Athens, the capital and largest city in Greece,
dominates the Attica periphery: as one of the world's oldest cities, its recorded history spans
at least 3,000 years.
Today the Greek capital, Europe's 8th largest conurbation,[1] is rapidly becoming a leading business centre in the European Union. This bustling and cosmopolitan metropolis with an urban population of 3.3 million and a
metropolitan population of about 3.8 million people is central to economic, financial, industrial, political and cultural life in
Greece. The city proper has a land area of km² ( sq mi), while the urban agglomeration of Athens spans km²
( sq mi).[2]
Ancient Athens was a powerful city-state. A center for the arts, learning and
philosophy, home of Plato's Akademia and Aristotle's Lyceum,[3][4] Athens was also the birthplace of Socrates, Pericles, Sophocles and its many other prominent philosophers, writers and
politicians of the ancient world. It is widely referred to as the cradle of Western
Civilization,[5] and the birthplace of
democracy,[6] largely
due to the impact of its cultural and political achievements during the 5th and 4th centuries BC on the rest of the then known
European continent.[7]
The heritage of the classical era is still evident in the city, portrayed through a number of ancient monuments and artworks;
the most famous of all the Parthenon on the Acropolis, standing as an epic landmark of western civilization. The city also retains a vast
variety of Roman and Byzantine monuments, as well
as a small number of remaining Ottoman monuments projecting the city's long history across the centuries. Landmarks of the modern
era are also present, dating back to 1830 (the establishment of the independent Greek state), and taking in the Greek Parliament (19th century) and the Athens Trilogy (Library, University, and Academy).
Athens was the host city of the first modern-day Olympic Games in 1896, and 108
years later it welcomed home the Summer Olympics, with great success.[8]
Origin of the name
Statue of
Athena, the patron goddess of Athens.
- See wiktionary: Athens for the name in
various languages.
- Further information: Names of European cities in
different languages#A
In ancient Greek, the name of Athens was αἱ Ἀθῆναι
IPA [haɪ
atʰɛ̑ːnaɪ], related tο ἡ Ἀθηνᾶ IPA
[hɛː atʰɛːnȃː] and its dialectal variant ἡ Ἀθήνη
IPA [hɛː
atʰɛ́ːnɛː], the Attic and Ionic names
respectively of the goddess Athena, the goddess of war and wisdom. The city's name may have been
in the plural, like those of αἱ Θῆβαι (Thêbai) and
αἱ Μυκῆναι (Mukênai), because it consisted of several parts. In
the 19th century, αι Αθήναι was formally re-adopted as the city's name. Since the official abandonment of
Katharevousa Greek in the 1970s, however, the popular form η Αθήνα
(Athína) has become the city's official name, though the plural may be kept for several purposes in literature. Note that
the article is in general use as for all names in Greek, hence its presence here.
History
- Further information: History of Athens
The history of Athens is one of the longest of any city in, Europe or the world; it has been
continuously inhabited for at least 3,000 years. Athens became the leading city of ancient Greece in the first millennium BC,
with its cultural achievements during the 5th century BC laying the foundations of Western
civilization. During the Middle Ages, the city experienced decline and then recovery under the Byzantine Empire, and was relatively prosperous during the Crusades,
benefiting from Italian trade; after a long period of decline under the rule of the Ottoman
Empire, Athens re-emerged in the 19th century as the capital of the independent Greek state, and in 1896 hosted the first
modern Olympic Games. In the 1920s a number of refugees, expelled from Asia Minor after the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922),
swelled Athens' population; nevertheless it was most particularly following the Second World
War, and from the 1950s and 1960s, that the population of the city exploded, and Athens experienced a gradual expansion in
all directions. In the 1980s it became evident that smog from factories and an ever increasing fleet of automobiles, as well as a
lack of adequate free space due to overcongestion, had evolved into the city's most important challenges. A series of
anti-pollution measures taken by the city's authorities in the 1990s, combined with a substantial improvement of the city's
infrastructure (including the Attiki Odos ring road, the dramatic expansion of the
Athens Metro, and the brand new Athens
International Airport), alleviated pollution considerably and transformed Athens into a much more functional city.
Geography
Athens sprawls across the central plain of Attica, often referred to as the Attica
Basin which is bound by Mount Aegaleo in the west, Mount Parnitha in the north, Mount Penteli in the northeast, Mount Hymettus in the east, and the Saronic Gulf in the southwest. The capital
has expanded to cover the entire plain, making future growth difficult. The geomorphology of Athens causes the so-called
temperature inversion phenomenon, and along with the failure of the Greek
Government to control industrial pollution is responsible for the air pollution problems the city has recently faced.[9][10] (Los Angeles and Mexico City also suffer with similar geomorphology inversion problems).[10] The pollution of Athens was at one point so destructive, that according to
the then Greek Minister of Culture, Constantine Trypanis, the carved
details on the five caryatids of the Erechtheum have seriously degenerated, while the face of the horseman on the Parthenon's
west side is all but obliterated.[11] A series of
strict measures then taken by the authorities of the city throughout the 1990s resulted in a dramatic improvement of air quality;
the appearance of smog (or nefos as the Athenians used to call it) has become an increasingly rare phenomenon.
Climate
Athens is located at a transition point between the Mediterranean and the
Alpine climatic zones. The city enjoys a typical Mediterranean climate, with the greatest amounts of precipitation mainly occurring from mid-October to mid-April; any precipitation is sparse
during summer, and falls generally in the form of showers and/or thunderstorms. Due to its
location in a strong rain shadow, however, the Athenian climate is very dry compared with
most of mediterranean Europe. The mountainous northern suburbs, for their part, experience a somewhat differentiated climate,
with generally lower temperatures and more substantial snowfalls in winter. Fog is highly unusual in the city centre, but is more frequent to
the east, behind the Hymettus mountain range.
Processed 3D view of the Attica Basin from space. Courtesy:
NASA
Snowfalls occur every few years, though these do not normally lead to significant, if any, disruption. Nonetheless, the city
has experienced its share of snow, not least in the past decade; during the blizzards of March 1987, February 1992, January 2002,
February 2004 and January 2006, snow literally blanketed parts of the metropolitan area.
Spring and fall (autumn) are considered ideal seasons for sightseeing and all kinds of outdoor activities. Summers can be
particularly hot and at times prone to smog and pollution related conditions (however, much less so than in the past). The
average summer daytime maximum temperature is 90 °F (32 °C), and heatwaves are relatively common, occurring generally during the
months of July and/or August, when hot air masses sweep across Greece from the south or southwest. On such days only temperature
maxima soar over 100 °F (38 °C).
The all-time high temperatures for the metropolitan area of Athens of °C
( °F) and °C ( °F) were recorded at the Tatoi and Elefsina suburbs
on July 10 1977 (HNMS-http://records.e-kairos.com/resultsmax.php), and are also Greece's all-time high temperatures. The respective
low-temperature record is -10.4 °C (13.3 °F), recorded at the Votanikos area, close to the city centre. During the February 2004
blizzard (one of the worst snowstorms ever to hit the city), temperatures plummeted to °C ( °F) at the
University Campus, and °C ( °F) at the meteorological
station of the National Observatory of Athens, in Penteli.
| Month |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Year |
| Avg high °C (°F) |
12.5 (54.5) |
13.5 (56.3) |
15.7 (60.3) |
20.2 (68.4) |
26.0 (78.8) |
31.1 (88.0) |
33.5 (92.3) |
33.2 (91.8) |
29.2 (84.6) |
23.3 (73.9) |
18.4 (64.6) |
14.1 (57.4) |
22.6 (72.7) |
| Avg low °C (°F) |
5.2 (41.4) |
5.4 (41.7) |
6.7 (44.1) |
9.6 (49.3) |
13.9 (57.0) |
18.2 (64.8) |
20.8 (69.4) |
20.7 (69.3) |
17.3 (63.1) |
13.4 (56.1) |
9.8 (49.6) |
6.8 (44.2) |
12.3 (54.1) |
| Source: Hellenic National Meteorological Service [1] |
Pollution and Environment
Air pollution remains to some degree an issue for Athens, particularly on the hottest summer days. Nevertheless, widespread
measures taken by the authorities throughout the 1990s have dramatically improved air quality. In late June 2007, the Attica
region experienced a number of brush fires, including one that burned a significant portion of a large forested national park in
Mount Parnitha - considered critical to maintaining better air in Athens all year round. Damage
to the park has led to worries over a stalling in the improvement of air quality in the city.
Athens tap water is safe, and of very good quality. It is comparable to or exceeds the quality of the best US city water
systems sourced from higher elevations, and is considered one of the best municipal waters in Europe.
Government
The Athens Prefecture (blue), within the Attica Periphery (grey).
Athens is the capital of Greece, but it is also the capital of the Attica Periphery and the Athens Prefecture. The city has
been the capital of Greece since 1834, succeeding Nafplion, the city that was provisional
capital during the Greek War of Independence ending in 1832.
Attica Periphery
Athens is located within the Attica Periphery, which encompasses the most
populated region of Greece, with around 3.7 million people. The Attica Periphery itself is split into four prefectures; they
include the Athens Prefecture, Piraeus
Prefecture, West Attica Prefecture, and the East Attica
Prefecture. It is, however, one of the smaller peripheries in Greece, with an area of km² ( sq mi).
Athens Prefecture
The Athens Prefecture is the most populous of all the Greek Prefectures, accounting for well over 2.6 million of the 3.7
million in the Attica Periphery. Athens can refer either to the entire metropolitan
area, or to the Municipality of Athens. The next largest municipalities of Athens metropolitan area are the
Municipality of Piraeus, the Municipality of Peristeri, and
the Municipality of Kallithea. Each of these municipalities has an elected district council
and a directly elected mayor.
Athens Municipality
- Further information: List of Mayors of Athens
The 7 districts of the Athens Municipality
The modern city of Athens consists of what was once a conglomeration of distinct towns and villages that gradually expanded
and merged into a single large metropolis; most of this expansion occurred during the second half of the 20th century. The
Greater Athens area is now divided into 55 municipalities, the largest of which is the Municipality of Athens or Dimos
Athinaion, with a population of 745,514 people.
Dora Bakoyanni, of the conservative New
Democracy party, was Mayor of Athens from 1 January 2003
until 15 February 2006, when she joined the Greek cabinet as
Minister of Foreign Affairs. During her tenure, she had been the 76th Mayor of Athens, and the first female ever to hold that
post in the city's history; later replaced by Theodoros Behrakis. The next municipal elections took place in October 2006, at
which point Nikitas Kaklamanis took over as the city's mayor.
The Municipality of Athens is divided into seven municipal districts , or demotika diamerismata. The 7-district
division, is mainly used for administrative purposes. For Athenians the most popular way of dividing the city proper is through
its neighbourhoods (usually referred to as areas in English), each with its own distinct history and characteristics.
Those include Pangrati, Ambelokipi, Exarcheia,
Ano Patissia, Kato Patissia, Ilissia, Ano and Kato Petralona, Mets, Koukaki and Kypseli,
the world's second most densely populated urban area. For a traveller unfamiliar with Athens, familiarity with the contours of
these neighbourhoods can often be particularly useful in both exploring and understanding the city.
Demographics
Athens population distribution
The municipality of Athens has an official population of 745,514 with a metropolitan population of 3.8 million (population
including the suburbs). The actual population, however, is believed to be higher, because during census-taking (carried out once
every 10 years) some Athenian residents travel back to their birthplaces, and register as local citizens there.[12] It is estimated that the population of Athens is actually
around 5 million people.[13] Also unaccounted for is an
undefined number of unregistered immigrants originating mainly from Albania and other
Eastern European countries.[14][15]
The ancient site of the city is centered on the rocky hill of the acropolis. In ancient times the port of Piraeus was a separate city, but it has now been absorbed into greater Athens. The rapid expansion of the city
initiated in the 1950s and 1960s continues today, because of the transition from an agricultural to an industrial nation.[16] The expansion is now particularly toward the East and North
East (a tendency greatly related to the new Eleftherios Venizelos International
Airport and the Attiki Odos, the freeway that cuts across Attica). By this process Athens has engulfed many former suburbs and villages in Attica, and continues to do
so.Throughout its long history, Athens has experienced many different population levels. The table below shows the historical
population of Athens in recent times.
| Year |
City population |
Urban population |
Metro population |
| 1833 |
4,000[17] |
- |
- |
| 1870 |
44,500[17] |
- |
- |
| 1896 |
123,000[17] |
- |
- |
| 1921 (Pre-Population exchange) |
473,000[17] |
- |
- |
| 1921 (Post-Population exchange) |
718,000[17] |
- |
- |
| 1971 |
867,023[18] |
- |
- |
| 1981 |
885,737 |
- |
- |
| 1991 |
772,072 |
- |
3,444,358[19] |
| 2001 |
745,514[20] |
3,130,841[20] |
3,761,810[20] |
Culture
-
Archaeological hub
Even though most Athenians are unaware of the fact, the city is one of the world's main centres of archaeological research. Apart from national institutions, like Athens University, the Archaeological Society, several archaeological Museums (including the National Archaeological Museum, the Cycladic Museum, the Epigraphic Museum, the
Byzantine Museum, as well as museums at the ancient Agora, Acropolis, and Kerameikos), the city is also home to the Demokritos laboratory for Archaeometry as well as several regional and national archaeological authorities that form part
of the Greek Department of Culture. Additionally, Athens hosts 17
Foreign Archaeological Institutes which promote and
facilitate research by scholars from their respective home countries. As a result, Athens has more than a dozen archaeological
libraries and three specialised archaeological laboratories, and is the venue of several hundred specialised lectures,
conferences and seminars, as well as dozens of archaeological exhibitions, per year. At any given time, Athens is the (temporary)
home to hundreds of junior and senior international scholars and researchers in all disciplines of archaeology.
Tourism
Athens has been a popular destination for travellers since antiquity. Over the
past decade, the infrastructure and social amenities of Athens have been radically improved, in part due to the city's successful
bid to stage the 2004 Olympic Games. The Greek Government, aided by the
EU, has funded major infrastructure projects such as the state-of-the-art
Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport,[21] the massive expansion of the Athens Metro
system,[22] and the new Attiki Odos Motorway.[22]
Home to a vast number of 5 and 4 star hotels, the city is currently the 6th most visited capital.
Sports