Athens

Important classical Greek city-state with evidence for continuous occupation from the Late Neolithic, but because of its continuous occupation and the resulting disturbance of the earlier levels, its history is told from the time of the Mycenaeans in the Late Bronze Age. The citadel on the Acropolis was walled early in its history. It is the capital of Greece and generally considered to be the birthplace of Western civilization. Athens is best known for its temples and public buildings of antiquity. The Parthenon, a columned, rectangular temple built for the city's patron goddess, Athena, is considered to be the culmination of the Doric order of classical Greek architecture. Also located on the Acropolis are the Erechtheum, originally the temple of both Athena and Poseidon, and the Propylaea, the entrance of which is through the wall of the Acropolis. At the foot of the Acropolis, to the south, are the theaters of Herodes and Dionysus, while to the northwest is the Agora, the ancient marketplace of the city. The Kerameikos cemetery documents the city's Iron Age (c 11-8 BC), after which archaeology and history combine to tell of its brilliance through the classical period. It supposedly rivaled Knossos and later resisted successive waves of Dorian invaders. It is still not clear how far Athens, perhaps the base of the very early Ionian colonies, managed to ride out the 'dark age' that followed the collapse of Mycenaean civilization. There is evidence of a cultural and commercial renaissance in the 7th and 6th centuries BC. A major component of this socioeconomic revolution was the borrowing of the Phoenician alphabet for the writing of Greek. Commercial success brought rapid economic growth and a population explosion. New ideas were imported and political upheaval led to experiments in government, such as democracy. Athens resisted Persian invaders and developed a prestige which allowed the establishment of the Delian League and the extension of her political power - the Athenian empire. In the years 447-431 BC, under Pericles, vast sums were spent on public works, such as the new group of buildings on the Acropolis including the Parthenon. Pericles would not grant the Hellenes the freedom requested by Sparta, which led to the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC) after which Athens was a dependent of Sparta. Escape from Spartan imperialism in the 4th century BC was threatened by Philip of Macedon and Alexander the Great. By the end of the century, Macedon dominated and Athens did not achieve independence until 228 BC. Rome then intruded in the 2nd and 1st centuries and Athens was sieged and plundered by Sulla. During the Imperial period, Athens was confined to a role as a cultural center and seat of learning for the rich - which lasted into the 6th century AD, when the edict of Justinian in 529 closed down the schools of philosophy. By the Byzantine period, Athens had become a modest provincial town. Athens' ruins will be difficult to protect from the corrosive atmosphere and millions of visiting tourists.

Major classical Greek city-state in Attica with evidence for continous occupation since the Mycenaean period. Most literary sources are decisively pro-Athenian, and Athenian cultural dominance has been such that this bias often still persists in contemporary scholarship. The geographical position in the middle of a seaboard plain some seven km from the sea is no more advantageous than many of the city’s ancient rivals, and the immediate neighbourhood was not especially fertile. Marble was available from nearby Mount Pentelikon, silver from the mines of Laurium near Cape Sunium, and there were plentiful local sources for potters’ clay. Some occupation of the acropolis and the neighbouring area seems likely in the late Neolithic. In the Mycenaean period, legend (and some more recent authorities) would have perhaps a dozen towns or kingdoms in Attica by the time of mythical Cecrops, administered from an Athenian citadel that was strong enough in due course to rival Knossos and, later, to resist successive waves of Dorian invaders. A more sober case, however, might be argued for a modest fortified settlement. Valuable Iron Age material comes from the Kerameikos (Potters’ Quarter) cemetery. But it is still not clear how far Athens, with its achievements in geometric pottery, and acting perhaps as base for the very early Ionian colonies, managed to ride out the ‘Dark Age’ that seems to have followed the collapse of Mycenaean civilization elsewhere (see Mycenae). The tradition of the Attic synoecism, in which the small kingdoms supposedly came together to found the city-state of Athens — celebrated in the special festival of the Synoi-keia — is another which is difficult to convert into a dateable process and awkward to accept without qualification. Athena, the patron goddess of Athens, striking in her fully armed yet female representation, may well be equated with a Mycenaean maiden-protectress of princes and citadels, but such synoecism as there may have been seems too early to have been associated with the legendary Theseus. If the tradition does conceal a reality, perhaps the process should be placed much later, and relate rather to the expansionism that begins to appear from the 7th century onward. With the 7th and 6th centuries bc we have evidence for a cultural and commercial renaissance, partly home-grown and partly recrossing the Aegean sea from the Ionian settlements. A major component in this socioeconomic revolution was undoubtedly the borrowing of the Phoenician alphabet for the writing of Greek. Athens entered directly upon a process of alternating success and failure that was to last right up to the Roman Imperial period. Commerical success against rival Corinth and further afield brought rapid economic growth and a population explosion. New ideas were imported, and political upheaval led to experiments in government which slowly democratized an entrenched aristocracy. In 490 at Marathon and again in 480 at Salamis, Athens was able to act as focus for Greek national resistance to the Persian invaders, and the prestige derived from these victories led directly to the Delian League and the greatest ever extension of her political power — the Athenian empire. The new imperial status gave a boost to conservative idealism in the city (as may be seen very clearly, for example, in Pericles’ Funeral Speech in Thucydides II), and ushered in what later writers such as Plato, and antiquity and the western world in general, always were to look back to as the Golden Age of Greek civilization. In the years 447-431 bc, under the unwavering leadership of Pericles, vast sums were spent on grandiose schemes of public works, such as the new group of buildings on the Acropolis including the Parthenon. Athenian pretensions, however, were widely resented, and it fell to Sparta and Boeotia to make sure that they were short-lived. The final Spartan embassy to Athens simply said: ‘Sparta wants peace. Peace is still possible if you will give the Hellenes back their freedom.’ Pericles advised no concession, and Athens began the long catalogue of misdirected strategy and disaster that was to be the Peloponnesian War (431-404 bc). The end of the war brought Athens the ignominy of dependency under Sparta. The 4th century BC saw Athens returning to commercial success but pursuing an uncertain foreign policy. Escape from Spartan imperialism brought an uneasy autonomy, to be followed by the successive threats of Philip of Macedon and Alexander the Great. By the end of the century, Macedonian domination had arrived, and with it the final end to any Athenian claim to the status of a leading power. Athens made determined efforts to shake off Macedon during the 3rd century bc and was rewarded with the achievement of independence once again by 228 bc. The 2nd and 1st centuries, however, saw Athens facing yet another intruder, Rome, and having to endure siege and plunder at the hands of the arch-philistine Roman, Sulla. During the Imperial period, Athens was confined quietly to her remaining role of cultural centre and fashionable seat of learning for the sons of the rich (though even in this there was now competition from cultural rivals, such as Alexandria). The cultural function lasted into the 6th century ad, until the edict of Justinian in 529 closed down the schools of philosophy. By the Byzantine period Athens had become a modest provincial town. What remains today of the monuments of classical Athens was, until very recently, more the outcome of chance than conscious management. In the case of the Temple of Hephaestus and Athena (so-called Theseion), use as a church up to 1834 contributed to its preservation. The major buildings on the Acropolis, however, all suffered variously from the vicissitudes of Christian re-use and Turkish occupation. The Erechtheum, for instance, was converted into an harem for a time, while the Turks’ use of the Propylaea and the Parthenon as powder magazines led to massive damage to both. The colossal explosion after the magazine in the Parthenon was hit by mortar fire from Mouseion Hill in 1687 left the temple a smouldering ruin, tom into two gutted halves. To this sorry history have now been added two modern evils — the corrosive present-day atmosphere of Athens and Attica, and the unending attrition of visiting tourists. Removal of the surviving sculptures from the buildings before they deteriorate further is a sensible act of management, but unfortunately longer-term solutions will be complex and costly.