Scientific Institutions, all under supervision of the General Ephoros or director Dr. P. Kavvadias; office in the Ministère des Cultes, Rue d’Hermès. The Greek Archaeological Society, Rue de l’Université 20 (Pl. F, 4), is the central authority for antiquarian research in Greece.—British School of Athens (Pl. I, 4), Rue de Speusippe; American School of Classical Studies, same street; also French, German, and Austrian institutes. National Library (Pl. E, 3); open 19–2, 3–5, and 8–11.
Collections. Acropolis Museum (p. [519]) and National Archaeological Museum (p. [526]), on week-days from 9 (Dec. and Jan. 10) to 12, and from 3 (Oct.-March from 2, June-Aug. from 4) till sunset. On Sun. and holidays the National Museum is open 10–12, and the Acropolis Museum in the afternoon only. Adm. free (sticks and umbrellas 20 l.).—Numismatic Museum (p. [525]), Wed. and Sat. 9 (or 10)–12 and 3–6, free.—Historical and Ethnographical Museum (p. [526]), daily except on holidays, 2–5, adm. 50 l.
Plan of Visit. Three Days: 1st. *Acropolis (p. [512]), *Acropolis Museum (p. [519]); afternoon, Lykabettos (p. [528]).—2nd. *National Museum (p. [526]); afternoon, Stadion (p. [509]), Olympieion (p. [509]), Monument of Lysikrates (p. [510]), Theatre of Dionysos (p. [510]), *Odeion (p. [511]), Areopagus (p. [512]), Acropolis by sunset.—3rd. Boul. de l’Université (p. [525]), region to the N. of the Acropolis (pp. [520] et seq.); afternoon, *Theseion (p. [521]), *Dipylon (p. [522]), Hill of the Pnyx, Tomb of Philopappos (p. [524]).
If 1½ Day only be available we first drive to the Acropolis (p. [512]), to which we devote 2 hrs.; then visit the Odeion (p. [511]), the Theatre of Dionysos (p. [510]), the Monument of Lysikrates (p. [510]), the Olympieion (p. [509]) with Hadrian’s Arch (p. [508]), and the Stadion (p. [509]); we then drive past the Tower of the Winds (p. [520]), the Market Gate (p. [521]), and Hadrian’s Stoa (p. [520]) to the Theseion (p. [521]), and if possible also to the ancient Cemetery outside the Dipylon (p. [523]). Lastly, in half-a-day, we may drive through the Boul. de l’Université (p. [525]), glance at the chief modern buildings, and visit the National Museum (p. [526]).
Athens (130–492 ft.; pop. 167,500), modern Greek Athénai, lies 3¾ M. from the Saronic Gulf, in the great Attic plain, which is closed on the W. by Ægaleos and Parnes and on the E. by Hymettos and Pentelikon. The city is bounded on the S.E. by the Ilissos and on the W. by the Kephisos. The valleys of these streams are separated by the Turkovuni hills, whose S. spur, the Lykabettos, rises abruptly above Athens on the E. A broad saddle separates the latter from the rock of the Acropolis and a group of hills farther to the W.; these include the Philopappos or Museion, the Pnyx, and the Nymphs’ hills, and slope gently down to the sea.
The Athens of antiquity circled round the Acropolis and included the hills on its S.W. and W. sides (see Plan, where traces of ancient walls and the probable direction of the streets are indicated). The modern city extends to the N. of the Acropolis, far towards the plain of the Kephisos. Down to 1834 Athens was a poor village. Now, as the capital of the kingdom of Hellas, it has developed into one of the finest cities of the E. Mediterranean, and is quite European in character.
The main street is the Rue du Stade, connecting the Syntagma Square (Place de la Constitution; Pl. F, 5, 6) with the Omónia Square (Place de la Concorde; Pl. D, 2, 3). This street and the broad E. end of the Rue d’Hermès (see below) contain the principal shops. The Syntagma Square forms the centre of traffic. Parallel with the Rue du Stade runs the Boul. de l’Université (Panepistēmion), in which the chief public buildings are situated. This new E. quarter, known as Neapolis, is adjoined, to the W. of the Rue du Stade, by the older business quarter, the main arteries of which are the Rue d’Hermès (Pl. B-E, 5; p. [520]), running to the W. from the Syntagma Square, and the Rue d’Athéna (Pl. D, 3–5), running from the Place de la Concorde to the S. and intersecting the Rue d’Hermès at right angles. Parallel to the latter is the Rue d’Eole (p. [520]), which leads to the N., past the National Museum, to Patisia, and is prolonged to the S. to the Tower of the Winds at the foot of the Acropolis. The Piræus is the chief seat of industry and the wholesale trade.
History. The Athenians prided themselves on being the aboriginal inhabitants of the country, whose earliest kings are said to have been Cecrops, builder of the Acropolis, Erechtheus, Pandion, and Ægeus. Research, however, attributes the earliest settlement on the Acropolis to the Pelasgians, afterwards expelled by Ionian invaders. Theseus, the fifth king, is regarded as the actual founder of Athens. To him Thucydides assigns the Synœkismos (in 1259 B.C., it is said) or subordination of all the Attic communities to Athens as their capital. Originally consisting of the Acropolis only, the city gradually extended in all directions.
After the self-sacrifice of Kodros (1068 B.C.) the kings were succeeded by Archons, first of the house of Kodros and afterwards elected from the ranks of the Eupatridæ (landed nobles). Internal dissensions and the capricious rule of this aristocratic oligarchy led at the end of the 7th cent. to the codification of the existing law of Athens by Drakon, a measure succeeded in 594 B.C. by the democratic reforms of Solon. Eligibility for the highest offices was henceforth to depend, not on birth, but on the possession of property and the payment of taxes (‘timocracy’). The judges were to be chosen by lot, and a council (Boulē) of 400 members (Bouleutæ) was placed over the archons as the supreme governing body.
In 561 B.C., however, while Solon was still alive, Peisistratos, an ambitious but humane man and a patron of art, succeeded in usurping the position of tyrant. He and his sons Hippias and Hipparchos brilliantly developed the city. Roads were made to the various ‘demoi’ or communities of Attica, and a copious supply of water was brought by a subterranean conduit from Hymettos. The Olympieion was begun, the ancient temple of Athena on the Acropolis, the ‘hekatompedon’, was enclosed with a colonnade, and other large buildings were erected. All this splendour, however, did not compensate for the want of a free constitution; in 514 Hipparchos was assassinated by Harmodios and Aristogeiton and in 510 Hippias was banished with the aid of the Spartans. After further democratic reforms, and after various wars with adjoining states, which led to the development of the Athenian fleet, the little Attic state obtained the leadership of the whole nation in the Persian wars. In order to punish Athens for supporting the revolt of the Greek towns in Asia Minor (498), Darius I., king of Persia, sent an army of over 200,000 men with a huge fleet, under Datis and Artaphernes, across the Ægean Sea in 490. Contrary to all expectation the Athenians under Miltiades, assisted by the Platæans only, defeated the immense Persian army on the plains of Marathon. Even more glorious, and still further confirming the hegemony of Athens, was the result of the campaign of Xerxes against Greece in 480. After the heroic resistance of Leonidas and his Spartans at Thermopylæ had been overcome by the slaughter of the devoted band the whole of the huge army and armament of the Great King bore down upon Attica to avenge the defeat of Marathon. The Athenians took to their ships. The city was occupied by the Persians, the Acropolis captured, and the temples burned down. But the decisive naval victory won at Salamis (480), and due to the unflinching courage and pertinacity of Themistokles, broke the power of the Persians. The citizens had scarcely re-entered Athens when they were again compelled to retire before the army of Mardonios, but their great victory at Platæa in 479 finally relieved them from the menace of a Persian yoke.