Athens (pop. 772,072) is the capital of
Greece. The area that is now occupied by the
city has been continuously inhabited for
over 5,000 years. The first settlers came to
the area during the Neolithic Age and built
their dwellings at the bottom of the rock on
which the Acropolis stands today. During the
13th century BC, the mythical hero Theseus
united all the communities of Attica into a
single city that he named Athinai (Athens).
The 6th century BC is the peak for Athens.
Three leaders dominated the city: Solon, the
politician and lawmaker; Peisistratus, the
tyrant; and Cleisthenes, the founder of the
Athenian Democracy. The three played a great
part in shaping the form that Athens would
take in the future. During the 5th century
BC, after the victory at the Median Wars, a
brand new city was built-one that will
remain in history as the Classical Athens.
Themistocles, Cimon and Pericles later, were
the strong personalities that influenced
Athens during this period. The Peloponnesian
War (at the end of the 5th century BC) and
the defeat of the Athenians by the
Lacedaemonians brought the decline of
Athens. In 86 BC Athens fell to the Romans.
After Christianity spread, Athens became a
small and unimportant town in the Byzantine
Empire and followed the fate of the Empire.
Athens surrendered to Frankish rule in 1204.
The Turks followed in 1456. The modern
history of Athens began in 1834, after the
liberation Greece, following the War of
Independence of 1821. Athens, in ruins at
the time, became capital of the new Greek
state and two architects, Stamatios
Kleanthis and Edward Schaubert drew the
first city plan. At the end of the 19th
Century, neo-classical Athens became a city
easy to live in; limited in area, with two-
or at the most three-storey buildings and a
population of around 200,000. After World
War II, however, the city changed rapidly,
with millions pouring in from all over the
country and high-rise buildings cropping up.
The area of Greater Athens occupies today
the whole of the basin formed by the
surrounding mountains and has a population
of over 4 million. |
The
Indoor Hall of the Athens Olympic Complex, in the
suburb of Maroussi, north of downtown, will host the
Final Four of the 2009 Men's CEV Cup, 21-22 March.