Athens

Athens, the Birthplace of Democracy

Athens is a vivid example of a city that brings culture, antiquity, and modernity together in a mystifying mixture of its past, as well as its recent heritage. Athens is comprised by numerous suburbs which play a key role in the unfolding of its uniqueness as a historical city, but as well as a major modern actor in areas varying from science to trade. Athenian architecture can bewilder even the most experienced eye, with buildings representing eras such as the Greco-Roman, Neo-Classical and modern. With the Athenian municipality being divided into several districts, the very heart of the city brings up several different expressions of its past as well as its current standing as a European capital.

The history of Athens is rich and extensive.
Athens has been occupied from 3,000 BC onward, but it wasn’t until the height of Mycenean rule (1,400 BC to 1,200 BC), that the city began to create its basis for future development. Originally situated around the vicinity of the Rocky Mount known as the Acropolis (Acropolis literary means “the edge of the city”), the city began to spread southward. As Athens expanded physically towards the seacoast to form the port of Piraeus, so too did it evolve from a political standpoint. Politically, Athenians were divided into four classes, based on their wealth and their ability to perform military service by Solon in the beginnings of the 500’s B.C.E. The poorest class, the Thetes, who were the majority of the population, received political rights for the first time, being able to vote in the Ecclesia (Assembly), but only the upper classes could hold political office. This new system laid the foundations for what eventually became known as the Athenian democracy. Most of the major Athenian temples which were destroyed during the first Persians invasion of Greece, were rebuilt under the leadership of Pericles during the Golden Age of Athens (460–430 BC) in which democracy was officially established. From 400 BC onward, the city of Athens began to take on the facade of classical Golden Age Greece. Within this time in Athens, the Agora, which is the area below the citadel, became the center of civic life. The Agora was the marketplace and meeting place where the Athenians could speak of civic and public affairs. Once in Athens, you should always have in mind, that the modern city is build over an ancient one. That being said, you will not find the grid like mapping you will find in north American cities. If you want to get around in Athens always carry a map with you.