Athens

The Attic city whose reforms of 508 BCE gave the world the word democracy.

Historical layers

1. 1200 BCE – 146 BCE

   Ancient Athens

   Cleisthenic reforms, the Parthenon, the Academy.

2. 146 BCE – 330 CE

   Roman Athens

   A revered university town of the empire.

3. 330 – 1204

   Byzantine Athens

   Temples converted to churches; the Parthenon becomes a cathedral.

4. 1458 – 1833

   Ottoman Athens

   A provincial town beneath the fortified Acropolis.

5. 1834 – present

   Modern Athens

   Capital of the Greek state, rebuilt on a neoclassical plan.

Events here

508 BCE

Athenian Democracy Established

Cleisthenes reorganises Attica into ten tribes and hands sovereignty to the assembly of citizens.

432 BCE

The Parthenon Completed

Fifteen years of work on the Acropolis end with a temple whose columns are deliberately imperfect.

399 BCE

The Trial of Socrates

A jury of 501 Athenians condemns a philosopher for impiety; he drinks hemlock rather than flee.

People from here