Athens is a major coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, and it is both the capital and the largest city of Greece. With its urban area's population numbering over three million, it is also the eighth largest urban area in the European Union. Athens dominates and is the capital of the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, with its recorded history spanning over 3,400 years, and its earliest human presence beginning somewhere between the 11th and 7th millennia BC. The city was named after Athena, the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom.
The Acropolis of Athens is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens, Greece, and contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, the most famous being the Parthenon. The word Acropolis is from the Greek words ἄκρον and πόλις. The term acropolis is generic and there are many other acropoleis in Greece. During ancient times the Acropolis of Athens was also more properly known as Cecropia, after the legendary serpent-man Cecrops, the supposed first Athenian king.
Aegina is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, 27 km (17 mi) from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina, the mother of the mythological hero Aeacus, who was born on the island and became its king.
The Temple of Olympian Zeus, also known as the Olympieion or Columns of the Olympian Zeus, is a former colossal temple at the centre of the Greek capital, Athens. It was dedicated to "Olympian" Zeus, a name originating from his position as head of the Olympian gods. Construction began in the 6th century BC during the rule of the Athenian tyrants, who envisaged building the greatest temple in the ancient world, but it was not completed until the reign of Roman Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD, some 638 years after the project had begun. During the Roman period, the Temple of Zeus, which included 104 colossal columns, was renowned as the largest temple in Greece and housed one of the largest cult statues in the ancient world.
Elefsina or Eleusis is a suburban city and municipality in Athens metropolitan area. It belongs to West Attica regional unit of Greece. It is located in the Thriasio Plain, at the northernmost end of the Saronic Gulf. North of Elefsina are Mandra and Magoula, while Aspropyrgos is to the northeast.
Piraeus is a port city in the Attica region of Greece. It is located eight kilometres (5 mi) southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Athens Riviera.
Tourism in Greece has been a key element of the economic activity in the country, and is one of the country's most important sectors. Greece has been a major tourist destination and attraction in Europe since the 1970s for its rich culture and history, which is reflected in large part by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe and the world as well as for its long coastline, many islands, and beaches.
Pláka is the old historical neighborhood of Athens, clustered around the northern and eastern slopes of the Acropolis, and incorporating labyrinthine streets and neoclassical architecture. Plaka is built on top of the residential areas of the ancient town of Athens. It is known as the "Neighborhood of the Gods" due to its proximity to the Acropolis and its many archaeological sites.
Attica, or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and the core city of the metropolitan area, as well as its surrounding suburban cities and towns. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean Sea, bordering on Boeotia to the north and Megaris to the west. The southern tip of the peninsula, known as Laurion, was an important mining region.
Athens is one of the oldest named cities in the world, having been continuously inhabited for perhaps 5,000 years. Situated in southern Europe, Athens became the leading city of Ancient Greece in the first millennium BC, and its cultural achievements during the 5th century BC laid the foundations of Western civilization.
Lamia is a city in central Greece. The city dates back to antiquity, and is today the capital of the regional unit of Phthiotis and of the Central Greece region. According to the 2011 census, the Municipality of Lamia has a population of 75,315 while Lamia itself has 52,006 inhabitants. The city is located on the slopes of Mount Othrys, near the river Spercheios. It serves as the agricultural center of a fertile rural and livestock area.
Greek art began in the Cycladic and Minoan civilization, and gave birth to Western classical art in the subsequent Geometric, Archaic and Classical periods. It absorbed influences of Eastern civilizations, of Roman art and its patrons, and the new religion of Orthodox Christianity in the Byzantine era and absorbed Italian and European ideas during the period of Romanticism, until the Modernist and Postmodernist. Greek art is mainly five forms: architecture, sculpture, painting, pottery and jewelry making.
Palaio Faliro is a town on the Saronic Gulf coast and a municipality in the southern part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. At the 2011 census it had 64,021 inhabitants.
The city of Athens during the classical period of ancient Greece was the major urban centre of the notable polis (city-state) of the same name, located in Attica, Greece, leading the Delian League in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta and the Peloponnesian League. Athenian democracy was established in 508 BC under Cleisthenes following the tyranny of Isagoras. This system remained remarkably stable, and with a few brief interruptions remained in place for 180 years, until 322 BC. The peak of Athenian hegemony was achieved in the 440s to 430s BC, known as the Age of Pericles.
Attica is an administrative region of Greece, that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, the core city of which is the country's capital and largest city, Athens. The region is coextensive with the former Attica Prefecture of Central Greece and covers a greater area than the historical region of Attica.
The Thriasio Plain is a plain in western Attica within Athens metropolitan area in Greece. It is bounded by Mount Egaleo to the east, Mount Parnitha to the north, Mount Pateras to the west, and the Bay of Elefsina to the south.
Euonymeia, also known by its medieval name Trachones, and by its modern colloquial Ano Kalamaki, is a historic settlement and currently a residential neighborhood within the suburban town of Alimos in the southern part of the Athens urban area, Greece. The area is an inland part of the south Athenian plain, situated between the foothills of Mount Hymettus and the southern coastal zone of Athens on the Saronic Gulf. The land is characterized by limestone hills and streams running from Hymettus toward the coast.
Athens Riviera is the coastal area in the southern suburbs of Athens, Greece from Piraeus to Sounio and Lavrio. It is located about 16 km (9.9 mi) from downtown Athens stretching from the southern suburbs of Athens to the southernmost points of Attica.
The siege of the Acropolis took place on 23–29 September 1687, as the Venetian army under Otto Wilhelm Königsmarck laid siege to the Acropolis of Athens, held by the Ottoman garrison of the city. The siege resulted in the destruction of a large part of the Parthenon, which the Ottomans used as a gunpowder store.
Olga Palagia is Professor of Classical Archaeology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and is a leading expert on ancient Greek sculpture. She is known in particular for her work on sculpture in ancient Athens and has edited a number of key handbooks on Greek sculpture.
