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Main article: History of Athens
Athens ????a? 508 BC–322 BC Owl of Athena, patron of Athens of Owl of
Athena, patron of Athens Delian League ("Athenian Empire") shown in
yellow, Athenian territory shown in red, situation in 431 BC, before the
Peloponnesian War. Delian League ("Athenian Empire") shown in yellow,
Athenian territory shown in red, situation in 431 BC, before the Peloponnesian
War. Capital Athens Common languages Attic Greek Religion Ancient Greek
religion Government Direct democracy Strategos • 449–429 BC Pericles
Legislature Ecclesia Historical era Classical antiquity • Cleisthenes
establishes Athenian democracy 508 BC • Delian League 478–404 BC
(404–403 BC Thirty tyrants) • Second Athenian League 378–355 BC
• Lamian War 322 BC Population • 5th century BC1 ~250,000 (men with
civil rights: ~30,000) Currency Drachma Preceded by Succeeded by Peisistratids
League of Corinth 1BBC History The city of Athens (Ancient Greek: ????a?,
Athênai [a.t??^?.nai?]; Modern Greek: ????a? Athine [a.'?i.ne?] or, more
commonly and in singular, ????a Athina [a.'?i.na]) during the classical period
of ancient Greece (480–323 BC)[1] 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 Akademia
and Aristotle's Lyceum,[2][3] 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,[4] 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.[5]
History Rise to power (508–448 BC) Main articles: Ionian Revolt, Persian
Wars, and First Peloponnesian War 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[6] 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.[7] 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. Early Athenian coin, 5th century BC.
British Museum. 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.[8
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) Main article: Age of Pericles 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.[9]
Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) Main article: Peloponnesian War Further
information: Athenian coup of 411 BC The modern National Academy in Athens,
with Apollo and Athena on their columns, and Socrates and Plato seated in
front. 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) Further information: Alexander the
Great, Antipatrid dynasty, and Antigonid dynasty 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 BC /337 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.
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The city Overview Map of ancient Athens
showing the Acropolis in middle, the Agora to the northwest, and the city
walls. 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 1.5 km (0.93 mi) 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,[10] 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 Main
article: City walls of Athens Main article: Long Walls Map of the environs of
Athens showing Piraeus, Phalerum, and the Long 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.
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