Athens history

Athens has a long history going back to the Neolithic, when on the same hill where the Acropolis was built later, the first settlement. Over time, the settlement became a city, and to the XIV century. BC - One of the major economic and political center of Attica. In the X century. as a result of popular uprisings political system has changed: instead of the traditional kings came into power the power of civil majority (demos), which, in fact, was a small power elite - the most influential and wealthy people of the city - the aristocrats. Later, ordinary people have achieved empowerment in the assembly: the control system was formed, now known as democracy.

 

There comes a classic era (V in). - The economic and cultural prosperity of Athens, but also a time of strife and internal wars between the Greek policies. Athens defeated in the Peloponnesian wars, and lose their political influence in the Mediterranean.

Then, after an era of Macedonian rule, when Athens are part of the Roman Empire, they resumed their dominant position in Europe, but on cultural value. The whole town turns into a huge university - a repository of philosophies ranoobraznyh and rhetorical schools, a place of constant disputes and the formation of the philosophical systems of admiration and envy of all the intellectuals of the ancient world.

In Byzantine times Athens is slowly dying, completely lost its former prestige of the cultural center of Europe. At the time of the Crusades, and later - the Turkish invasion (1456), Athens had been a small provincial town with a forgotten past and without future.

But the ancient ruins of the Parthenon have always been a precious symbol of the Greek nation. After the Greek uprising 1821-1830 Athens once again became the capital of the revived Greek state and acquire the features of modern industrial European city, without losing, however, and its historical face.