Editing Athens (section)

=== Antiquity ===
{{main|Classical Athens|Hellenistic Greece|Roman Greece}}
The oldest known human presence in Athens is the Cave of Schist, which has been dated to between the 11th and 7th millennia BC.<ref name="ethnos.gr">{{Cite web |date=July 2011 |title=v4.ethnos.gr – Οι πρώτοι… Αθηναίοι |url=http://www.ethnos.gr/article.asp?catid=22784&subid=2&pubid=2530782&tag=8796 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721080919/http://www.ethnos.gr/article.asp?catid=22784&subid=2&pubid=2530782&tag=8796 |archive-date=21 July 2011 |access-date=26 October 2018 |publisher=Ethnos.gr}}</ref> Athens has been continuously inhabited for at least 5,000 years (3000 BC).<ref>S. Immerwahr, The Athenian Agora XIII: the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, Princeton 1971</ref><ref name=tung/> By 1400&nbsp;BC, the settlement had become an important centre of the [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] civilisation, and the [[Acropolis of Athens|Acropolis]] was the site of a major [[Mycenae]]an fortress, whose remains can be recognised from sections of the characteristic [[Cyclopean]] walls.<ref>Iakovides, S. 1962. 'E mykenaïke akropolis ton Athenon'. Athens.</ref> Unlike other Mycenaean centres, such as [[Mycenae]] and [[Pylos]], it is not known whether Athens suffered destruction in about 1200&nbsp;BC, an event often attributed to a [[Dorians|Dorian]] invasion, and the Athenians always maintained that they were pure [[Ionians]] with no Dorian element. However, Athens, [[Bronze Age collapse|like many other Bronze Age settlements]], went into economic decline for around 150 years afterwards.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Last Mycenaeans and Their Successors; an Archaeological Survey, c. 1200–c. 1000 B.C. |last=Desborough |first=Vincent R. d'A |author-link=Vincent Desborough |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1964 |location=Oxford |page=113}}</ref> [[Iron Age]] burials, in the [[Kerameikos]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Little |first=Lisa M. |date=1988 |title=A Social Outcast in Early Iron Age Athens |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/148450 |journal=Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens |volume=67, No. 4 |issue=Oct. – Dec. 1998 |pages=375–404 |jstor=148450 }}</ref> and other locations, are often richly provided for and demonstrate that from 900&nbsp;BC onwards Athens was one of the leading centres of trade and prosperity in the region.<ref>Osborne, R. 1996, 2009. ''Greece in the Making 1200–479&nbsp;BC''.{{ISBN?}}{{page needed|date=December 2024}}</ref>

By the sixth century BC, widespread social unrest led to the reforms of [[Solon]]. These would pave the way for the eventual introduction of democracy by [[Cleisthenes]] in 508&nbsp;BC. Athens had by this time become a significant naval power with a large fleet, and helped the [[Ionian Revolt|rebellion of the Ionian cities]] against [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]] rule. In the ensuing [[Greco-Persian Wars]] Athens, together with Sparta, led the coalition of Greek states that would eventually repel the Persians, defeating them decisively at [[Battle of Marathon|Marathon]] in 490&nbsp;BC, and crucially at [[Battle of Salamis|Salamis]] in 480&nbsp;BC. However, this did not prevent Athens from being [[Achaemenid destruction of Athens|captured and sacked twice]] by the Persians within one year, after a heroic but ultimately failed resistance at [[Battle of Thermopylae|Thermopylae]] by [[Sparta]]ns and other Greeks led by [[Leonidas I|King Leonidas]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lewis |first=John David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BHe0KeXyL_AC&pg=PA34 |title=Nothing Less than Victory: Decisive Wars and the Lessons of History |year=2010 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1400834303 |access-date=24 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200312034708/https://books.google.com/books?id=BHe0KeXyL_AC&pg=PA34 |archive-date=12 March 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> after both [[Boeotia]] and [[Attica]] fell to the Persians.

[[File:Map athenian empire 431 BC-no.svg|thumb|[[Delian League]] under the leadership of Athens before the [[Peloponnesian War]] in 431 BC]]
The decades that followed became known as the [[Fifth-century Athens|Golden Age of Athenian democracy]], during which time Athens became the leading city of [[Ancient Greece]], with its cultural achievements laying the foundations for [[western culture|Western civilization]].<ref name=britannica /><ref name= bbc /> The playwrights [[Aeschylus]], [[Sophocles]] and [[Euripides]] flourished in Athens during this time, as did the historians [[Herodotus]] and [[Thucydides]], the physician [[Hippocrates]], and the philosopher [[Socrates]]. Guided by [[Pericles]], who promoted the arts and fostered democracy, Athens embarked on an ambitious building program that saw the construction of the Acropolis of Athens (including the [[Parthenon]]), as well as empire-building via the [[Delian League]]. Originally intended as an association of [[Greek city-state]]s to continue the fight against the Persians, the league soon turned into a vehicle for Athens's own imperial ambitions. The resulting tensions brought about the [[Peloponnesian War]] (431–404&nbsp;BC), in which Athens was defeated by its rival Sparta.<ref>[[Xenophon]], ''[[Hellenica]]'', 2.2.20, 404/3</ref>

[[File:The_Parthenon_in_Athens.jpg|thumb|The [[Parthenon]] on the [[Acropolis of Athens|Acropolis]] hill of Athens, dedicated to [[Athena Parthenos]]]]
By the mid-4th century BC the northern Greek kingdom of [[Macedon]] was becoming dominant in Athenian affairs. In 338&nbsp;BC the armies of [[Philip II of Macedon|Philip II]] defeated an alliance of some of the Greek city-states including Athens and Thebes at the Battle of Chaeronea. Later, under Rome, Athens was given the status of a [[free city (classical antiquity)|free city]] because of its widely admired schools. In the second century AD, the Roman emperor Hadrian, himself an Athenian citizen,<ref>Kouremenos, Anna (2022). "'The City of Hadrian and not of Theseus': A Cultural History of Hadrian's Arch". In A. Kouremenos (ed.) ''The Province of Achaea in the 2nd century CE: The Past Present''. London: Routledge. https://www.academia.edu/43746490/_2022_The_City_of_Hadrian_and_not_of_Theseus_a_cultural_history_of_Hadrians_Arch</ref> ordered the construction of a library, a gymnasium, an aqueduct which is still in use, several temples and sanctuaries, a bridge and financed the completion of the [[Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens|Temple of Olympian Zeus]].

In the early 4th century AD the [[Eastern Roman Empire]] began to be governed from [[Constantinople]], and with the construction and expansion of the imperial city, many of Athens's works of art were taken by the emperors to adorn it. The Empire became [[Christianised]], and the use of [[Latin]] declined in favour of exclusive use of [[Medieval Greek|Greek]]; in the [[Roman imperial period (chronology)|Roman imperial period]], both languages had been used. In the later Roman period, Athens was ruled by the emperors continuing until the 13th century, its citizens identifying themselves as citizens of the Roman Empire ("''[[Rhomaioi]]''"). The conversion of the empire from paganism to Christianity greatly affected Athens, resulting in reduced reverence for the city.<ref name=tung/> Ancient monuments such as the Parthenon, Erechtheion and the Hephaisteion (Theseion) were converted into churches. As the empire became increasingly anti-pagan, Athens became a provincial town and experienced fluctuating fortunes.

The city remained an important centre of learning, especially of [[Neoplatonism]]—with notable pupils including [[Gregory of Nazianzus]], [[Basil of Caesarea]] and the Roman emperor [[Julian (emperor)|Julian]] ({{Reign|355|363}})—and consequently a centre of paganism. Christian items do not appear in the archaeological record until the early 5th century.<ref name="ODB">{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Gregory|first1=Timothy E.|last2=Ševčenko|first2=Nancy Patterson|title=Athens|pages=221–223|editor-last=Kazhdan|editor-first=Alexander|editor-link=Alexander Kazhdan|year=1991|encyclopedia=[[The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium]]|location=Oxford and New York|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-504652-6}}</ref> The sack of the city by the [[Herules]] in 267 and by the [[Visigoths]] under their king [[Alaric I]] ({{Reign|395|410}}) in 396, however, dealt a heavy blow to the city's fabric and fortunes, and Athens was henceforth confined to a small fortified area that embraced a fraction of the ancient city.<ref name="ODB" /> The emperor [[Justinian I]] ({{Reign|527|565}}) banned the teaching of philosophy by pagans in 529,<ref>Alan Cameron, "The Last Days of the Academy at Athens," in A. Cameron, Wandering Poets and Other Essays on Late Greek Literature and Philosophy, 2016, (Oxford University Press: Oxford), pp. 205–246</ref> an event whose impact on the city is much debated,<ref name="ODB" /> but is generally taken to mark the end of the ancient history of Athens. Athens was sacked by the [[Slavs]] in 582, but remained in imperial hands thereafter, as highlighted by the visit of the emperor [[Constans II]] ({{Reign|641|668}}) in 662/3 and its inclusion in the [[Theme of Hellas]].<ref name="ODB"/>

<Gallery>
File:L'Olympieion_(Athènes)_(30776483926).jpg|The ruins of the [[Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens|Temple of Olympian Zeus]], conceived by the sons of [[Peisistratus]]
File:Athenian Agora (3358219222).jpg|[[Ancient Agora of Athens]], a major commercial centre (''[[agora]]'') of ancient Athens
File:The Clock Tower of Andronicus Cyrrhestes (Tower of the Winds) on May 19, 2021.jpg|[[Tower of the Winds]] in the [[Roman Agora]], the second commercial centre of ancient Athens
File:The Odeon of Herodes Atticus on September 13, 2020.jpg|[[Odeon of Herodes Atticus]] built in AD 161 by [[Herodes Atticus]]
</Gallery>