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Athens (; Athina, ), the capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery: as one of the world's oldest cities, its recorded history spans at least 3,000 years.
The Greek capital has a population of 745,514 (in 2001) within its administrative limits and a land area of . The urban area of Athens extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3.37 million (in 2005). The area of Athens prefecture spans and encompasses a population of 3,192,606. The Athens Larger Urban Zone (LUZ) is the 8th most populated LUZ in the European Union with a population of 3,894,573 (in 2001). A bustling and cosmopolitan metropolis, Athens is central to economic, financial, industrial, political and cultural life in Greece.
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Athens (; Athina, ), the capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery: as one of the world's oldest cities, its recorded history spans at least 3,000 years.
The Greek capital has a population of 745,514 (in 2001) within its administrative limits and a land area of . The urban area of Athens extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3.37 million (in 2005). The area of Athens prefecture spans and encompasses a population of 3,192,606. The Athens Larger Urban Zone (LUZ) is the 8th most populated LUZ in the European Union with a population of 3,894,573 (in 2001). A bustling and cosmopolitan metropolis, Athens is central to economic, financial, industrial, political and cultural life in Greece. It is rapidly becoming a leading business centre in the European Union. In 2008, Athens was ranked the world's 32nd-richest city in a UBS study.
Classical 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 its many other prominent philosophers, writers and politicians 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 heritage of the classical era is still evident in the city, represented by a number of ancient monuments and works of art, the most famous of all being the Parthenon on the Acropolis, widely considered a key landmark of early Western civilization. The city also retains a vast variety of Roman and Byzantine monuments, as well as a smaller 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 2004 Summer Olympics, with great success.
Etymology
In Ancient Greek, the name of Athens was , related t? name of the goddess Athena. The city's name was in the plural, like those of , , and .
In the 19th century, (Athinai / ) was formally re-adopted as the city's name. Since the official abandonment of Katharevousa Greek in the 1970s, ????a (Athína / ) has become the city's official name.
History
Athens has been continuously inhabited for at least 3,000 years. Classical Athens became the leading city of ancient Greece in the 5th century BC, with its cultural achievements 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 Greek 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 motorway, the expansion of the Athens Metro, and the 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. Mount Parnitha is the tallest of the city () and has been declared a national park. Well-marked paths, gorges, springs, torrents and caves dot the area. Hiking and mountain-biking in all four mountains remain popular outdoor activities for many residents. 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.. 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. 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 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 because of Mount Parnitha, however, the Athenian climate is much drier compared to most of the rest of Mediterranean Europe. The mountainous northern suburbs, for their part, experience a somewhat differentiated climatic pattern, with generally lower temperatures and more substantial snowfalls during winter. Fog is highly unusual in the city centre but it is more frequent to the east, behind the Hymettus mountain range.
Snowfalls occur almost on a yearly basis, though these do not normally lead to significant, if any, disruption. Nonetheless, the city has experienced its share of heavy snowfalls, not least in the past decade. During the blizzards of March 1987; February 1992; January 4-6, 2002; February 12-13, 2004 and February 16-18, 2008, snow blanketed large parts of the metropolitan area, causing havoc across much of the city.
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 daytime maximum temperature for the month of July is 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 the southwest. On such days only temperature maxima soar over .
The all-time high temperatures for the metropolitan area of Athens of were recorded in Elefsina, a suburb of Athens. The respective low-temperature record is , recorded at Nea Filadelfia. During the February 2004 blizzard (one of the worst snowstorms ever to hit the city), temperatures plummeted to at the University Campus, and at the meteorological station of the National Observatory of Athens, in Penteli.
Pollution and environment
Although air pollution remains to some degree an issue for Athens, particularly on the hottest summer days, widespread measures taken by the Greek authorities throughout the 1990s have effectively 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, which is considered critical to maintaining a better air quality 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.
The major waste management efforts undertaken in the last decade (especially the plant built on the small island of Psytalia) have improved water quality in the Saronic Gulf, and the coastal waters of Athens are now accessible again to swimmers. In January 2007, Athens briefly faced a waste management problem when its landfill near Ano Liosia, an Athenian suburb, reached capacity. The crisis eased by mid-January when authorities began taking the garbage to a temporary landfill.
GovernmentAthens became the capital of Greece in 1834, after the provisional capital in Nafplion was moved, following the Greek War of Independence in 1832. Furthermore the city is also the capital of the Attica Periphery and the Athens Prefecture.
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 .
Athens PrefectureThe 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
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 time 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, 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
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.
Reflecting this uncertainty about population figures, various sources refer to a population of around 5 million people for Athens. Also unaccounted for is an undefined number of unregistered immigrants originating mainly from Albania and other Eastern European countries.
The ancient site of the city is centred 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. 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 | - | - | | 1870 | 44,500 | - | - | | 1896 | 123,000 | - | - | | 1921 (Pre-Population exchange) | 473,000 | - | - | | 1921 | 718,000 | - | - | | 1971 | 867,023 | - | - | | 1981 | 885,737 | - | - | | 1991 | 772,072 | - | 3,444,358 | | 2001 | 745,514 | 3,130,841 | 3,761,810 |
Culture
Archaeological hub
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 specialized archaeological laboratories, and is the venue of several hundred specialized 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 international scholars and researchers in all disciplines of archaeology.
TourismAthens has been a popular destination for travellers since antiquity. Over the past decade, the city's infrastructure and social amenities have improved, in part due to the its 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, the expansion of the Athens Metro system, and the new Attiki Odos Motorway.
EntertainmentAthens is home to 148 theatrical stages, more than any other European city, including the famous ancient Herodes Atticus Theatre, home to the Athens Festival, which runs from May to October each year. In addition to a large number of multiplexes, Athens plays host to a variety of romantic, open air garden cinemas. The city also supports a vast number of music venues, including the Athens Concert Hall, known as the "Megaron Moussikis", which attracts world-famous artists all year round.
Sports
The Athens area is home to three prestigious European clubs: Olympiacos, Panathinaikos and AEK Athens, all multi sport clubs. A host of other local clubs are also active in the areas, some listed below. Beach volleyball and windsurfing are both very popular in broader Attica, and nearby 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 development of the Athens Olympic Stadium, which has gained a reputation as one of the most beautiful in the world. The city has also hosted the UEFA Champions League final twice, in 1994 and in 2007, at the Athens Olympic Stadium and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final in 1971 at the Karaiskákis Stadium, a state-of-the-art sports and entertainment complex. Athens has also hosted two Euroleague final fours, the first in 1993 at Peace and Friendship Stadium and the second in 2007 at the Athens Olympic Indoor Hall, and several competitions in other sports.
The Athens area encompasses a variety of terrain, notably hills and mountains rising around the metropolis, and the capital is the only major city in Europe to be bisected by a mountain range. Four mountain ranges extend into city boundaries, and thousands of miles of trails crisscross the city and neighbouring areas, providing exercise and wilderness access on foot, bike, or horse. Beyond Athens and across the county a great variety of outdoor activities are available and popular, including skiing, rock climbing, 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.
Urban Landscape
Architecture
Athens is a melting pot of many different architectural styles, ranging from Greco-Roman, Neo-Classical, to modern. Many of the most prominent buildings of the city are either Greco-Roman or neo-classical in style. Some of the neo-classical buildings to be found are public buildings erected during the mid-nineteenth century under the guidance of Theophil Freiherr von Hansen:
Athenian NeighbourhoodsThe Municipality of Athens is divided into several districts: Omonoia, Syntagma, Exarcheia, Aghios Nikolaos, Neapolis, Lykavittos, Lofos Strefi, Lofos Finopoulou, Lofos Filopappou, Pedion Areos, Metaxourgeio, Aghios Kostantinos, Larissa Station, Kerameikos, Psirri, Monastiraki, Gazi, Thission, Kapnikarea, Aghia Irini, Aerides, Anafiotika, Plaka, Acropolis, Pnyka, Makrygianni, Lofos Ardittou, Zappeion, Aghios Spyridon, Pangration, Kolonaki, Dexameni, Evaggelismos, Gouva, Aghios Ioannis, Neos Kosmos, Koukaki, Kynosargous, Fix, Ano Petralona, Kato Petralona, Rouf, Votanikos, Profitis Daniil, Akadimia Platonos, Kolonos, Kolokynthou, Attikis Square, Lofos Skouze, Sepolia, Kypseli, Aghios Meletios, Nea Kypseli, Polygono, Ampelokipoi, Panormou-Gerokomeio, Pentagono, Ellinorossoi, Kato Filothei, Ano Kypseli, Tourkovounia-Lofos Patatsou, Lofos Elikonos, Koliatsou, Thymarakia,
Kato Patisia, Treis Gefyres, Aghios Eleftherios, Ano Patisia, Kypriadou, Prompona.
Omonia
Omonia Square () is the oldest square in Athens. It is surrounded by hotels and fast food outlets, and contains a train station used by the Athens Metro and the Ilektrikos, appropriately named Omonoia Station. The square often becomes the focus for celebration of sporting victories, as seen after the country's winning of the Euro 2004 and the Eurobasket 2005 tournaments.
Psirri and GaziThe reviving Psirri () neighbourhood - aka Athens's "meat packing district" - is dotted with renovated former mansions, artists' spaces, and small gallery areas. A number of its renovated buildings also now host a wide variety of fashionable bars, making it a hotspot for the city in the last decade, while a number of live music restaurants known as "rebetadika", after Rebetiko, a unique form of music that blossomed in Syros and Athens from the 1920s until the 1960s, are also to be found. Rebetiko is admired by many, and as a result rebetadika are often crammed with people of all ages who will sing, dance and drink till dawn. The Gazi () area, one of the latest in full redevelopment, is located around a historic gas factory, now converted into the Technopolis cultural multiplex, and also includes artists' areas, a number of small clubs, bars and restaurants, as well as Athens' nascent "Gay Village". The metro's system recent expansion to the western suburbs of the city has brought easier access to the area since spring 2007, as the blue line now stops at Gazi.
Syntagma
Syntagma Square, (), is the capital's central square, lying adjacent to Parliament and the city's most noted hotels. Ermou Street, an approximately 1 km-long pedestrian road connecting Syntagma Square to Monastiraki, has traditionally been a consumer paradise for both Athenians and tourists. Complete with fashion shops and shopping centres promoting most international brands, it now finds itself in the top 5 most expensive shopping streets in Europe, and the tenth most expensive retail street in the world. Nearby, the renovated Army Fund building in Panepistimiou Street includes the "Attica" department store and several upmarket designer stores.
Plaka, Monastiraki, and ThissionPlaka (), lying just beneath the Acropolis, is famous for its plentiful neoclassical architecture, making up one of the most scenic districts of the city. It remains a traditionally prime tourist destination with a number of picturesque tavernas and live performances. Nearby Monastiraki (), for its part, is well-known for its string of small shops and markets, as well as its crowded flea market and tavernas specialising in souvlaki. Another district notably famous for its student-crammed, stylish cafés is Theseum or Thission (), lying just west of Monastiraki. Thission is home to the remarkable ancient Temple of Hephaestus, standing atop a small hill.
Kolonaki
The Kolonaki () area, at the base of Lycabettus hill, is full of boutiques catering to well-heeled customers by day, and bars and more fashionable restaurants by night, but at other points also a wide range of art galleries and museums. This is often regarded as one of the more prestigious areas of the capital.
ExarcheiaExarcheia (), located north of Kolonaki, has a mixed reputation as the recent or current location of the city's anarchist and drug scenes and as a culturally active student quarter with many cafés, bars and bookshops. Exarcheia is home to the Athens Polytechnic and the National Archaeological Museum; it also contains numerous important buildings of several 20th-century styles: Neoclassicism, Art Deco and Early Modernism (including Bauhaus influences).
SuburbsThe Athens Metropolitan Area consists of 73 densely populated municipalities, sprawling around the city in virtually all directions. According to their geographic location in relation to the city of Athens, the suburbs are divided into four zones; the northern suburbs (including Ekali, Nea Erythrea, Agios Stefanos, Drosia, Kryoneri, Kifissia, Maroussi, Pefki, Lykovrisi, Heraklio, Glyka Nera, Vrilissia, Melissia, Pendeli, Halandri, Psychiko and Filothei); the southern suburbs, (including Palaio Faliro, Elliniko, Glyfada, Alimos, Voula and the southernmost suburb of Vouliagmeni); the eastern suburbs, (including Zografou, Vyronas, Kaisariani, Cholargos, Papagou and Aghia Paraskevi; and the western suburbs (including Peristeri, Ilion, Egaleo, Petroupoli and Nikaia). The northern and most of the southern suburbs are particularly affluent districts, inhabited primarily by middle-to-high and high income groups. The western suburbs are primarily resided in by middle income earners, with some areas resided in by middle-to-low income groups and still others by middle-to-high earners; while the eastern suburbs are primarily inhabited by middle and middle-to-high income groups.
The Athens city coastline, extending from the major commercial port of Piraeus to the southernmost suburb of Varkiza for some , is also connected to the city centre by a tram (which, although modern, can be slow during rush hour), and is punctuated by a string of popular restaurants, cafes, vibrant music venues and modern sports facilities. The area is particularly packed with fashionable bars and nightclubs, that are literally crowded by the city's youth on a daily basis. Abo | |
