| The History of Athens is one of the longest of any city | | | | was killed (see Aristodemus (Spartan)). This forced the |
| in Europe and in the world. Athens has been | | | | Athenians to evacuate Athens, which was taken by |
| continuously inhabited for over 3,000 years, becoming | | | | the Persians and seek the protection of their fleet. |
| the leading city of Ancient Greece in the first millennium | | | | Subsequently the Athenians and their allies, lead by |
| BC; its cultural achievements during the 5th century BC | | | | Themistocles had defeated the still vastly larger |
| laid the foundations of western civilization. | | | | Persian navy at sea in the Battle of Salamis. It is |
| During the Middle Ages, the city experienced decline | | | | interesting to note that Xerxes had built himself a |
| and then recovery under the Byzantine Empire, and | | | | throne on the coast in order to see the Greeks |
| was relatively prosperous during the Crusades, | | | | defeated. Instead, the Persians were routed. Sparta's |
| benefiting from Italian trade. | | | | hegemony was passing to Athens, and it was Athens |
| After a long period of decline under the rule of the | | | | that took the war to Asia Minor. These victories |
| Ottoman Empire, Athens re-emerged in the 19th | | | | enabled it to bring most of the Aegean and many |
| century as the capital of the independent Greek state. | | | | other parts of Greece together in the Delian League, |
| For more information and photos, click Athens History. | | | | an Athenian-dominated alliance. |
| | | | The period from the end of the Persian Wars to the |
| Akropolis and Parthenon, Athens Greece | | | | Macedonian conquest marked the zenith of Athens as |
| Some information about "the Classical Athens"Prior to | | | | a center of literature, philosophy (see Greek |
| the rise of Athens, the city of Sparta considered itself | | | | philosophy) and the arts (see Greek theatre). |
| the leader of the Greeks, or hegemon. In 499 BC | | | | |
| Athens sent troops to aid the Ionian Greeks of Asia | | | | |
| Minor, who were rebelling against the Persian Empire | | | | Stoa of Attalos, Athens Greece |
| (see Ionian Revolt). This provoked two Persian | | | | In this society, the political satire of the Comic poets at |
| invasions of Greece, both of which were defeated | | | | the theaters, had a remarkable influence on public |
| under the leadership of the Athenian soldier-statesmen | | | | opinion. |
| Miltiades and Themistocles. | | | | Some of the most important figures of Western |
| In 490 the Athenians, lead by Miltiades, defeated the | | | | cultural and intellectual history lived in Athens during this |
| first invasion of the Persians, guided by the king Darius | | | | period: the dramatists Aeschylus, Aristophanes, |
| at the Battle of Marathon. In 480 the Persians returned | | | | Euripides and Sophocles, the philosophers Aristotle, |
| under a new ruler, Xerxes. The Persians had to pass | | | | Plato and Socrates, the historians Herodotus, |
| through a narrow strait to get to Athens. A call had | | | | Thucydides and Xenophon, the poet Simonides and |
| been sent via a runner to Sparta for help. | | | | the sculptor Phidias. |
| The Spartans were in the middle of a religious festival, | | | | The leading statesman of this period was Pericles, |
| and so could only send three hundred men. The 300 | | | | who used the tribute paid by the members of the |
| Spartans and their allies blocked the narrow | | | | Delian League to build the Parthenon and other great |
| passageway from the 200,000 men of Xerxes (the | | | | monuments of classical Athens. The city became, in |
| Battle of Thermopylae). They held them off for a | | | | Pericles's words, "the school of Hellas". |
| number of days, but eventually all but one Spartan | | | | |