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History
 Named
after Athena, goddess of wisdom, ancient Athens is considered to be the
cradle of Western civilisation. Some scholars date the earliest traces of
settlement found on the Acropolis as far back as 5000 BC.
The Ionian kings who ruled
Athens until c.1000 BC were replaced by an aristocratic regime that governed
rigidly until 594 BC. At that time Solon legislated liberal reforms
abolishing serfdom, modifying harsh laws, altering the economy and the
constitution thus establishing a limited democracy.
Building on the system of Solon,
in c.506 BC Cleisthenes established a democracy for the freemen of Athens,
which was retained during the era of the city's greatness.
Emerging victorious from the
Persian Wars (500-449 BC), Athens became the strongest Greek city-state,
enjoying a cultural explosion that lasted until the Peloponnesian War
(431-404 BC), which eventually signalled the city's downfall. The rise of
the Macedonian power heralded the demise of Athens, which was defeated by
Philip II at Chaeronea in 338 BC.
 Nevertheless, despite troubled
times in the Peloponnesian Wars and the wars against the Macedonians,
Athenian achievements in philosophy, drama and art continued even when the
city's glory faded in the 3rd century BC. The city's cultural legacy
conquered the world as Hellenistic culture. During the Byzantine period,
Athens became a provincial capital and the centre of religious learning and
devotion, to be seized by the Turks in 1546, three years after the fall of
Constantinople. One year after the last Turks were driven from the Acropolis
in 1833, the small town of Athens became the capital of modern Greece and
hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.
More recently, Athens was
occupied by Italian and German forces during World War II. |
