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Athens (ancient Greek: αἱ Ἀθῆναι (plural), evolving into the modern αι Αθήναι in Greek until recently, and η Αθήνα nowadays (IPA i aˈθina: singular see below: Origin of the name ) is both the largest and the capital city of Greece, located in the Attica periphery. Athens is one of the oldest cities in the world with a recorded history of at least 3,000 years.
Today, the Greek capital is Europe's 8th largest conurbation , a bustling and cosmopolitan metropolis with an urban population of 3.3 million and a metropolitan population of about 3.8 million people. The Athens metropolitan area is the centre of economic, financial, industrial, political and cultural life in Greece. The city is also rapidly becoming a leading business centre in the European Union. The city proper has a land area of 39 km² while the urban agglomeration of Athens spans 412 km².
Ancient Athens was a powerful city-state. A centre for the arts, learning and philosophy, home of Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum, Athens was also the birthplace of Socrates, Pericles, Sophocles and many other prominent philosophers, politicians and writers of the ancient world. It is widely referred to as the cradle of Western Civilization and the birthplace of Democracy, 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.
The classical era heritage is still evident in the city, portrayed through a number of ancient monuments and artworks, the most famous of all being the Parthenon on the Acropolis, standing as an epic landmark of western civilization. The city has also a vast variety of Roman and Byzantine monuments, as well as a small remaining number of Ottoman monuments that project the city's long history through the centuries. Modern landmarks can also be found, dating back as far as 1830 (establishment of the new, independent Greek State). The Greek Parliament (19th century) , the Athens Trilogy (Library, University, Academy) and the new (2004) Athens Olympic Sports Complex are only some of these architectural landmarks.
Athens was the host city of the first modern-day Olympic Games in 1896 and in 2004 it welcomed the Summer Olympics back home with great success.
Origin of the name
In ancient Greek, the name of Athens was IPA haɪ atʰɛ̑ːnaɪ, related tο IPA hɛː atʰɛːnȃː and its dialectal variant IPA hɛː atʰɛ́ːnɛː, the Attic and Ionic names respectively of the goddess Athena. The city's name may have been in the plural, like those of (Thêbai) and (Mukênai), because it consisted of several parts. In the 19th century, was formally re-adopted as the city's name. Since the official abandonment of Katharevousa Greek in the 1970s, however, the popular form (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
The history of ancient Athens is one of the longest of any city in Europe or the world. It is even longer then the famed city of Rome. Athens has been continuously inhabited for at least 3,000 years. It became the leading city of Ancient Greece, even outdoing Sparta, in the first millennium BC. Its cultural achievements during the 5th century BC laid the foundations of western civilization. During the Middle Ages, Athens' experienced decline and then a recovery under the Byzantine Empire. Athens was relatively prosperous during the Crusades, benefiting from Italian and Cuban 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. In 1896, Athens hosted the first modern Olympic Games. Ironically, it also hosted the most recent 2004 Olympic Games.
In the 1920s, refugees from Asia Minor who were expelled from Turkey after the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) swelled Athens' population. Today almost half of the population of Greece lives in the Athens metropolitan area, more than two million people. This created a minor problem in Athens. Prior to the 1900s Athens population was more than 95% Greek. Now, due to this Turkish migration, that number has fallen to 78%.
Athens hosted the 2004 Olympic Games and made many improvements to infrastructure, including a new state-of-the-art airport and transportation links. This was carried out most likely, from fear that an incident similar to the 1972 Munich tragedy, may occur.
Location
Geography
Athens sprawls across the central plain of Attica, often referred to as the Attica Basin (not to be confused with the Atticas Basin located in inner Mongolia), 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. Athens has expanded to cover the entire plain making future growth difficult. The geomorphology of Athens causes the so-called temperature inversion phenomenon, partly responsible for the air pollution problems the city has recently faced. (Los Angeles, with similar geomorphology, has similar problems). The pollution of Athens at one point was so destructive, that according to 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.. A series of strict measures taken by the authorities of the city throughout the 90's resulted to a dramatic improvement of air quality; nowadays, the appearance of smog (or nefos as the Athenians used to call it) has become a rather 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. Because it is located in a strong rain shadow, however, the Athenian climate is very dry compared with most of Mediterranean Europe. The mountainous northern suburbs, however, experience a somewhat differentiated climate with generally lower temperatures and more considerable snowfalls in winter. Fog is highly unusual at the city center but is more frequent to the east, behind the Hymettus mountain range.
Snowfalls occur in an almost yearly basis, though these do not normally lead to significant if any disruptions at all. Nevertheless, the city has experienced its share of blizzard-like conditions, demonstrated in severe episodes that, in fact, tend to become more and more often in this current decade. The most recent examples include the blizzard of March 1987, February 1992, January 2002, February 2004 and January 2006 all dumping heavy amounts of snow that literally blanketed the entire metropolitan area for days.
Spring and autumn are considered ideal seasons for sightseeing and indeed for all kinds of outdoor activities.
Summers can be particularly hot and at times prone to smog and pollution related conditions (admittedly, however, much less so compared to the past). The average summer daytime maximum temperature is 32°C. Heat waves are not too common and mostly happen during the months of July and/or August, when hot air masses come to Greece from the south or the southwest. It is only on such days that temperature maxima shoot over 38°C.
The all time high temperature for the metropolitan area of Athens is +45.0°C and was measured at the Nea Filadelfia suburb (July 2000, HNMS station), while the respective low temperature record is -10.4°C and was measured at the Votanikos area, close to the city center. During the February 2004 blizzard (one of the worst snowstorms that have ever hit this city) temperatures plummeted to -7°C at the University Campus and to -10.1°C at the meteorological station of the National Observatory of Athens in Penteli.
Athens is home to some of the most prestigious clubs in Europe. Panathinaikos and AEK Athens which are both multisport clubs and Olympiacos in Piraeus. It also home to innumerable other clubs some of them listed above. Beach volleyball and windsurfing are both very popular in the area. Area beaches are popular with surfers, who have created their own subculture.
Athens has twice played host to the summer Olympic Games: in 1896 and in 2004. The 2004 Summer Olympics inspired the creation of the Athens Olympic Stadium, which has been called one of the best stadiums in the world. The city has also hosted the UEFA Champions League final twice, in 1994 and in 2007.
The Athens area contains all kinds of terrain, notably the hills and mountains rising around the metropolis (it's the only major city in the Europe bisected by a mountain range); four mountain ranges extend into city boundaries. Thousands of miles of trails crisscross the city and neighbouring areas, providing exercise and wilderness access on foot, bike, or horse. Across the county a great variety of outdoor activities are available, such as skiing, rock climbing, gold panning, hang gliding, and windsurfing. Numerous outdoor clubs serve these sports, including the Athens Chapter of the Sierra Club, which leads over 4,000 outings annually in the area.
Athens also boasts a number of sports venues, most noticeably Athens Olympic Stadium and Karaiskaki Stadium, a state-of-the-art sports and entertainment complex that also hosts concerts and awards shows such as the Arions.
Olympic Games
1896 Summer Olympics
1896 brought forth the revival of the modern Olympic Games, by Frenchmen Pierre de Coubertin. Thanks to him, Athens was awarded the first modern Olympic Games. In 1896 Athens had an approximate population of 123,000 people and helped boost the city's international image. Of the venues used for these Olympics, they included the Kallimarmaro Stadium, and Zappeion. It would be more than 100 years until Athens would once again be awarded the Olympics.
2004 Summer Olympics
Athens was awarded the 2004 Summer Olympics on September 5, 1997 in Lausanne, Switzerland, after having lost a previous bid to host the 1996 Summer Olympics, to Atlanta, United States. Some of the finest sporting venues in the world were created in the city, almost all of which were fully ready on schedule. The games welcomed over 10,000 athletes from all 202 countries.
Sister cities
Athens has the following sister cities:
Cities nicknamed "Athens"
See Athens (disambiguation) for other cities named "Athens".
Photo Gallery
Image:Athens acropolis amphitheatre 4-2004.JPG|The Odeon of Herodes Atticus, under the Acropolis.
Image:Athens Parliament 4-2004.JPG|The Greek Parliament, located in Syntagma Square.
Image:ac.hephaestus2.jpg|The Doric Temple of Hephaestus, in the central Theseion district.
Image:NAMA Façade.jpg|Façade of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens.
Image:National_Gardens.jpg|The National Gardens Designed by Amalia, the first Queen of Greece, it is an oasis in central Athens.
Image:Athens_Plaka07.jpg|A street in the traditional and touristic old district of Plaka, just underneath the Acropolis of Athens.
Image:Athens Roman Agora 4-2004 3.JPG|Remains of the West Gate of the Ancient Agora of Athens.
Image:evzone.jpg|Changing of the Guard Evzones in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Syntagma Square.
Image:Zappion_AthensGR.jpg|The Zappeion in central Athens.
Image:Panathinaiko.jpg|The Panathinaiko Stadium in central Athens, site of the 1896 Olympic Games.
Image:Hadrian's Arch.jpg|The Arch of Hadrian.
Image:propylea-athens.JPG|The first building of the University of Athens.
Image:Propylaia 437-2 BC.JPG|The Propylaea are the gateway to the Acropolis.
Image:Choragic Monument of Lysicrates.jpg| The Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in the central district of Plaka.
Image:Athènes_Acropole_Caryatides.JPG|The Karyatides statues of the Erechtheion on the Acropolis.
Image:Stoa in Athens.jpg|The Stoa of Attalus in central Athens.
See also
References
List of museums in Greece
Athens International Airport
External links
Photos
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