| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
| Contents | ||
The Acropolis in central Athens is home to ancient monuments of Athens — a mainstay of its thriving tourism industry
Athens ( Greek: Αθήνα, Athína) is the capital of Greece, and also the capital of the Attica region of Greece. A cosmopolitan modern city, Athens is also famous for being a powerful city-state and a very important center of learning in ancient times. It is named after its patron goddess, Athena.
For panoramic views of the city of Athens go to http://www.greeka.com
In Ancient Greek Athens was called Athinai (Αθήναι, plural for Athena), and in the 19th century this name was formally re-adopted as the city's name. Since the official abandonment of Katharevousa Greek in the 1970s, however, the popular form Athina has become the city's official name.
Main article: History of Athens
Athens was the leading city in Greece during the greatest period of Greek civilization during the 1st millennium BC. During the "Golden Age" of Greece (roughly 500 BC to 300 BCCenturies: 4th century BC 3rd century BC 2nd century BC Decades: 350s BC 340s BC 330s BC 320s BC 310s BC 300s BC 290s BC 280s BC 270s BC 260s BC 250s BC Years: 305 BC 304 BC 303 BC 302 BC 301 BC 300 BC 299 BC 298 BC 297 BC 296 BC 295 BC Births Deaths Even) it was the Western world's leading cultural and intellectual center, and indeed it is in the ideas and practices of Ancient Athens that what we now call "Western civilisation" has its origins. After its days of greatness, Athens continued to be a prosperous city and a centre of learning until the late Roman60 and 400 with major cities. During this time only Dacia and Mesopotamia were added to the Empire but were lost before 300. The Roman Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Roman state in the centuries following its reorganization under t period.
The schools of philosophy, however, were closed in AD 529Alternate uses: see Number 529 Events April 7 first draft of Corpus Juris Civilis (a fundamental work in jurisprudence) is issued by Eastern Roman Emporer Justinian I Academy at Athens, founded by Plato in 347 BC, is closed by Justinian I, Byzantine emper after the Byzantine EmpireThe Byzantine Empire or Eastern Roman Empire was the eastern section of the Roman Empire, with its capital at Constantinople (modern Istanbul), which remained in existence after the fall of Rome in the 5th century. The Byzantine period is usually consider converted to ChristianityThe historical phenomenon of Christianization a term for the conversion of individuals to Christianity and for the conversion of entire peoples at once (a political shift as much as a spontaneous mass shift in individual consciences), also covers the prac. Athens lost a great deal of status and became a provincial town. Between the 13th and 15th centuries the city was fought over by the Byzantines and the French and Italian knights of the Latin EmpireThe knights of the Fourth Crusade set up a Crusader kingdom known as the Latin Empire or Romania based on Constantinople after sacking the city in 1204. They intended it to be a Roman Catholic successor of the Byzantine Empire. Baldwin IX, Count of Flande. In 1458Events January 24 Matthias I Corvinus becomes king of Hungary Foundation of Magdalen College, University of Oxford George of Podebrady becomes king of Bohemia Pope Pius II becomes pope Turks sack the Acropolis Births Jacopo Sannazaro, Italian poet Deaths the city fell to the Ottoman EmpireOsmanlı İmparatorluğu Devlet-i Aliye-i Osmaniye The Ottoman Coat of Arms Imperial motto: unknown The Ottoman Empire at the height of its power Official language Ottoman Turkish Capital İstanbul ( Constantinople) Sovereigns Sultans and the city's population went into decline and conditions worsened as the Ottoman Empire declined as well. Parts of the city (including many of its older buildings) were destroyed in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries as different factions tried to control the city.
The city was virtually uninhabited by the time it was made the capital of the newly established kingdom of Greece in 1833. During the next few decades the city was rebuilt into a modern city. The next large expansion occurred in the 1920s when suburbs were created to house Greek refugees from Asia Minor. During World War II the city was occupied by Germany and fared badly in the war's later years. After the war the city started to grow again.
Greek entry into the European Union in 1981 brought new investment to the city along with problems of congestion and air pollution.Throughout the 1990s a series of measures were taken succesfully to combat pollution. In preparation for the 2004 Olympic games the city spruced up its image with the introduction of state-of-the-art transport means, a new airport, pedestrianised areas, new museums and public squares. The city's increasingly multi-ethnic population enjoy a vibrant night-life and world-class shopping.