ATHENS Runningsubhead •• History 95 ATHENS & ATTICA
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© Lonely Planet Publications 94 www.lonelyplanet.comlonelyplanet.com RUNNINGHEAD ••ATHENS RunningSubhead •• History 95 ATHENS & ATTICA ATHENS & ATTICA Persia and returned with Darius 20 years A t h e n s & A t t i c a ATHENS ΑΘΗΝΑ later, only to be defeated at the Battle of Marathon. HISTORY Αθήνα & Aττική Early History Athens’ Golden Age ATHENS & ATTICA ATHENS & ATTICA The early history of Athens is inextricably After Athens finally repulsed the Persian interwoven with mythology, making it im- Empire at the battles of Salamis and Plataea (again, with the help of Sparta), its power The Greek capital is undergoing a radical period of urban renewal that did not stop with possible to disentangle fact from fiction. What is known is that the hill-top site of knew no bounds. the 2004 Olympics. The magnificent Acropolis, crowned by the iconic Parthenon temple, In 477 BC Athens established a confederacy the Acropolis, with two abundant springs, on the sacred island of Delos and demanded rises above the city, watching the sprawling modern metropolis evolve. Athens is now a drew some of Greece’s earliest Neolithic tributes from the surrounding islands to pro- conspicuously wealthier, more sophisticated cosmopolitan city. The shift is evident in a settlers. When a peaceful agricultural ex- tect them from the Persians. It was little more istence gave way to the war-orientated gradual gentrification and the new art and leisure precincts around town, and in the lifestyles than a standover racket because the Persians city-states, the Acropolis provided an ideal of the hedonistic, trend-conscious Athenians. Stylish new restaurants, shops and revamped were no longer much of a threat. The treasury defensive position. hotels continue to open. was moved to Athens in 461 BC and Pericles By 1400 BC the Acropolis had become (ruler from 461 to 429 BC) used the money Perhaps the most significant change is in the historic centre, virtually unrecognisable since a powerful Mycenaean city. It survived to transform the city. This period has become the Dorian assault in 1200 BC but didn’t cars were banished, with most significant ancient sites linked in what has become Europe’s known as Athens’ golden age, the pinnacle of escape the dark age that enveloped Greece longest and arguably most stunning pedestrian promenade. This huge archaeological park the classical era. for the next 400 years. Little is known of Most of the monuments on the Acropolis has reconciled past and present, with the city’s cultural and social life once again taking this period. today date from Athens’ golden age. Drama place around the ancient monuments and surrounding neighbourhoods. Athens remains a After its emergence from the dark age in and literature flourished in the form of the city of contradictions, as frustrating as it is seductive. It is the oldest city in Europe, yet still the 8th century BC, a period of peace fol- tragedies written by such luminaries as lowed, during which Athens became the ar- Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. The in a state of transition. It’s one of Europe’s safest and liveliest cities – a heady mix of grunge tistic centre of Greece, excelling in ceramics. and grace with an undeniable urban soul. sculptors Pheidias and Myron and the histo- The geometric vase designs from the dark rians Herodotus, Thucydides and Xenophon age evolved into a narrative style, depicting also lived during this time. Most visitors will leave impressed with its vibrant street life and relaxed lifestyle, where scenes from everyday life and mythology people take time out for endless coffees and evening strolls, dine out until late and enjoy the (known as the Proto-Attic style). Rivalry with Sparta city’s nightlife, long after the rest of Europe has gone to bed. Athenians are the first to debate By the 6th century BC, Athens was ruled Sparta did not sit back and let Athens revel in and lament their city’s many shortcomings – but most wouldn’t live anywhere else. by aristocrats and generals. Labourers and its new-found glory. The jockeying for power peasants had no say in the functioning of between the two led to the Peloponnesian the city until the reform3-oriented Solon Wars (see p34 ) in 431 BC, which dragged became arhon (chief magistrate) in 594 BC on until 404 BC, when Sparta gained the and improved the lot of the poor. Regarded upper hand. Athens was never to return to HIGHLIGHTS as the harbinger of Athenian democracy, Solon’s most significant reforms were the Ancient Splendour Glimpsing the awe-inspiring Acropolis rising above the city for the first annulment of debts and the implementa- ATHENA & THE OLIVE TREE time ( p111 ) tion of trial by jury. Continuing unrest over According to mythology, Kekrops, a Phoe- Historic Trails Strolling through ancient Athens along the grand pedestrian promenade ( p115) the reforms created the pretext for the tyrant nician, came to Attica and founded a city Feast for the Eyes Dining in Thisio or Plaka with a view of the Peisistratos, formerly head of the military, to on a huge rock near the sea. The gods of floodlit Acropolis ( p137 ) seize power in 560 BC. Olympus proclaimed that the city should Peisistratos built up a formidable navy Greek Treasures Viewing the superb collec- be named after the deity who could pro- National and extended the boundaries of Athenian tion of antiquities at the National Archaeo- Archaeological duce the most valuable legacy for mortals. Museum influence on land. A patron of the arts, he logical Museum ( p120) Plaka Athena (goddess of wisdom) produced an Ancient Athens inaugurated the Festival of the Great Diony- olive tree, symbol of peace and prosper- Ancient Stage Catching an Athens Festival Acropolis Odeon of sia, the precursor of Attic drama, and com- ity. Poseidon (god of the sea) struck a rock show at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus Herodes Atticus missioned many splendid sacred and secular with his trident and a horse sprang forth, ( p130 ) buildings – most of which were destroyed symbolising the qualities of strength and Magic Nights Visiting lively bars, glamorous beach by the Persians. fortitude. The gods judged that Athena’s bars or moonlight cinema ( p141) Peisistratos was succeeded by his tyrant gift would better serve the citizens of Ath- son Hippias in 528 BC. Athens managed Take Time Out Watching the sun set at Cape Sounion ( p155 ) Cape Sounion ens than the arts of war personified by to rid itself of this oppressor in 510 BC Poseidon’s gift. POPULATION: ATHENS 3.4 MILLION; ATTICA 4 MILLION AREA : 3808 SQ KM with the help of Sparta. Hippias went to 96 RUNNINGHEADATHENS •• History •• Runningsubhead www.lonelyplanet.com lonelyplanet.com www.lonelyplanet.comlonelyplanet.com RUNNINGHEADATHENS •• RunningSubhead •• Orientation 97 ATHENS & ATTICA ATHENS & ATTICA its former glory. The 4th century BC did, gardens and squares. Sadly, many of these Post-Olympics Athens SYNTAGMA ΣΥΝΤΑΓΜΑ however, produce three of the West’s greatest buildings have been demolished. The best After a frantic, suspense-filled period of con- Plateia Syntagma (Constitution) is the heart orators and philosophers: Socrates, Plato and surviving examples are on Leoforos Vasilis- struction and doomsaying, Athens surprised of modern Athens, dominated by the Parlia- Aristotle. The degeneracy into which Athens sis Sofias and Panepistimiou. much of the world by pulling off a successful ment and surrounded by major hotels, the had fallen was perhaps epitomised by the ig- Olympic Games in 2004. Billions of euros central business district, shopping precincts ATHENS & ATTICA ATHENS & ATTICA nominious death sentence passed on Socrates The 20th Century were poured into the city’s redevelopment, and the National Gardens. With pleasant for the crime of corrupting the young with from transport infrastructure and stadiums to shady benches, central fountain, cafés and his speeches. Athens grew steadily throughout the latter pedestrian zones around the historic centre. the Syntagma metro station nearby, it is a In 338 BC, along with the other city-states half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and Major beautification projects removed ugly popular meeting place. Syntagma is the main of Greece, Athens was conquered by Philip II enjoyed a brief heyday as the ‘Paris of the billboards, paved footpaths, redeveloped the focal point for public rallies and civic events, of Macedon. After Philip’s assassination, his eastern Mediterranean’. This ended abruptly city’s parks and squares, and mass-planted while the changing of the guard ceremony son Alexander the Great, a cultured young in 1923 with the Treaty of Lausanne, which trees and plants. The Olympics legacy is that outside the Parliament is one of the city’s most man, favoured Athens over other city-states. resulted in nearly a million refugees from Athens today is a radically different city – a popular spectacles. After Alexander’s untimely death, Athens Turkey descending on Athens – an event more attractive, cleaner, greener and more passed in quick succession through the hands that marked the beginning of its much- efficient capital, though it is still a work in P L A K A ΠΛΑΚΑ of several of his generals. maligned concrete sprawl. progress and still battling with basic infra- South of Syntagma, Plaka is the old Turkish Athens suffered appallingly during the structure issues like waste management. quarter and virtually all that existed when Roman & Byzantine Rule German occupation of WWII, during which Athens was declared capital of independent Athens continued to be a major seat of learn- time more Athenians were killed by starva- ORIENTATION Greece. Its paved, narrow streets nestle into ing under Roman rule, when many wealthy tion than by the enemy. This suffering was City Centre the northeastern slope of the Acropolis and young Romans attended Athens’ schools.