Who invaded Athens?

Answer 1

Ancient Athens was destroyed by over a period of two thousand years time, neglect, looting and some parts by hostile action.

During the Persian invasion in 480 the Athenians evacuated the city and the Persians occupied it as a base of operations against the southern Greek cities opposing them. They destroyed the temples and statues of the gods in payback for Athens' part in destroying the temples and gods of the Persians in Sardis, Persian capital of Asia Minor, 18 years earlier by an Athens expeditionary force sent to support the revolt by the Ionian Greek cities.

However, apart from also looting Athens and pulling down the walls, the Persians left it intact as they wanted to use it in 480 and again in 479 BCE as a base for their invasion force.

Even the Spartan alliance did not destroy the city after it surrendered at the end of the Peloponnesian War 80 years later - they just destroyed the long walls to leave them vulnerable if Athens should attempt to create further trouble in the Greek world.

Various destructions, neglect and re-buildings occurred over the centuries. The Parthenon was intact until the 16th Century CE, when a French artillery officer serving in the Venetian siege expedition callously lobbed a shell into its roof to prove his marksmanship. It landed into a gunpowder magazine stored there by the defending Turks, and the resulting explosion collapsed the roof. Without this wanton action, the Parthenon would be intact today. The French do not have a good record in this - a similar incident during Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in 1798 CE saw a French artillery officer show his machismo and skill by blowing the face off the Sphinx.