Welcome to Athens, the capital and largest city of Greece, and the southernmost capital on the European mainland. With a recorded history of over 3,400 years, it is one of the oldest cities in the world. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state and a centre of democracy, the arts and philosophy, which is why it is often called the cradle of Western civilisation. Legend says the city was named after the goddess Athena, though scholars generally think it was the other way round. Athens hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, and again in 2004. Let us climb to its most famous hill.
Acropolis of Athens
Photo: Giles Laurent · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsAbove the city rises the Acropolis, an ancient citadel on a rocky outcrop. The word means highest point of the city, and there are many acropoleis in Greece, but this is the most famous of them all. In ancient times it was also called Cecropia, after the legendary serpent-man Cecrops, said to be the first king of Athens. The hill was inhabited as early as the 4th millennium BC, but the great buildings whose remains you see, the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the Erechtheion and the Temple of Athena Nike, were built in the 5th century BC under the statesman Pericles.
Parthenon
Photo: Steve Swayne · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia CommonsBefore you stands the Parthenon, the temple dedicated to the goddess Athena and an enduring symbol of ancient Greece and of democracy. It was built in thanksgiving for the Greek victory over the Persian invaders, begun in 447 BC and completed in 438 BC. Like most Greek temples, it also served as a treasury. Its later life was eventful: it became a Christian church, then a mosque, and in 1687, during a Venetian siege, a bomb struck the gunpowder the Ottomans had stored inside, and the explosion severely damaged it. In the early 19th century, Lord Elgin controversially removed many of its sculptures to England.
Acropolis Museum
Photo: Acropolis Museum · Public domain · Wikimedia CommonsAt the foot of the Acropolis lies the Acropolis Museum, built to house every artefact found on the rock and its slopes, from the Bronze Age to Byzantine times. It opened to the public in 2009 and displays more than 4,250 objects. As you enter, look down: the museum is built over the ruins of part of Roman and early Byzantine Athens. There was another motivation for building it too. When Greece asked for the return of the Elgin Marbles, it was suggested that the country had no suitable place to display them. This museum was part of the answer.
Ancient Agora of Athens
Photo: Chabe01 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsNorthwest of the Acropolis, between the hill of the Areopagus and Market Hill, spreads the Ancient Agora, the gathering place of ancient Athens for trade and assembly. Imagine its colonnades busy with citizens. On its northern side stood the Painted Stoa, a 5th-century BC building used purely for socialising. On the eastern side, you can see the Stoa of Attalos, a colonnade lined with shops from the 2nd century BC, which has been reconstructed and now houses the Museum of the Ancient Agora.
Temple of Olympian Zeus
Photo: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra from Paris, France · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia CommonsThese towering columns belong to the Temple of Olympian Zeus, a colossal temple dedicated to the head of the Olympian gods. Work began in the 6th century BC under the Athenian tyrants, who dreamt of the greatest temple in the ancient world, but it was only finished by the Roman emperor Hadrian, some 638 years later. With 104 colossal columns, it was the largest temple in Greece. Its glory was short-lived: it was pillaged during a Germanic invasion in 267 AD, about a century after completion. Of the original giant columns, 16 still stand.
Panathenaic Stadium
Photo: Mister No · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsStep into the Panathenaic Stadium, known as Kallimarmaro, beautiful marble, the only stadium in the world built entirely of marble. A stadium was first built here around 330 BC for the Panathenaic Games, and it was rebuilt in marble by the Roman senator Herodes Atticus, with seats for 50,000. Abandoned after the rise of Christianity, it was excavated in 1869. In 1896 it hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the first modern Olympics, and in 2004 it was an Olympic venue again. It is also the finishing point of the Athens Classic Marathon.
Plaka
Photo: Joanbanjo · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsWander into Plaka, the old historical neighbourhood clustered on the northern and eastern slopes of the Acropolis, with its labyrinthine streets and neoclassical houses. It is built on top of the residential areas of the ancient town, and its closeness to the Acropolis and its many archaeological sites has earned it the nickname Neighbourhood of the Gods. Its name first appears in the 17th century and once covered only the area around the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates, which locals called the lantern of Demosthenes.
Lycabettus
Photo: Apaleutos25 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsLook up at Mount Lycabettus, a limestone hill whose summit, at 277 metres, is the highest point in central Athens. Pine trees cover its base, and you can ride up on a funicular railway from the Kolonaki district. At the top waits the 19th-century Chapel of Saint George. Legends surround this hill. One says its name comes from the wolves that once found refuge here. Another tells that Athena created it when she dropped a limestone mountain she was carrying for the building of the Acropolis.
Lomakuume
