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3-06-2015, 10:41

Athens

Site of the earliest democracy of Western civilization, Athens was the cultural center of Greek civilization from the Classical through the Roman periods.

Date: 3000 b. c.e.-700 c. e.

Category: Cities and civilizations Locale: Southern Greece, in Attica

Background The city of Athens developed around the Acropolis, a rocky hill rising from the central plain of Attica about five miles (eight kilometers) from the Saronic Gulf. Traces of habitation first appear in the late Neolithic period (c. 3000 b. c.e.), and Athens became an important center in the late Bronze Age (1600-1100 b. c.e.). A Mycenaean palace stood on the Acropolis, which was girded by massive fortifications. These remains lend some support to the tradition that in this period the hero Theseus united all of Attica under Athenian leadership.

Although Athens escaped the destruction endured elsewhere in Greece in the twelfth century b. c.e., the city still entered the Dark Ages of Greece (c. 1000-800 b. c.e.), a period of poverty and depopulation. Athens recovered earlier than other parts of Greece, but it failed to join the colonizing movement of the eighth and seventh centuries b. c.e., when Greek cities sent out colonies to deal with growing populations. One theory holds that Athens suffered a sharp decline in population because ofa severe drought around 700 b. c.e.

During the Dark Ages the Athenians replaced their king with officials called archons. By 700 b. c.e., nine archons were elected each year, and they governed Athens with the council of the Areopagus. Around 630 b. c.e., Athenian nobleman Cylon tried unsuccessfully to seize power and make himself tyrant. The failed coup created intense infighting and perhaps led to the legislation of Draco (c. 621 b. c.e.). Later generations remembered Draco’s laws as “written in blood” because of their severity.

By 600 b. c.e., Athens faced a severe economic crisis as farmers were

The Parfhenon and other buildings atop the Acropolis of Athens. (R. S. Peale and J. A. Hill)

Falling into debt, and nonaristocrats resented the excesses of aristocratic government. The reforms of Solon (c. 594 b. c.e.) addressed this crisis by canceling debts, promoting trade, and reforming Athenian government. Citizens could appeal the decisions of aristocratic judges, and nonaristocrats gained some access to political office. These reforms were only partly successful, and in about 560 b. c.e., Pisistratus became tyrant. Under his reign and that of his sons, Athens enjoyed increasing prosperity. Pisistratus reorganized religious festivals, built the first large stone temples on the Acropolis, and started a temple to Olympian Zeus. New public buildings and a fountain house were erected in the marketplace, and Athenian pottery dominated foreign markets.

Democratic Reforms The overthrow of the tyranny in 510 b. c.e. was followed by the democratic reforms of Cleisthenes in 508 b. c.e., who sought to break aristocratic control of government. Cleisthenes created ten regionally based tribes and established a council of five hundred citizens, fifty from each tribe, to prepare business for the assembly. He also instituted the practice of ostracism, by which the Athenians could exile potentially dangerous citizens for ten years.

After these reforms, Athens reached its military, political, and cultural zenith. The Athenians defeated the Persians at Marathon in 490 b. c.e., and a decade later, the Athenian navy helped overcome the Persians at Salamis (480 b. c.e.). Athens, however, was sacked. When the Athenians returned in 479 b. c.e., they fortified the city but left their temples in ruins as symbols of Persian impiety. After peace was formally concluded with Persia in 448 b. c.e., Pericles proposed rebuilding the city’s temples. This building project began in 447 b. c.e., and over the next forty years, brilliant marble buildings, including the Parthenon, Propylaea, and Erechtheum, rose on the Acropolis and throughout Athens. Meanwhile, Greek artists and intellectuals flocked to the city. Itinerant teachers called Sophists taught anyone who could afford their fees. The historian Herodotus visited Athens while composing his history of the Greco-Persian Wars. The tragedians Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides and the comic poet Aristophanes produced plays that laid the foundation for Western drama.

The Advance of Democracy The fifth century b. c.e. also saw the blossoming of democracy. In 462 b. c.e., Athenian Ephialtes deprived the Areopagus of its remaining political powers. Pericles later instituted pay for jury service and public office, thereby enabling poor citizens to participate fully in public affairs. Ironically, the advance of democracy at Athens was accompanied by Athenian imperialism abroad. In 478 b. c.e., the Athenians founded the Delian League, an alliance of Greek cities to fight the Persians. This league, however, pursued Athenian interests, and the Athenians continued to collect funds from their allies even after war with Persia was over. These funds helped finance Pericles’ building program.

Athenian democracy was overthrown after the Peloponnesian War (431404 b. c.e.). Although democratic government was soon restored, the Athenians never regained their former power. Still, the fourth century was not entirely one of decline. Despite the execution of Socrates in 399 b. c.e., philosophy flourished. Plato established a school in the Academy, a gymnasium just outside the city. His student Aristotle set up another school known as the Lyceum. Oratory was perfected by Isocrates, Aeschines, and Demosthenes. Spurred by the speeches of Demosthenes, the Athenians made one final stand against Philip II of Macedonia. Although Philip defeated the Athenians at Chaeronea (338 b. c.e.), Athens was spared destruction.

Athens remained a cultural center during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Hellenistic kings adorned the city with new buildings, and several philosophical schools developed, most notably the Stoic and Epicurean. The Athenians initially enjoyed good relations with Rome, but when they joined Mithradates VI Eupator in a war against Rome, Lucius Cornelius Sulla sacked the city (86 b. c.e.). Still, Athens continued to attract patrons, and the city prospered under the Roman Empire. In the second century c. e., the emperor Hadrian initiated a building program and finished the temple of Olympian Zeus, and Athens again became a center of learning.

Athens was sacked in 267 c. e. by the Herulians, a Germanic tribe. The city was rebuilt on a smaller scale, but rhetoric and philosophy continued to be taught. After the emperor Justinian I closed the philosophical schools in 529 b. c.e., Athens lost this last link with its glorious past and quickly sank into obscurity.

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Athens