Athens

Mycenaean Age

• 

  Some remains on the Acropolis (Erechtheion) and a chamber tomb on the agora (temple of Ares)
• Probably the main settlement of a small principality, Attica
• Several later myths may contain echoes from the Mycenaean age
• There are myths about migration from Athens to Ionia. The Ionian dialect does indeed resemble the Attic dialect, which may confirm these stories; alternatively, the stories may have been invented to explain precisely that fact.

Athens, Areopagus	Athens, Agora, Stoa Poikile	Athens, Kerameikos, Dipylon krater	Athens, Agora, Terracotta of a woman with snakes

Archaic Age

• The city is ruled by aristocrats (the "Eupatrids")
• 632 BCE Failed coup Cylon
• 594/593 BCE The legislator Solon
• c.545-528/527 BCE The tyranny of Pisistratus
• Athens becomes a very important city
• 514 BCE Assassination of Pisistratus’ son Hipparchus (commemorated in the statue of the Tyrannicides)
• 510 BCE Expulsion of Pisistratus’ other son Hippias, the tyrant, who had acted despotically
• Cleisthenes introduces the democratic system; the demos (people's assembly) meets on the hill Pnyx

• 

  499 BCE Athenian intervention in the Ionian Revolt; sack of Sardes
• 490 BCE The Persians try to bring back Hippias but are defeated by the Athenians, led by Miltiades, at Marathon
• After the discovery of silver at Laurion, Themistocles convinces the Athenians to create a navy
• 480 BCE The Persian king Xerxes invades Greece and sacks Athens; his navy is defeated in the naval battle of Salamis
• 479 BCE The Persian commander Mardonius takes Athens again and is defeated by the Spartans and Athenians in the battle of Plataea; Greek expeditions to Asia Minor (Mycale)

Classical Age: fifth century

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  478 BCE Athens creates the Delian League, an anti-Persian alliance that slowly becomes an Athenian empire
• Athens builds walls and long walls to Piraeus, its main port
• 460-445 BCE First Peloponnesian War: Athens against Sparta and Persia
• 449 BCE Peace of Callias with Persia?
• Pericles expands the democratic system
• Lavish building policy (e.g., the Parthenon on the Acropolis); sophists and philosophers are attracted to Athens; in the theaters, tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, and comedies by Aristophanes

• 

  The Parthenon, the main temple of Athens, dedicated to the goddess Athena, was built between 447 and 438; the decoration was finished in 432. The building is still impressive because it is made of beautiful Pentelic marble.
• 431-421 BCE Archidamian War: Sparta, Thebes, and Corinth try to destroy the Athenian empire
• 415 BCE The Amorges affair: Athens intervenes in Persian affairs
• 415-413 BCE Sicilian Expedition: Athens fails to capture Syracuse
• 413-404 BCE Ionian or Declean War: Sparta, with financial support from Persia, defeats Athens; end of the Delian League; the Long Walls destroyed
• 404-403 BCE Rule of the Thirty; democracy is restored

Euripides	Aeschylus	Aristophanes	Sophocles
Athens, Acropolis from the north	Athens, Acropolis, Erechtheion, the Caryatids	Athens, Agora, Temple of Hephaestus	Athens, Acropolis, Temple of Nike

Classical Age: fourth century

• 

  399 BCE Death of the philosopher Socrates
• 395/394 BCE Conon, paid by Persia, restores Athens’ fortunes
• 395-387 BCE Corinthian War: Athens, Thebes, Argos, and Corinth against Sparta
• 378 BCE Creation of the Second Delian League
• 357-355 BCE Social War; end of the Delian League
• 356-346 BCE Third Sacred War; the Macedonians start to intervene in Greek politics. They are opposed by the politician Demosthenes.
• 338 BCE Battle of Chaeronea: Philip of Macedonia defeats Athens and Thebes; end of Greek independence

Athens, Statue of a Minotaur	Athens, Kerameikos, Bull from the grave enclosure of Dionysius, son of Kollytos	Athens, Kerameikos, Siren	Athens, Agora, the Demos crowned by Democracy

Hellenistic Age

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  336-323 BCE Reign of Alexander the Great, who conquers the Persian Empire. The main cultural centers are Alexandria, Antioch, and Pergamon; Rhodes eclipses Piraeus
• Demetrius of Phaleron puts an end to the democratic system; Athens is economically and politically in decline
• Athens flourishes as a cultural center with (a/o) the philosophical schools founded by Plato (the Academy), Aristotle (the Lyceum), Zeno (the Stoic philosophy), and the Garden of Epicurus
• After 159 BCE Stoa of Attalus II on the agora
• 86 BCE The Roman commander Sulla takes Athens

Aristotle	Epicurus	Plato	Zeno of Kition

Roman Age

• 

  Many new buildings; Athens remains an important cultural center but things are changing. For example, the old theater of Dionysus was used for gladiatoral contests.^note[Philostratus, Life of Apollonius 4.22.]
• The emperor Hadrian visits Athens. Building of a Roman forum, creation of a library, foundation of the Panionion, completion of the temple of Zeus.

Athens, Arch of Hadrian	Athens, Temple of Zeus	Athens, Roman Forum, Library of Hadrian	Athens, Roman Forum, Tower of the Winds

Late Antiquity

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  253 CE Athenians join in the fight against Gothic invaders, which are defeated at Thermopylae
• 267 CE Athens sacked by the Heruli
• Wall of Valerian (220 hectares)
• c.300 CE Late Roman wall (18 hectares)
• Several churches (e.g., in the Parthenon and Ilissos basilica)
• The city remained important in the Roman and Early Byzantine age, because the rulers appreciated the cultural legacy of Athens. However, the big political decisions were taken elsewhere.

Museums

• Acropolis Museum
• Byzantine Museum
• Epigraphical Museum
• Kerameikos Museum
• National Archaeological Museum
• Numismatic Museum
• Airport Museum

Athens, Agora, Tholos	Athens, Black-figured dish with a Scythian archer	Athens, Inscription with a fragment of the Athenian tribute list (425/424 BCE)	Athens, Coin with portrait of Athena
Athens, Acropolis, Parthenon, Phidias' statue of Athena Parthenos (reconstruction)	Athens, Theater of Dionysus, seen from the Acropolis	Rome, Baths of Caracalla, Harmodius and Aristogeiton	Athens, Kerameikos, Alexander with a Lion's Pelt
Athens, Agora, Head of Nike	Athens, Monument of Lysicrates	Athens, Odeon of Herodes Atticus	Athens, Ilissos Basilica, Relief of the Nativity