The city of Athens ( grc|Ἀθῆναι, ''Athênai''
.tʰɛ̂ː.nai̯ Modern Greek: Αθήναι ''Athine'' or, more commonly and in singular, Αθήνα ''Athina''
.'θi.na during the
classical period of
ancient Greece (480–323 BC) was the major urban centre of the notable
polis (
city-state) of the same name, located in
Attica,
Greece, leading the
Delian League in the
Peloponnesian War against
Sparta and the
Peloponnesian League.
Athenian democracy was established in 508 BC under
Cleisthenes following the
tyranny of
Isagoras. This system remained remarkably stable, and with a few brief interruptions remained in place for 180 years, until 322 BC (aftermath of
Lamian War). The peak of Athenian
hegemony was achieved in the 440s to 430s BC, known as the
Age of Pericles.
In the
classical period,
Athens was a centre for the arts, learning and
philosophy, home of
Plato's
Academy and
Aristotle's
Lyceum, Athens was also the birthplace of
Socrates, Plato,
Pericles,
Aristophanes,
Sophocles, and many other prominent philosophers, writers and politicians of the ancient world. It is widely referred to as the
cradle of
Western Civilization, and the birthplace of
democracy, largely due to the impact of its cultural and political achievements during the 5th and 4th centuries BC on the rest of the then-known European continent.
History
Rise to power (508–448 BC)
Hippias, son of Peisistratus, had ruled Athens jointly with his brother, Hipparchus, from the death of Peisistratus in about 527. Following the assassination of Hipparchus in about 514, Hippias took on sole rule, and in response to the loss of his brother, became a worse leader who was increasingly disliked. Hippias exiled 700 of the Athenian noble families, amongst them
Cleisthenes' family, the Alchmaeonids. Upon their exile, they went to Delphi, and Herodotus says they bribed the
Pythia always to tell visiting Spartans that they should invade Attica and overthrow Hippias. That supposedly worked after a number of times, and Cleomenes led a Spartan force to overthrow Hippias, which succeeded, and instated an oligarchy. Cleisthenes disliked the Spartan rule, along with many other Athenians, and so made his own bid for power. The result was
democracy in Athens, but considering Cleisthenes' motivation for using the people to gain power, as without their support, he would have been defeated, and so Athenian democracy may be tainted by the fact its creation served greatly the man who created it. The reforms of Cleisthenes replaced the traditional four Ionic "tribes" (
phyle) with ten new ones, named after legendary heroes of Greece and having no class basis, which acted as electorates. Each tribe was in turn divided into three trittyes (one from the coast; one from the city and one from the inland divisions), while each
trittys had one or more
demes, depending on their population, which became the basis of local government. The tribes each selected fifty members by lot for the
Boule, the council that governed Athens on a day-to-day basis. The
public opinion of voters could be influenced by the
political satires written by the
comic poets and performed in the city
theaters. The
Assembly or Ecclesia was open to all full 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, although the ten
strategoi (generals) were elected.

The silver
mines of Laurion contributed significantly to the development of Athens in the 5th century BC, when the Athenians learned to prospect, treat, and refine the ore and used the proceeds to build a massive fleet, at the instigation of
Themistocles.
In 499 BC, Athens sent troops to aid the
Ionian Greeks of
Asia Minor, who were rebelling against the
Persian Empire (see
Ionian Revolt). That provoked two Persian invasions of Greece, both of which were repelled under the leadership of the soldier-statesmen
Miltiades and
Themistocles (see
Persian Wars). In 490 the Athenians, led by
Miltiades, prevented the first invasion of the Persians, guided by king
Darius I, at the
Battle of Marathon. In 480 the Persians returned under a new ruler,
Xerxes I. The Hellenic League led by the Spartan King
Leonidas led 7,000 men to hold the narrow passageway of
Thermopylae against the 100,000–250,000 army of Xerxes, during which Leonidas and 300 other Spartan elites were killed. Simultaneously the Athenians led an indecisive naval battle off
Artemisium. However, that delaying action was not enough to discourage the Persian advance, which soon marched through
Boeotia, setting up
Thebes as their base of operations, and entered southern Greece. That 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, led by
Themistocles, defeated the Persian navy at sea in the
Battle of Salamis. 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. The victories enabled it to bring most of the Aegean and many other parts of Greece together in the
Delian League, an Athenian-dominated alliance.
Athenian hegemony (448–430 BC)
Pericles – an Athenian general, politician and orator – distinguished himself above the other personalities of the era, men who excelled in
politics,
philosophy,
architecture,
sculpture,
history and
literature. He fostered arts and literature and gave to Athens a splendor which would never return throughout its history. He executed a large number of public works projects and improved the life of the citizens. Hence, he gave his name to the Athenian Golden Age. Silver mined in
Laurium in southeastern Attica contributed greatly to the prosperity of this "Golden" Age of Athens.
During the time of the ascendancy of
Ephialtes as leader of the democratic faction,
Pericles was his deputy. When Ephialtes was
assassinated by personal enemies, Pericles stepped in and was elected general, or ''
strategos'', in 445 BC; a post he held continuously until his death in 429 BC, always by election of the
Athenian Assembly. The
Parthenon, a lavishly decorated temple to the goddess
Athena, was constructed under the administration of Pericles.
Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC)

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 Athens and the city-state Sparta ended with an Athenian defeat after Sparta started its own navy.
Athenian democracy was briefly overthrown by the
coup of 411, brought about because of its poor handling of the war, but it was 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.
Corinthian War and the Second Athenian League (395–355 BC)
Sparta's former allies soon turned against her due to her imperialist policies, and Athens's former enemies,
Thebes and
Corinth, became her allies.
Argos,
Thebes and
Corinth, allied with
Athens, fought against
Sparta in the decisive
Corinthian War of 395–387 BC. Opposition to Sparta enabled Athens to establish a
Second Athenian League. Finally
Thebes defeated Sparta in 371 in the
Battle of Leuctra. However, other Greek cities, including Athens, turned against
Thebes, and its dominance was brought to an end at the
Battle of Mantinea (362 BC) with the death of its leader, the military genius
Epaminondas.
Athens under Macedon (355–322 BC)
By mid century, however, the northern Greek kingdom of
Macedon was becoming dominant in Athenian affairs. In 338 BC the armies of
Philip II defeated Athens at the
Battle of Chaeronea, effectively limiting Athenian independence. During the winter of 338–37 BC Macedonia, Athens and other Greek states became part of the
League of Corinth. Further, the conquests of his son,
Alexander the Great, widened Greek horizons and made the traditional Greek city state obsolete.
Antipater dissolved the Athenian government and established a
plutocratic system in 322 BC (see
Lamian War and
Demetrius Phalereus). Athens remained a wealthy city with a brilliant cultural life, but ceased to be an independent power.
The city
Overview

Athens was in
Attica, about 30
stadia from the sea, on the southwest slope of
Mount Lycabettus, between the small rivers
Cephissus to the west,
Ilissos to the south, and the
Eridanos to the north, the latter of which flowed through the town. The walled city measured about in diameter, 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 city was burnt by
Xerxes in 480 BC, but was soon rebuilt under the administration of
Themistocles, and was adorned with public buildings by
Cimon and especially by
Pericles, in whose time (461–429 BC) it reached its greatest splendour. Its beauty was chiefly due to its public buildings, for the private houses were mostly insignificant, and its streets badly laid out. Towards the end of the
Peloponnesian War, it contained more than 10,000 houses, which at a rate of 12 inhabitants to a house would give a population of 120,000, though some writers make the inhabitants as many as 180,000. Athens consisted of two distinct parts:
* ''The City'', properly so called, divided into The Upper City or
Acropolis, and The Lower City, surrounded with walls by Themistocles.
* The port city of
Piraeus, also surrounded with walls by Themistocles and connected to the city with the
Long Walls, built under
Conon and
Pericles.
City walls

The city was surrounded by defensive walls from the Bronze Age and they were rebuilt and extended over the centuries.
In addition the
Long Walls consisted of two parallel walls leading to
Piraeus, 40
stadia long (4.5 miles, 7 km), running parallel to each other, with a narrow passage between them and, furthermore, a wall to
Phalerum on the east, 35 stadia long (4 miles, 6.5 km). There were therefore three long walls in all; but the name ''Long Walls'' seems to have been confined to the two leading to the Piraeus, while the one leading to Phalerum was called the ''Phalerian Wall''. The entire circuit of the walls was 174.5 stadia (nearly 22 miles, 35 km), of which 43 stadia (5.5 miles, 9 km) belonged to the city, 75 stadia (9.5 miles, 15 km) to the long walls, and 56.5 stadia (7 miles, 11 km) to Piraeus, Munichia, and Phalerum.
Acropolis (upper city)
The
Acropolis, also called ''Cecropia'' from its reputed founder,
Cecrops, was a steep rock in the middle of the city, about 50 meters high, 350 meters long, and 150 meters wide; its sides were naturally scarped on all sides except the west end. It was originally surrounded by an ancient
Cyclopean wall said to have been built by the
Pelasgians. At the time of the
Peloponnesian war only the north part of this wall remained, and this portion was still called the ''Pelasgic Wall''; while the south part which had been rebuilt by
Cimon, was called the ''Cimonian Wall''. On the west end of the Acropolis, where access is alone practicable, were the magnificent ''
Propylaea'', "the Entrances," built by
Pericles, before the right wing of which was the small
Temple of Athena Nike. The summit of the Acropolis was covered with temples, statues of bronze and marble, and various other works of art. Of the temples, the grandest was the ''
Parthenon'', sacred to the "Virgin" goddess
Athena; and north of the Parthenon was the magnificent ''
Erechtheion'', containing three separate temples, one to ''Athena Polias'', or the "Protectress of the State," the ''Erechtheion'' proper, or sanctuary of
Erechtheus, and the ''
Pandroseion'', or sanctuary of
Pandrosos, the daughter of Cecrops. Between the Parthenon and Erechtheion was the colossal
Statue of Athena Promachos, or the "Fighter in the Front," whose helmet and spear was the first object on the Acropolis visible from the sea.
Agora (lower city)
The lower city was built in the plain around the Acropolis, but this plain also contained several hills, especially in the southwest part. On the west side the walls embraced the Hill of the Nymphs and the
Pnyx, and to the southeast they ran along beside the
Ilissos.
Gates
There were many gates, among the more important there were:
* On the West side: ''Dipylon'', the most frequented gate of the city, leading from the inner
Kerameikos to the outer Kerameikos, and to the
Academy. ''The Sacred Gate'', where the sacred road to
Eleusis began. ''The Knight's Gate'', probably between the Hill of the Nymphs and the
Pnyx. ''The Piraean Gate'', between the Pnyx and the Mouseion, leading to the carriage road between the Long Walls to the Piraeus. ''The Melitian Gate'', so called because it led to the
deme Melite, within the city.
* On the South side: ''The Gate of the Dead'' in the neighbourhood of the Mouseion. ''The Itonian Gate'', near the Ilissos, where the road to
Phalerum began.
* On the East side: ''The Gate of Diochares'', leading to the
Lyceum. ''The Diomean Gate'', leading to
Cynosarges and the deme Diomea.
* On the North side: ''The Acharnian Gate'', leading to the deme
Acharnai.
Districts
* The ''Inner
Kerameikos'', or "Potter's Quarter," in the west of the city, extending north as far as the Dipylon gate, by which it was separated from the outer Kerameikos; the Kerameikos contained the
Agora, or "market-place," the only one in the city, lying northwest of the Acropolis, and north of the
Areopagus.
* The
deme Melite, in the west of the city, south of the inner Kerameikos.
* The deme
Skambonidai, in the northern part of the city, east of the inner Kerameikos.
* The
Kollytos, in the southern part of the city, south and southwest of the Acropolis.
*
Koele, a district in the southwest of the city.
* ''Limnai'', a district east of Melite and Kollytos, between the Acropolis and the Ilissos.
*
Diomea, a district in the east of the city, near the gate of the same name and the
Cynosarges.
* ''Agrai'', a district south of Diomea.
Hills
* The ''
Areopagus'', the "Hill of
Ares," west of the Acropolis, which gave its name to the celebrated council that held its sittings there, was accessible on the south side by a flight of steps cut out of the rock.
* The ''Hill of the Nymphs'', northwest of the Areopagus.
* The ''
Pnyx'', a semicircular hill, southwest of the Areopagus, where the ''
ekklesia'' (assemblies) of the people were held in earlier times, for afterwards the people usually met in the
Theatre of Dionysus.
* The ''Mouseion'', "the Hill of the Muses," south of the Pnyx and the Areopagus.
Streets
Among the more important streets, there were:
* The ''Piraean Street'', which led from the Piraean gate to the
Agora.
* The ''Panathenaic Way'', which led from the Dipylon gate to the
Acropolis via the
Agora, along which a solemn procession was made during the
Panathenaic Festival.
* The ''Street of the Tripods'', on the east side of the Acropolis.
Public buildings

* ''Temples''. Of these the most important was the ''Olympieion'', or
Temple of Olympian Zeus, southeast of the Acropolis, near the Ilissos and the fountain Callirrhoë, which was long unfinished, and was first completed by
Hadrian. The
Temple of Hephaestus, located to the west of the
Agora. The
Temple of Ares, to the north of the Agora. ''
Metroon'', or temple of the mother of the gods, on the west side of the Agora. Besides these, there was a vast number of other temples in all parts of the city.
* The ''
Bouleuterion'' (Senate House), at the west side of the Agora.
* The ''
Tholos'', a round building close to the Bouleuterion, built c. 470 BC by
Cimon, which served as the
Prytaneion, in which the
Prytaneis took their meals and offered their sacrifices.

* ''
Stoae'', or Colonnades, supported by pillars, and used as places of resort in the heat of the day, of which there were several in Athens. In the
Agora there were: the ''
Stoa Basileios'', the court of the
King-Archon, on the west side of the Agora; the ''
Stoa Eleutherios'', or Colonnade of Zeus Eleutherios, on the west side of the Agora; the ''
Stoa Poikile'', so called because it was adorned with fresco painting of the
Battle of Marathon by
Polygnotus, on the north side of the Agora.

* ''Theatres''. The
Theatre of Dionysus, on the southeast slope of the Acropolis, was the great theatre of the state. Besides this there were ''
Odeons'', for contests in vocal and instrumental music, an ancient one near the fountain Callirrhoë, and a second built by
Pericles, close to the theatre of Dionysius, on the southeast slope of the Acropolis. The large odeon surviving today, the
Odeon of Herodes Atticus was built in
Roman times.
*
Panathenaic Stadium, south of the Ilissos, in the district Agrai, where the athletic portion of the
Panathenaic Games were held.
* The ''
Argyrocopeum'' (mint) appears to have been in or adjoining the chapel (''
heroon'') of a hero named Stephanephorus.
Suburbs
* The ''Outer
Kerameikos'', northwest of the city, was the finest suburb of Athens; here were buried the Athenians who had fallen in war, and at the further end of it was the ''
Academy'', 6 stadia from the city.
* ''
Cynosarges'', east of the city, across the Ilissos, reached from the Diomea gate, a
gymnasium sacred to
Heracles, where the
Cynic Antisthenes taught.
* ''
Lyceum'', east of the city, a gymnasium sacred to
Apollo Lyceus, where
Aristotle taught.
Culture
The period from the end of the Persian Wars to the Macedonian conquest marked the zenith of Athens as a center of literature, philosophy (see
Greek philosophy) and the arts (see
Greek theatre). 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, an education for Hellas (usually quoted as "the school of Hellas
reece")
[Thucydides, 2.41.1]
See also
*
Athenian democracy
*
Academy of Plato
*
Athenian Army
*
Ephebic Oath
*
Women in Classical Athens
References
{{Authority control
Category:508 BC
Category:6th-century BC establishments in Greece
Category:322 BC
Category:4th-century BC disestablishments in Greece
Category:Ancient Athens
Category:Greek city-states