwest of central Athens designated [[UNESCO World Heritage Sites]]]]
The city was threatened by [[Saracen]] raids in the 8th–9th centuries—in 896, Athens was raided and possibly occupied for a short period, an event which left some archaeological remains and elements of Arabic ornamentation in contemporary buildings<ref name="EI2">{{cite encyclopedia | article = Atīna | first = Franz | last = Babinger | author-link = Franz Babinger | encyclopedia = The Encyclopedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume I: A–B | publisher = BRILL | location = Leiden and New York | year = 1986 | isbn = 90-04-08114-3 | pages = 738–739 | url = http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/atina-SIM_0849 }}</ref>—but there is also evidence of a mosque existing in the city at the time.<ref name="ODB" /> In the great dispute over [[Byzantine Iconoclasm]], Athens is commonly held to have supported the [[iconophile]] position, chiefly due to the role played by Empress [[Irene of Athens]] in the ending of the first period of Iconoclasm at the [[Second Council of Nicaea]] in 787.<ref name="ODB" /> A few years later, another Athenian, [[Theophano of Athens|Theophano]], became empress as the wife of [[Staurakios]] (r. 811–812).<ref name="ODB" />

Invasion of the empire by 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 I Komnenos|Alexios]], [[John II Komnenos|John]] and [[Manuel I Komnenos|Manuel]], Attica and the rest of Greece prospered. Archaeological evidence tells us that the medieval town experienced a period of rapid and sustained growth, starting in the 11th century and continuing until the end of the 12th century.
[[File:Acropolis_Frankish_tower.jpg|thumb|Photograph of the [[Frankish Tower (Acropolis of Athens)|Frankish Tower of the Acropolis of Athens]] in 1874, with the ruins of the [[Propylaea (Acropolis of Athens)|Propylaea]] and view west over the Athenian plain towards [[Mount Aigaleo]] before it demolished in 1875]]

The [[Ancient Agora of Athens|Agora]] (marketplace) 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 [[Venice|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 Middle Byzantine churches in and 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 [[Roman Catholicism|Latins]] before it was taken by the [[Ottoman Turks]]. It did not become Greek in government again until the 19th century.

From 1204 until 1458, Athens was ruled by Latins in three separate periods, following the [[Crusades]]. The "Latins", or "[[Franks (Crusaders)|Franks]]", were western Europeans and followers of the [[Latin Church]] brought to the [[Eastern Mediterranean]] during the Crusades. Along with rest of Byzantine Greece, Athens was part of the series of feudal [[fiefs]], similar to the  [[Crusader states]] established in [[Syria (region)|Syria]] and on [[Kingdom of Cyprus|Cyprus]] after the [[First Crusade]]. This period is known as the ''[[Frankokratia]]''.

===Ottoman Athens===
{{Main|Ottoman Greece}}
[[File:Tzistarakis_Mosque_on_March_7,_2020.jpg|thumb|[[Tzistarakis Mosque]], an [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] mosque, built in 1759, in [[Monastiraki]] Square]]
[[File:Peytier - Mosque in the Parthenon.jpg|thumb|right|The second [[Parthenon mosque]] in the ruined [[Parthenon]], which was destroyed by a [[Siege of the Acropolis (1687)|Venetian bombardment in 1687]], depicted by [[Pierre Peytier]] in the 1830s]]

The first [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] attack on Athens, which involved a short-lived occupation of the town, came in 1397, under the Ottoman generals [[Yaqub Pasha]] and Timurtash.<ref name="EI2"/> Finally, in 1458, Athens was captured by the Ottomans under the personal leadership of Sultan [[Mehmed II]].<ref name="EI2"/> As the Ottoman Sultan 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 the [[Parthenon mosque|main mosque]] of the city.<ref name=tung/>

Under Ottoman rule, Athens was denuded of any importance and its population severely declined, leaving it as a "small country town" ([[Franz Babinger]]).<ref name="EI2"/> From the early 17th century, Athens came under the jurisdiction of the [[Kizlar Agha]], the chief black eunuch of the [[Imperial Harem|Sultan's harem]]. The city had originally been granted by Sultan [[Ahmed I]] ({{reign|1603|1617}}) to Basilica, one of his favourite concubines, who hailed from the city, in response of complaints of maladministration by the local governors. After her death, Athens came under the purview of the Kizlar Agha.<ref>{{cite book |last = Augustinos |first = Olga |chapter = Eastern Concubines, Western Mistresses: Prévost's ''Histoire d'une Grecque moderne'' |page=24 |editor1-last = Buturović |editor1-first = Amila |editor2-last = Schick |editor2-first = İrvin Cemil |title = Women in the Ottoman Balkans: Gender, Culture and History |year = 2007 |publisher = I.B. Tauris |location = London and New York |isbn = 978-1-84511-505-0 |chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xEHnuObu1D4C&pg=PA24}}</ref>

The Turks began a practice of storing gunpowder and explosives in the Parthenon and [[Propylaea (Acropolis of Athens)|Propylaea]]. In 1640, a lightning bolt struck the Propylaea, causing its destruction.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ancient-greece.org/history/acropolis-ottoman.html |title=and (Dontas, The Acropolis and its Museum, 16) |publisher=Ancient-greece.org |date=21 April 2007 |access-date=22 March 2009}}</ref> In 1687, during the [[Morean War]], the Acropolis [[Siege of the Acropolis (1687)|was besieged]] by the Venetians under [[Francesco Morosini]], 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 (26 September), and the building was severely damaged, giving it largely the appearance it has today. The Venetian occupation of Athens lasted for six months, and both the Venetians and the Ottomans participated in the looting of the Parthenon. One of its western pediments was removed, causing even more damage to the structure.<ref name=tung/><ref name="EI2"/> During the Venetian occupation, the two mosques of the city were converted into Catholic and Protestant churches, but on 9 April 1688 the Venetians abandoned Athens again to the Ottomans.<ref name="EI2"/>

=== Modern history ===
{{Main|Greek War of Independence|Kingdom of Greece|Republic of Greece}}
[[File:Peter von Hess - The Entry of King Othon of Greece in Athens - WGA11387.jpg|thumb|''The Entry of [[Otto of Greece|King Otto]] in Athens'', [[Peter von Hess]], 1839]]

In 1822, a Greek insurgency captured the city, but it fell to the Ottomans again in 1826 (though Acropolis held till June 1827). Again the ancient monuments suffered badly. The Ottoman forces remained in possession until March 1833, when they withdrew.

Following the [[Greek War of Independence]] and the establishment of the [[Greek Kingdom]], Athens was chosen to replace [[Nafplio]] as the second capital of the newly independent Greek state in 1834, largely because of historical and sentimental reasons.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vb2xAAAAIAAJ&q=otto+move+capital+athens |title=Planning and Urban Growth in Southern Europe |last=Wynn |first=Martin |year=1984 |publisher=Mansell |isbn=978-0720116083 |page=6 |language=en}}</ref> At the time, after the extensive destruction it had suffered during the war of independence, it was reduced to a town of about 4,000 people (less than half its earlier population) in a loose swarm of houses along the foot of the Acropolis. The first [[King of Greece]], Otto of Bavaria, commissioned the architects [[Stamatios Kleanthis]] and [[Eduard Schaubert]] to design a modern city plan fit for the capital of a state.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}
[[File:Olympic flame at opening ceremony.jpg|thumb|The [[Olympic Flame]] at the [[2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony|opening ceremony]] of the [[2004 Summer Olympics]]]]

The first modern city plan consisted of a triangle defined by the Acropolis, the ancient cemetery of [[Kerameikos]] and the new palace of the Bavarian king (now housing the [[Greek Parliament]]), so as to highlight the continuity between modern and ancient Athens. Neoclassicism, the international style of this epoch, was the architectural style through which Bavarian, French and Greek architects such as Hansen, Klenze, Boulanger or Kaftantzoglou designed the first important public buildings of the new capital.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}} In 1896, Athens hosted the first modern [[Olympic Games]]. During the 1920s a number of [[Greek refugees]], expelled from [[Anatolia|Asia Minor]] after the [[Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)|Greco-Turkish War]] and [[Greek genocide]], swelled Athens's population; nevertheless it was most particularly following [[World War II]], and from the 1950s and 1960s, that the population of the city exploded,{{citation needed|date=January 2023}} and Athens experienced a gradual expansion.

In the 1980s, it became evident that smog from factories and an ever-increasing fleet of automobiles, as well as a lack of adequate free space due to congestion, had evolved into the city's most important challenge.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}} A series of anti-pollution measures taken by the city's authorities in the 1990s, combined with a substantial improvement of the city's infrastructure (including the [[Attiki Odos]] motorway, the expansion of the [[Athens Metro]], and the new [[Athens International Airport]]), considerably alleviated pollution and transformed Athens into a much more functional city. In 2004, Athens hosted the [[2004 Summer Olympics]].