All about Athens
Athens is the capital of Greece. It is a large and modern city like the capitals of other European countries, and more than a million people live in Athens and its suburbs. But Athens is also one of the most important cities in history. Thousands of years ago, when most men on earth were still ignorant savages, the lore, science, and art of today had their beginnings in Athens. About five thousand years ago, men first built a city where Athens stands today. They built the city around a rocky hill about four hundred feet high.
On this hill they built walled fortifications called acropolis, on which there is a separate article. People lived around the hill and cultivated the land. If an enemy attacked, everyone could go to the Acropolis for safety. All cities in those ancient times came under the rule of one king after another, they fought and lost many wars, sometimes they were conquered and ruled by neighboring peoples, and at other times they conquered neighboring peoples and ruled them. For hundreds of years, Athens rose and fell in this way.
But about three thousand years ago, not long after 1000 BC, the people of Athens began to develop a larger civilization than the world had ever known before. The first step towards this was the Greek language, as the Athenians learned to use it. No other language then had the words to write great science books, as well as great poetry and other literature. Homer’s poetry, written in this language, remains as great as any other that has been written. In the hundreds of years that followed, the drama was born in the works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and others. Three of the greatest philosophers of all time, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, taught and wrote in this Greek language.
The laws written in this language, by the great statesman Solon and others, gave Athens one of the first democratic governments. Scholars around the world continue to use the Greek language. Athens became a democracy in 508 BC. The two hundred years that followed were the times of his greatest glory. During this period, the sculptor Phidias and other Athenian sculptors built the magnificent buildings on the Acropolis and carved statues that are still models of beauty. The people elected their own leaders. Athens was a “city-state”, which means that it was a city but also an independent country. However, there were many slaves. In 338 a. C., Athens was conquered by King Felipe of Macedonia, a neighboring country of Greece. (Philip was the father of Alexander the Great, who conquered almost the entire civilized world).
After falling under Macedonian rule, Athens did not again become great and independent for more than two thousand years. The Romans ruled it, then a series of conquerors until the Turks made it part of Turkey some four hundred years ago. Athens became a small city. In 1834, the entire country of Greece became independent again and Athens became the capital. It started to grow and is now a great city again. It is the seat of the Greek Orthodox Church (also called the Orthodox Catholic Church) and the capital of the kingdom of Greece. About two-thirds of all manufacturing in Greece takes place in and around Athens. The remains of many of the great buildings of ancient Athens, including the Acropolis, can still be seen there. During World War II, the Germans occupied Greece and captured Athens, but it was not damaged.
