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- Herausgeber: Parkstone International
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
Among the best-known ancient cities in our time, the capital of Greece contains much that is fascinating, including many archaeological treasures like the Acropolis and its temples. Athens remains a city both picturesque and dynamic. One third of the Greek population lives here, while its port, Piraeus, holds half of Greece's industry. So, once you have visited the city's temples, why not go round the flea markets or walk to the centre of the old town with its traders and traditional festivities? The return of the Olympic Games to their origins constitutes a major event for the town, providing the visitor with an opportunity to rediscover the beauty of its recently renovated sights.
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Seitenzahl: 72
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024
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Klaus H. Carl
Publishing Director: Jean-Paul Manzo
Text: Klaus H. Carl
Publishing assistant: Vanessa Basille
Design, cover and jacket: Cédric Pontes
Layout: Matthieu Carré
© 2024, Confidential Concepts, Worldwide, USA
© 2024, Parkstone Press USA, New York
© Image-Barwww.image-bar.com
© Klaus H.Carl
© Roni Sofer
© Sabine Reuss
© Office du tourisme de Grèce/Frankfurt
© Pictures Colour Library
© Archeological Receipts Fund
All rights reserved. No part of this may be reproduced or adapted without the permission of the copyright holder, throughout the world.
Unless otherwise specified, copyright on the works reproduced lies with the respective photographers. Despite intensive research, it has not always been possible to establish copyright ownership. Where this is the case, we would appreciate notification.
ISBN: 978-1-63919-881-8
Contents
Introduction
Of Gods and Men
History
The Trojan War
Forms of government in Athens
Four centuries BC and after
Temples and Theatres
Tour of the city
The Acropolis
Two Theatres
The Areiopagos
The Greek Agora
The Roman Agora
The Tower of the Winds
The Hadrian Library
The Olympeion
The Olympic stadium
The Plaka
The Cathedral and churches
The Kerameikos cemetery
The Lykabettos
The centre
The Museums
Piraeus
Epilogue
Greek Gods
Chronological table
Bibliography
List of Illustrations
1. General view of Athens. (© Roni Sofer)
Introduction
Athens – the very name evokes the memory of ancient legends; it represents to us the pinnacle of classical tragedy, the birthplace of western culture, and the very first Olympic games. It is a name known throughout the world. And yet despite the fact that the city, which currently boasts a population of around 5 million and covers an area of almost 430 square kilometres, is fast growing to a size you could compare with other European capitals such as Rome, Lisbon or Berlin, not many people could really claim to know modern Athens, one of Europe’s oldest capitals.
The city of Athens lies on the Attic peninsula next to the Gulf of Saronikos, in a broad valley flanked on three sides by mountains, some of which are over 1,000 metres high. On the fourth side, to the west, stand the Agaleos hills. Like many Greek cities, the Polis was originally built on a hill. This formed the original town centre and was later extended into a fortress. As time passed, the city spread beyond the hill and reached the Pnyx and Lykabettos hills as well. These two hills now stand right in the centre of the city, where they dominate the sprawl of surrounding houses. On several occasions ancient Athens was conquered by its foes, leaving only a few houses standing. Its subsequent reconstruction, which gave the city its present-day form, did not take place until the 19th century, after Athens was made capital of Greece in 1834. Today, thanks to its university, its many museums and archaeological sites, the city is once again the intellectual centre of Greece. It has close links with the harbour town of Piraeus, located only six kilometres away. Piraeus is the country’s main port, served not only by island ferries, but also by large cargo ships, and, of course, calling cruise liners.
Greece is situated on the southeastern edge of Europe. It is bordered in the north by several Balkan countries, in the west and south by the Mediterranean, and in the east by the Aegean. Its mountainous countryside covers an area of around 130,000 km². The highest of its mountains is Olympus – home of the gods, according to the ancient Greeks – which is approximately 2,900 metres in height. Its many peninsulas, islands and groups of islands - the Cyclades, Sporades, Crete, Mykonos and Rhodes - are the favourite holiday destinations of thousands of tourists who descend each summer on their peaceful shores.
2. Alvise Gramolin, Aegean Sea, 1642, 1070 x 650 cm. Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
3. View of Athens and the Lykabettos hill, from the Acropolis. (© Sabine Reuss)
In terms of religious faith, the 10-million strong population of Greece belongs almost entirely to the Greek Orthodox Church. Their language is the oldest in Europe, and for that reason alone is a symbol of the country’s historical continuity. Modern Greek may sound different, but in reality it is only a few steps removed from the language in which Homer penned his Iliad and Odyssey. So, its influence on European culture has been a long and constant one.
Greek mythology is still vividly alive today among the ruins of the Acropolis and the Parthenon, and in the lanes and shady squares of Athens’ old town. Here, one is reminded of the pantheon of Greek gods and goddesses – the bitterly feuding divine couple Zeus and Hera, brave Athena, or winged Hermes, the messenger of the gods. How easy it is to imagine the heroes of Homer’s epics treading these paths - wily Odysseus, bloodthirsty Achilles, or mighty Hector. With every step one takes across the city, we are met by the familiar faces of ancient mythology. There is Daedalus and Icarus, who made wings for themselves from wax and feathers to try to escape the labyrinth of Minos and the fearsome Minotaur, or Sisyphus, who was punished for his duplicity by being given the eternal task of pushing a rock up a hill that would roll down again as soon as he reached the top. Mythical events as well as historical ones such as the Peloponnesian War or the numerous battles of the Greeks against the Persians or Turks have left their mark on the city. Athens was also the cradle of democracy: Aristotle first invented the idea of a democratic constitution, designed as a third form of state alongside monarchy and oligarchy, and it was Pericles who first applied democracy – albeit in a very conservative form – in practice.
Greek culture has had a huge impact on European intellectual life over the centuries. Around the 5th century BC, Aristophanes first used a dramatic form known as comedy, and it is thanks to the works of Sophocles and Euripides that we have tragedy. It was Greek thinkers such as Socrates and Anaxagoras who developed the concept of philosophy that was to influence Western thoughts for centuries to come. The first ancient Olympic Games were held in Athens in 776 BC, as were the first modern ones (in 1896), while the first games of the third millennium will also be held here in 2004.
4. Drawing of Greek gods.
5. Daedalus and Icarus, relief, Byzantine Museum, Athens. (© Klaus H.Carl)
Of Gods and Men
Just like other cultures, the Greeks tried to understand and explain the origins of the world. For them, its origin was attributed to Chaos, from which came Gaia, the earth. Gaia gave birth to the mysterious Tartarus, and to Hades, god of the underworld, Uranus, god of the heavens and Pontos, god of the sea. From the darkness came light, and the earth created from itself not only the skies which surround it, but also its mountains and seas. Greek mythology tells of giants with 100 arms, of Cyclops and power-hungry Titans, the product of the union of Gaia and her son Uranus.
Uranus kept his children in a dark dungeon, and in revenge for this cruelty his son Chronos, youngest of the Titans and the god of time, castrated his father with a sickle. Uranus’ manhood, thus taken from him, was used to make the sea fertile, and from its surf arose the goddess of love, Aphrodite. From the drops of blood which fell on the earth during Chronos’ wrath came the Furies and giants who threatened the gods. Chronos, who ruled over his brothers, finally married his sister Rhea. It was prophesied that one of his sons would become his successor, and so Chronos ate his children as soon as they were born. Chronos, just like his father Uranus, kept the giants and Cyclops to guard him in Tartarus.
Rhea was not prepared to put up with the cruelties of her husband and managed to save her newborn son Zeus. When Chronos came home on the night after Zeus’ birth, intending to eat this child as well, Rhea tricked her heartless husband by giving him a stone wrapped up in swaddling clothes instead of the child. She had the baby taken to Crete, where he grew up under the protection of trusted friends.
When he was older, Zeus forced his father to bring his brothers and sisters back to life, and thus Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon were reborn. Together, they declared war on Chronos and the Titans. They eventually gained control over the giants and Cyclops and freed them from Tartarus.
