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1922: The population of Athens doubles as over a million Greek refugees from Asia Minor settle in the city following the Asia Minor Catastrophe and population exchange between Greece and Turkey. New neighborhoods like Nea Ionia and Nea Smyrni emerge. 1926: The Academy of Athens is founded.
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Athens (/ ˈæθɪnz / ATH-inz[ 6 ][ a ]; Greek: Αθήνα, translit.Athína [aˈθina]) is the capital and largest city of Greece. A major coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica region and is the southernmost capital on the European mainland.
Jun 8, 2024 · There is a rich and mythical history all around Athens, and the way the Greek capital was named is no exception. The story starts with a duel between the ancient gods of Olympus to determine who would give the city its name and become its patron. It is said the god of the sea, Poseidon, and the goddess of wisdom, Athena, made it to the final ...
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Athens, historic city and capital of Greece. Many of Classical civilization’s intellectual and artistic ideas originated there, and the city is generally considered to be the birthplace of Western civilization.
Athens lies 5 miles (8 km) from the Bay of Phaleron, an inlet of the Aegean (Aigaíon) Sea where Piraeus (Piraiévs), the port of Athens, is situated, in a mountain-girt arid basin divided north-south by a line of hills. Greater Athens has an area of 165 square miles (427 square km). The Kifisós River, only a trickle in summer, flows through the western half; the Ilisós River, often dry, traverses the eastern half. The surrounding mountains—Párnis, 4,636 feet (1,413 metres); Pentelicus (Pendéli), 3,631 feet; Hymettos (Imittós), 3,365 feet; and Aigáleon, 1,535 feet—add to the impression of barrenness. Yet such considerations are superficial when compared with the fecundity of Athens’s bequests to the world, such as its philosophy, its architecture, its literature, and its political ideals.
Athens, with its tall buildings and contemporary shops, is the first European city when approached from the Middle East. When approached from the west, from elsewhere in Europe, what strikes the visitor is the influence of the East—in the food, music, and clamorous street life—perhaps vestiges of a time when Athens was divorced from European society under the yoke of Ottoman rule. Nevertheless, it is wrong to say that Athens is a mixture of East and West: it is Greek and, more particularly, Athenian. The city, after all, nurtured Western civilization thousands of years ago. Athens remains on the world stage to this day.
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Notably, in 2004 the world came to the city for the Olympic Games, which spurred a dramatic makeover for Athens. In addition to building a raft of new sports venues and facilities (including a stadium designed by Santiago Calatrava), Athens undertook massive transportation infrastructure improvements that included dramatic expansion of public transportation and the construction of a new international airport.
Some three centuries after the death of Pericles (429 bce), Athenians entered upon a period of bondage that lasted almost 2,000 years. The city was freed in 1833, and in the following 170 years it was the scene of more than a dozen revolutions, another brutal foreign occupation, and a civil war of especial savagery. This long history of passion and suffering has had considerable effect on the Athenian character. The core of that character is an implacable will to survive, buttressed by a profound sense of loyalty (especially to the family) and patriotism. The Greek Orthodox Church, which is directed by a synod sitting in Athens, was a main force in keeping alive the Greek language, tradition, and literature when such things were forbidden, and most people still support it.
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Aug 14, 2019 · The capital of Greece is Athens. Athens is located in the Attica region, on a peninsula that extends into the Aegean Sea. Athen sits within the Attica basin, where it was built around a number of hills and other raised land formations. Additionally, it is surrounded by four mountains: Mount Pentelicus, Mount Aigaleo, Mount Hymettus, and Mount ...
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Sep 16, 2021 · The myth for the name-giving of Athens. The answer seems to be given in a myth of antiquity that was almost lost in the depths of time and concerns the quarrel between two mighty gods of Olympus for the domination of the city. According to Greek mythology, the present capital of Greece is named after the goddess Athena, who prevailed in the ...
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Athens (ancient Greek: αἱ Ἀθῆναι (plural), evolving into the modern αι Αθήναι in Greek until recently, and η Αθήνα now (IPA [i aˈθina]: singular see below: Origin of the name ) is both the largest and the capital city of Greece, located in the Attica periphery. Athens is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities ...
