In myth Athens took its name from the goddess Athena, who won a contest with Poseidon by giving the people the olive tree. The hero Theseus was said to have united the villages of Attica into a single city.
Milestones
- 13th c. BCA fortified Mycenaean palace stands on the Acropolis.
- 594 BCSolon abolishes debt slavery and reforms the laws.
- 546-510 BCTyranny of Peisistratus and his sons: great building works and festivals.
- 508-507 BCCleisthenes reorganises citizens into ten tribes: democracy is born.
- 490 BCThe Athenians defeat the Persians at Marathon.
- 480 BCThe Persians burn Athens; Themistocles' fleet wins at Salamis.
- 461-429 BCAge of Pericles: the Parthenon, theatre, philosophy; Athens leads the Delian League.
- 431-404 BCPeloponnesian War and surrender to Sparta.
- 399 BCSocrates is sentenced to death.
- 4th c. BCPlato founds the Academy, Aristotle the Lyceum.
- 86 BCSulla sacks the city.
- 2nd c. ADHadrian completes the Olympieion and builds new districts.
- 529Justinian closes the philosophical schools.
- 1204-1456Duchy of Athens under Frankish, Catalan and Florentine lords.
- 1456-1833Ottoman rule; in 1687 the Parthenon explodes.
- 1834Athens becomes capital of the Kingdom of Greece.
- 1896First modern Olympics.
- 1922-1923Asia Minor refugees arrive; new districts such as Nea Smyrni and Nea Ionia are born.
- 1941-1944German occupation and famine.
- 1973Polytechnic uprising.
- 2004Second Athens Olympics: new metro, tram and airport.
The city of democracy
In the 5th century BC Athens had perhaps 250,000-300,000 inhabitants, including slaves and resident foreigners (metics), but citizens with political rights were only adult males born of Athenian parents, about 30,000-40,000. In the assembly (ekklesia), on the Pnyx hill, any citizen could speak and vote; many offices were filled by lot; juries were hundreds of citizens chosen by lot. It was a direct democracy with obvious limits, but without precedent in history.
The modern capital
When chosen as capital in 1834 Athens was a village of a few thousand people among the ruins. German and Greek architects designed a neoclassical city with the royal palace (now Parliament), the University, the Academy and the National Library. In the 20th century the city grew dizzyingly, first with Asia Minor refugees, then with migration from the countryside, often unplanned: hence the seas of apartment blocks (polykatoikies) typical of Athens. The 2004 Olympics brought new infrastructure; the debt crisis hit the city hard, and since about 2017 it has enjoyed a new cultural and tourist revival.
See also Athens today, the Acropolis, Sparta versus Athens and the history of Greece.