Athens Guide : History of the City
The city has a history of about seven thousand years old. Was first inhabited from the pre historical times, the Mycenaeans inhabited the Acropolis rock as it was a natural fortress with spring water and high rocks. The Dorians who came from the north Europe at about 1200 B.C. gave Athens the form of city-state, this form was retained until the classical period 500 B.C. During that time Athens became the cradle of civilization for the Mediterranean, having set a democratic regime and therefore having a flourish in arts, science and philosophy. That period ended at about 200 B.C.
With the concurrence of Athens from the Romans, the Romans did not change much in the city’s looks and especially in the city’s philosophical and science schools, as they had a strong interest in the Greek culture and civilization and wanted it to be considered as their own. Luckily they never achieved their purpose, on the contrary the Greeks managed to influence the Romans and change their culture.
That period ended with the division of the Roman empire and the creation of the Byzantium. As Christianism was the official religion of the Byzantine empire it was forced onto its sub prefectures including Athens. This had as a result the final closing of the science and philosophical schools and the destruction of many great art works.
Athens stayed under the Byzantine domination until 1200A.C. when it was taken by the Franks. That lasted for 200 hundred years and at 1456 after the fall off Konstantinoupolis by the Turks at 1453, Athens came in the possession of the Turks along with the rest of Greece.
Athens was liberated with the revolution of 1821 and was part of the first free Greek nation which was founded in 1828, having as its capital the city of Nafplio.
Of course that wasn’t the end of the problem because the new prime minister of Greece Ioannis Kapodistrias was assassinated at 1831, so the European forces in order to re establish order forced into power King Otho from Bavaria and established Athens as the new capital of the Greek nation .Otho ruled Greece until 1862 when he was forced by the Greeks to go. From 1948 the first constitution of Greece had already been established after protests of the Greek people leaded by general Makrigiannis who had previously been a leader of the Greek revolution against the Turks in 1821.
The population and the form of Athens changed radically after the exchange of Greek and Turkish populations at 1923.
Athens had very severe times during world war two, with the occupation of the German army, 1941- 1944. The civil war from 1944 to 1949 had a great impact at Athens and the rest of Greece. The structure which a traveler finds coming in Athens of today begun at the early fifties after people from the Greek country sides immigrated to Athens to work at the industries that had started to work, pushing Athens and Greece to the 20th century.
Athens is a capital of five million people today.
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