A 7000 years of history living in Athens, Greece

1. Athens
the most ancient polis in Europe*
But what does Athens has to say
for 7000 years of
history, democracy and philosophy?
* Argos is also considered
to be the most ancient city in Europe

2. Wisdom
Athens was named after
the goddess Athena, after
a contest with Poseidon in
Acropolis.
Athena won with an olive tree
as a gift to the city.
*Αθηνά means Understanding or
Thought.
Plato, Cratylus, 407b Athena*

3. Mythology
First inhabited in the
Neolithic period, as a
defensible settlement
on top of the Acropolis,
around the end of 4000
BC.
By 1400 BC the
settlement had become
a center of the
Mycenean civilization.
* mythological King of
Athens Theseus*

4. HistoryHistory
Athens succeeded in
bringing the other
towns of Attica under
its rule. Synoikismos
created the largest and
wealthiest state on the
Greek mainland, but it
also created a larger
class of people excluded
from political life by the
nobility.
Attica

5. Reform
Politics from
families to
politics from
free men
Solon
created the
social basis that
led to
democracy later.

6. Tyranny
Few steps till
democracy…
After Solon, tyrants ruled
Athens, but not for long.
Tyrannicides (so as
the Marathon Battle
some years later) put an
end to Tyranny.
Tyrannicides

7. Democracy
Most offices were filled by
lot, although the ten
strategoi (generals) were
elected. This system
remained remarkably
stable and, with a few
brief interruptions, it
remained in place for 170
years, until Philip II of
Macedon defeated Athens
at the Battle of
Chaeroneain 338 BC.
* The founder of Athens democracy Cleisthenes*

8. Strategy
Themistocles connected Athens
with Piraeus port, preparing Athens for
the war with Sparta, after the victory of
Greeks against the Persians
*Piraeus is Athens port
Piraeus*

9. Leadership
Pericles name made
famous by Thucydides,
the first real historian.
Pericles led Athens to its
Golden Era, transforming
Athens to the first empire
of the ancient world.
Pericles

10. Philosophy
Plato’s Academy,
student of
Socrates,
Aristotle, and
many more lived
in Athens.
Their ideas
formed the
European culture.
Plato

11. Economics
Athens was the first
Cosmopolitan Metropolis
with goods from around
the world reaching
Piraeus port.
Knowledge, Trade and
Economy was globalised in
the ancient world for the
first time in history.
Coins

12. Empire
Delos was the capital of
Athenian Alliance.
The island that
Apollo was born, no
man is allowed to be
born or die in this
island, until today…
*Delos is in the Aegean Sea.
Delos*

13. A
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14. Theater
Dionysus Theater in
Acropolis was the
place were
Athenians were
gathering to be
educated with
Drama.
Man is seen as he is.
Dramatic.
Drama

15. Celebration
Panathinaia was
the ancient festival
for Athena in
Athens.
Today the historic
Football Club of
Panathinaikos
carries the same
name.
Panathinaia

16. Alexander the Great
Phillip of Macedon
rules Athens.
Orator Demosthenes
stood against him, but
Phillip’s son, Alexander,
was foreseen to rule
the known world and
become one of the
global history leaders.
Demosthenes

17. Roman Athens
Under Rome, Athens was
given the status of a free
city because of its widely
admired schools. The
Roman emperor Hadrian, in
the 2nd century
AD, constructed a library, a
gymnasium, an aqueduct
which is still in use, several
temples and sanctuaries, a
bridge and financed the
completion of the Temple of
Olympian Zeus
Roman Agora

18. Athens lost its classical Glory after Ages..

19. Byzantium
But the conversion of the
Empire to Christianity
ended the city's role as a
centre of pagan learning;
the Emperor Justinian
closed the schools of
philosophy in AD 529.
This is generally taken to
mark the end of the
ancient history of Athens.
The 11th and 12th
centuries were the
Golden Age of Byzantine
art. Till today many things
remain intact till today. Churches

20. Latin Athens
Athens was the capital of the
eponymous Duchy of Athens. The
Burgundian family De la Roche, it
replaced Athens as the capital
and seat of government,
although Athens remained the
most influential ecclesiastical
centre in the duchy and site of a
prime fortress. Under the
Burgundian dukes, a bell tower
was added to the Parthenon.
Also the brought chivalry
and tournaments to Athens; they
also fortified the Acropolis. They
were themselves influenced by
Byzantine Greek culture. Duchy of Athens

21. Ottoman Athens
In 1458, Athens fell to the Ottoman Empire.
As the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II the
Conqueror rode into the city, he was greatly
struck by the beauty of its ancient
monuments and issued a firman (imperial
edict) forbidding their looting or
destruction, on pain of death.
The Parthenon was converted into Athens'
main mosque. The 375-year Ottoman rule of
Athens (and of Greece in general) was the
longest by any non-Hellenic power since the
Romans.
• Monastiraki

22. Independence
In 1822, a Greek insurgency captured the city,
but it fell to the Ottomans again in 1826.
Again the ancient monuments suffered badly.
Partially funded Byron, the Greeks continued
to fight, but the Ottoman forces remained in
possession until 1833, when they withdrew.
Athens was chosen to be the capital of the
newly established kingdom of Greece. At that
time, the city was virtually uninhabited, being
merely a cluster of buildings at the foot of
the Acropolis, where the Plaka district is now.

23. Capital
Athens was chosen as the
Greek capital for historical
and sentimental reasons. A
modern city plan was laid out
and public buildings were
erected. The finest legacy of
this period are the University
of Athens (1837), the Old
Royal Palace (now the Greek
Parliament Building)
(1843), the National Gardens
of Athens
(1840), the National Library
of Greece (1842), the Greek
National Academy
(1885), the Zappeion Exhibiti
on Hall (1878), the Old
Parliament
Building (1858), the New
Athens 1888
Royal Palace (now the
Presidential Palace) (1897)
and the Athens Town Hall
(1874).

24. 1896
the first
modern
Olympics is
a fact.
Olympics

25. Modern
2004
Athens
Olympics
were the best
Olympics in
history of the
modern
Games.

26. SO TODAY?
http://www.athens-today.com/

27. Notable Athenians
Aeschylus Nicias
Alcibiades Peisistratos
Aristophanes Pericles
Aspasia Pheidias
Cimon Plato
Cleisthenes Simonides
Cleon Socrates
Demosthenes Solon
Ephialtes Sophocles
Euripides Themistocles
Herodotus Theseus
Empress Irene Thrasybulus
Miltiades Thucydides
Xenophon

28. Ancient sites in Athens
The Acropolis, with the
Parthenon
Agora
Arch of Adrian
Areopagus
Kerameikos
Lysicrates monument
Philopappos monument
Pnyx
Temple of Hephaestus
Temple of Olympian Zeus
Tower of the Winds Parthenon

29. Now
Athens lives its modern
drama version, with the
values of the past trying to
come back to life.
Times change, but people
most of the times do not.
Hopefully, History is still
being written and made by
people.

30. Sites I can learn more about Athens
Blogs
http://www.athensguide.com/top-
10/index.htm
http://www.true-athens.com/
http://www.athens-today.com/
Official
http://thisisathens.org/default.php?pnam
e=homepage2&la=2
http://www.breathtakingathens.com/
Commercial
http://athens.dailysecret.com/
Hotels
http://www.all-athens-hotels.com/
Sounion

31. http://www.harrys-greece.com/h-
athens/cultural/beaches.htm

32. Thank you
ΑΘΗΝΑ
Themis Papadimopoulos
www.opentourism.gr