Athens

Athens is the capital of Greece.

Historians have not yet established the date Athens was founded but physical evidence documents a continuous human presence since at least 1,000 B.C. It was named after the mythical goddess Athena and it was one of leading city-states of Ancient Greece.

The Western notion of Democracy was first developed there around the 5th century BC. Since that time, until the end of Antiquity in 5th c. A.D. it was the major center of Philosophy, Sciences and the Arts. The closure of the Plato's Academy by Justinian (because of its association with paganism) marks the beginning of the decline of Athens. However, intellectual and artistic activity during the Byzantine period continued and masterpieces of Byzantine architecture are still to be seen in Athens.

After further decline under the Ottoman rule, Athens re-emerged in the 19th century as the capital of the independent Greek state even though it was little more than a village. The main reason for that is that Athens represented Ancient Greece which was the main (if not the only) period of Greek History that interested the West at the time. Since then Athens has grown enormously, its population receiving a boost with the arrival of refugees expelled from Turkey in the 20's.

Athens hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 as well as the 2004 Olympic Games.