Misplaced Pages

#667332

112-453: Thaïs supposedly came from Athens and accompanied Alexander throughout his campaigns in Asia. She came to the attention of history when, in 330 BC, Alexander burned down the palace of Persepolis , the principal residence of the defeated Achaemenid dynasty , after a drinking party. Thaïs was present at the party and gave a speech which convinced Alexander to burn the palace. Cleitarchus claims that

224-500: A bachelor's degree from the University of Paris in 1449 and a master's degree in 1452. Between this year and 1455, nothing is known of his activities. The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) says "Attempts have been made, in the usual fashion of conjectural biography, to fill up the gap with what a young graduate of Bohemian tendencies would, could, or might have done, but they are mainly futile." On 5 June 1455,

336-408: A national park . The Athens urban area spreads over 50 kilometres (31 mi) from Agios Stefanos in the north to Varkiza in the south. The city is located in the north temperate zone, 38 degrees north of the equator. Athens is built around a large number of hills. Lycabettus is one of the tallest hills of the city proper and provides a view of the entire Attica Basin. The meteorology of Athens

448-448: A cold, dank cell; or in a fight in some dark street with another French coquillard ; or perhaps, as he always feared, on a gallows in a little town in France. We will probably never know. Le Petit Testament , also known as Le Lais , was written in late 1456. The work is an ironic, comic poem that serves as Villon's will , listing bequests to his friends and acquaintances. In 1461, at

560-436: A few minor poems make extensive use of Parisian thieves' slang. Still Villon's verse is mostly about his own life, a record of poverty, trouble, and trial which was certainly shared by his poems' intended audience. Villon's poems are sprinkled with mysteries and hidden jokes. They are peppered with the slang of the time and the underworld subculture in which Villon moved. His works are also replete with private jokes and full of

672-475: A girl: Whatever the legal status of their relationship, Thaïs’ role in Egypt is unclear. Ptolemy had other wives, first Eurydice of Egypt , and later Berenice I of Egypt , who became his principal consort and mother of his heir. The date of Thaïs's death is unknown. Her larger-than-life persona has resulted in characters named Thaïs appearing in several literary works, the most famous of which are listed below. In

784-427: A land area of 38.96 km (15.04 sq mi). Athens is one of the world's oldest cities , with its recorded history spanning over 3,400 years, and its earliest human presence beginning somewhere between the 11th and 7th millennia BC . According to Greek mythology the city was named after Athena , the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom, but modern scholars generally agree that the goddess took her name after

896-546: A landmark new blue glass roof which was added to the main stadium. A second Olympic complex, next to the sea at the beach of Palaio Faliro, also features modern stadia, shops and an elevated esplanade. Work is underway to transform the grounds of the old Athens Airport – named Elliniko – in the southern suburbs, into one of the largest landscaped parks in Europe, to be named the Hellenikon Metropolitan Park . Many of

1008-516: A population of 3,638,281 according to the 2021 census. Athens and Piraeus municipalities serve as the two metropolitan centres of the Athens Metropolitan Area. There are also some inter-municipal centres serving specific areas. For example, Kifissia and Glyfada serve as inter-municipal centres for northern and southern suburbs respectively. The Athens Metropolitan Area consists of 58 densely populated municipalities, sprawling around

1120-537: A significant naval power with a large fleet, and helped the rebellion of the Ionian cities against Persian rule. In the ensuing Greco-Persian Wars Athens, together with Sparta, led the coalition of Greek states that would eventually repel the Persians, defeating them decisively at Marathon in 490 BC, and crucially at Salamis in 480 BC. However, this did not prevent Athens from being captured and sacked twice by

1232-692: A translation in 1924. Another translation is one by Anthony Bonner, published in 1960. One drawback common to these English older translations is that they are all based on old editions of Villon's texts: that is, the French text that they translate (the Longnon-Foulet edition of 1932) is a text established by scholars some 80 years ago. A translation by the American poet Galway Kinnell (1965) contains most of Villon's works but lacks six shorter poems of disputed provenance. Peter Dale's verse translation (1974) follows

SECTION 10

#1732851041668

1344-575: A triangle defined by the Acropolis, the ancient cemetery of Kerameikos and the new palace of the Bavarian king (now housing the Greek Parliament ), so as to highlight the continuity between modern and ancient Athens. Neoclassicism, the international style of this epoch, was the architectural style through which Bavarian, French and Greek architects such as Hansen, Klenze, Boulanger or Kaftantzoglou designed

1456-501: A very early time, but many scholars now believe them to be the work of other poets imitating Villon. Villon was a great innovator in terms of the themes of poetry and, through these themes, a great renovator of the forms. He understood perfectly the medieval courtly ideal, but he often chose to write against the grain, reversing the values and celebrating the lowlifes destined for the gallows, falling happily into parody or lewd jokes, and constantly innovating in his diction and vocabulary;

1568-681: Is a supporting character in two novels by Mary Renault about Alexander the Great : Fire from Heaven and The Persian Boy , as well as in Renault's biography of Alexander, "The Nature of Alexander." She is also a supporting character in Stealing Fire , a novel by Jo Graham about the immediate aftermath of Alexander's death. Thaïs is the heroine of a 1972 novel by the Russian author Ivan Efremov , Thaïs of Athens . It chronicles her life from meeting Alexander

1680-462: Is both the 2nd busiest passenger port in Europe, and the 13th largest container port in the world. The Athens metropolitan area or Greater Athens extends beyond its administrative municipal city limits as well as its urban agglomeration , with a population of 3,638,281 (2021) over an area of 2,928.717 km (1,131 sq mi). The heritage of the Classical Era is still evident in

1792-474: Is bounded by four large mountains: Mount Aigaleo to the west, Mount Parnitha to the north, Mount Pentelicus to the northeast and Mount Hymettus to the east. Beyond Mount Aegaleo lies the Thriasian plain , which forms an extension of the central plain to the west. The Saronic Gulf lies to the southwest. Mount Parnitha is the tallest of the four mountains (1,413 m (4,636 ft)), and has been declared

1904-484: Is deemed to be one of the most complex in the world because its mountains cause a temperature inversion phenomenon which, along with the Greek government's difficulties controlling industrial pollution, was responsible for the air pollution problems the city has faced. This issue is not unique to Athens; for instance, Los Angeles and Mexico City also suffer from similar atmospheric inversion problems. The Cephissus river,

2016-448: Is interesting to compare his version with Mr. Lepper's: both maintain a scholarly fidelity to the original, but one notes with a certain degree of surprise the extraordinary difference which they yet show." George Heyer was a fluent and idiomatic French speaker and the French and English are printed on opposite pages. The book also contains a number of historical and literary notes. John Heron Lepper  [ Wikidata ] published

2128-569: Is located in the circle of the flatterers, plunged in a trench of excrement, having been consigned there, we are told by Virgil , for having uttered to her lover that she was "marvellously" fond of him. Dante's Thaïs may or may not be intended to represent the historical courtesan, but the words ascribed to her derive from Cicero's quotations from Terence. Thaïs is mentioned as one of the famous historical beauties in François Villon 's " Ballade des dames du temps jadis " (1461). Thaïs and Alexander

2240-726: Is the most populous in Greece , with a population of 643,452 people (in 2021) and an area of 38.96 km (15.04 sq mi), forming the core of the Athens Urban Area within the Attica Basin. The incumbent Mayor of Athens is Charis Doukas of PASOK. The municipality is divided into seven municipal districts which are mainly used for administrative purposes. Fran%C3%A7ois Villon François Villon ( Modern French : [fʁɑ̃swa vijɔ̃] ; Middle French : [frãːˈswɛ viˈlõː] ; c.  1431 – after 1463)

2352-688: Is the best known French poet of the Late Middle Ages . He was involved in criminal behavior and had multiple encounters with law enforcement authorities. Villon wrote about some of these experiences in his poems. Villon was born in Paris in 1431. One source gives the date as 19 April, 1432 [ O.S. April 1, 1431]. Villon's real name may have been François de Montcorbier or François des Loges : both of these names appear in official documents drawn up in Villon's lifetime. In his own work, however, Villon

SECTION 20

#1732851041668

2464-492: Is the first city in Europe to appoint a chief heat officer to deal with severe heat waves . Temperatures of 47.5°C have been reported in several locations of the metropolitan area, including within the urban agglomeration. Metropolitan Athens was until 2021 the holder of the World Meteorological Organization record for the highest temperature ever recorded in Europe with 48.0 °C (118.4 °F) which

2576-433: Is the only name the poet used, and he mentions it frequently in his work. His two collections of poems, especially " Le Testament " (also known as "Le grand testament"), have traditionally been read as if they were autobiographical. Other details of his life are known from court or other civil documents. From what the sources tell us, it appears that Villon was born in poverty and raised by a foster father, but that his mother

2688-536: The 2004 Summer Olympics , making it one of five cities to have hosted the Summer Olympics on multiple occasions. In Ancient Greek , the name of the city was Ἀθῆναι ( Athênai , pronounced [atʰɛ̂ːnai̯] in Classical Attic ), which is a plural word. In earlier Greek, such as Homeric Greek , the name had been current in the singular form though, as Ἀθήνη ( Athḗnē ). It was possibly rendered in

2800-401: The 2021 Population and Housing Census , The four regional units that make up the former Athens prefecture have a combined population of 2,611,713 . They together with the regional unit of Piraeus (sometimes referred as Greater Piraeus) make up the dense Athens Urban Area or Greater Athens which reaches a total population of 3,059,764 inhabitants (in 2021). The municipality (Center) of Athens

2912-799: The Acropolis of Athens and the medieval Daphni Monastery . Athens is also home to several museums and cultural institutions, such as the National Archeological Museum , featuring the world's largest collection of ancient Greek antiquities, the Acropolis Museum , the Museum of Cycladic Art , the Benaki Museum , and the Byzantine and Christian Museum . Athens was the host city of the first modern-day Olympic Games in 1896, and 108 years later it hosted

3024-639: The Ilisos and the Eridanos stream are the historical rivers of Athens. By the late 1970s, the pollution of Athens had become so destructive that according to the then Greek Minister of Culture , Constantine Trypanis, "...the carved details on the five the caryatids of the Erechtheum had seriously degenerated, while the face of the horseman on the Parthenon's west side was all but obliterated." A series of measures taken by

3136-459: The Kerameikos and other locations, are often richly provided for and demonstrate that from 900 BC onwards Athens was one of the leading centres of trade and prosperity in the region. By the sixth century BC, widespread social unrest led to the reforms of Solon . These would pave the way for the eventual introduction of democracy by Cleisthenes in 508 BC. Athens had by this time become

3248-795: The Latin Church brought to the Eastern Mediterranean during the Crusades. Along with rest of Byzantine Greece, Athens was part of the series of feudal fiefs , similar to the Crusader states established in Syria and on Cyprus after the First Crusade . This period is known as the Frankokratia . The first Ottoman attack on Athens, which involved a short-lived occupation of the town, came in 1397, under

3360-881: The Municipality of Athens (the City Centre) in virtually all directions. For the Athenians, all the urban municipalities surrounding the City Centre are called suburbs. According to their geographic location in relation to the City of Athens , the suburbs are divided into four zones; the northern suburbs (including Agios Stefanos , Dionysos , Ekali , Nea Erythraia , Kifissia , Kryoneri , Maroussi , Pefki , Lykovrysi , Metamorfosi , Nea Ionia , Nea Filadelfeia , Irakleio , Vrilissia , Melissia , Penteli , Chalandri , Agia Paraskevi , Gerakas , Pallini , Galatsi , Psychiko and Filothei );

3472-655: The Mycenaean civilization, and the Acropolis was the site of a major Mycenaean fortress, whose remains can be recognised from sections of the characteristic Cyclopean walls. Unlike other Mycenaean centers, such as Mycenae and Pylos , it is not known whether Athens suffered destruction in about 1200 BC, an event often attributed to a Dorian invasion, and the Athenians always maintained that they were pure Ionians with no Dorian element. However, Athens, like many other Bronze Age settlements , went into economic decline for around 150 years afterwards. Iron Age burials, in

Thaïs - Misplaced Pages Continue

3584-798: The National Archaeological Museum . Athens' largest zoo is the Attica Zoological Park , a 20-hectare (49-acre) private zoo located in the suburb of Spata. The zoo is home to around 2000 animals representing 400 species, and is open 365 days a year. Smaller zoos exist within public gardens or parks, such as the zoo within the National Garden of Athens. Athens has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate ( Köppen climate classification : Csa ). The climate in Athens can be considered warmer than some cities that are similar or even less distant from

3696-463: The See of Orléans . Villon may have been released as part of a general jail-delivery at the accession of King Louis XI and became a free man again on 2 October 1461. In 1461, he wrote his most famous work, Le Testament (or Le Grand Testament, as it is also known). In the autumn of 1462, he was once more living in the cloisters of Saint-Benoît. In November 1462, Villon was imprisoned for theft. He

3808-477: The regional unit of Piraeus . The Athens urban area spans over 412 km (159 sq mi), with a population of 3,059,764 people as of 2021. The Athens metropolitan area spans 2,928.717 km (1,131 sq mi) within the Attica region and includes a total of 58 municipalities, which are organized in seven regional units (those outlined above, along with East Attica and West Attica ), having reached

3920-508: The temple of Athena Nike was dismantled by the Ottomans to fortify the Parthenon. A shot fired during the bombardment of the Acropolis caused a powder magazine in the Parthenon to explode (26 September), and the building was severely damaged, giving it largely the appearance it has today. The Venetian occupation of Athens lasted for six months, and both the Venetians and the Ottomans participated in

4032-421: The Athenians the first domesticated olive tree . Cecrops accepted this gift and declared Athena the patron goddess of Athens. Eight different etymologies, now commonly rejected, have been proposed since the 17th century. Christian Lobeck proposed as the root of the name the word ἄθος ( áthos ) or ἄνθος ( ánthos ) meaning "flower", to denote Athens as the "flowering city". Ludwig von Döderlein proposed

4144-516: The Athens basin compared to the precipitation amounts seen in a typical Mediterranean climate is due to the rain shadow effect caused by the Pindus mountain range and the Dirfys and Parnitha mountains, substantially drying the westerly and northerly winds respectively. Snowfall is not very common, though it occurs almost annually. It usually does not cause heavy disruption to daily life, in contrast to

4256-506: The Attica region experienced a number of brush fires , including a blaze that burned a significant portion of a large forested national park in Mount Parnitha , considered critical to maintaining a better air quality in Athens all year round. Damage to the park has led to worries over a stalling in the improvement of air quality in the city. The major waste management efforts undertaken in

4368-458: The Capital ( Greek : Πολεοδομικό Συγκρότημα Πρωτεύουσας , romanized :  Poleodomikó Synkrótima Protévousas ) or Greater Athens ( Greek : Ευρύτερη Αθήνα , romanized :  Evrýteri Athína ), today consists of 40 municipalities: 35 of them divided in four regional units ( Central Athens , North Athens , West Athens , South Athens ), and a further 5 municipalities which make up

4480-543: The EU to help enhance the project. The landmark Dionysiou Areopagitou Street has been pedestrianised, forming a scenic route. The route starts from the Temple of Olympian Zeus at Vasilissis Olgas Avenue, continues under the southern slopes of the Acropolis near Plaka , and finishes just beyond the Temple of Hephaestus in Thiseio . The route in its entirety provides visitors with views of

4592-432: The Great through to her time as queen of Memphis in Egypt. Other literary figures named Thaïs are references to Thaïs of Alexandria , a Christian saint of a later period, about whom a French novel and an opera were written. Athens This is an accepted version of this page Athens ( / ˈ æ θ ɪ n z / ATH -inz ) is the capital and largest city of Greece . A major coastal urban area in

Thaïs - Misplaced Pages Continue

4704-568: The Great are conjured by Faustus in Christopher Marlowe 's play Doctor Faustus for the amusement of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Thaïs appears as Alexander's mistress in John Dryden 's poem Alexander's Feast, or the Power of Music (1697), which begins with a description of Alexander enthroned with "the lovely Thaïs by his side" who sat "like a blooming eastern bride". The poem's account of

4816-576: The Greek capital falls directly within the Municipality of Athens ( Greek : Δήμος Αθηναίων , romanized :  Dímos Athinaíon ), which is the largest in population size in Greece and forms the core of the Athens urban area, followed by the Municipality of Piraeus , which forms a significant city centre on its own within the Athens urban area and it is the second largest in population size within it. The Athens Urban Area ( Greek : Πολεοδομικό Συγκρότημα Αθηνών , romanized :  Poleodomikó Synkrótima Athinón ), also known as Urban Area of

4928-502: The Greek city-states including Athens and Thebes at the Battle of Chaeronea. Later, under Rome, Athens was given the status of a free city because of its widely admired schools. In the second century AD, the Roman emperor Hadrian, himself an Athenian citizen, ordered the construction of a library, a gymnasium, an aqueduct which is still in use, several temples and sanctuaries, a bridge and financed

5040-622: The Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica region and is the southernmost capital on the European mainland . With its urban area's population numbering over three and a quarter million, it is the eighth largest urban area in the European Union . The Municipality of Athens (also City of Athens), which constitutes a small administrative unit of the entire urban area, had a population of 643,452 (2021) within its official limits, and

5152-524: The Ottoman generals Yaqub Pasha and Timurtash. Finally, in 1458, Athens was captured by the Ottomans under the personal leadership of Sultan Mehmed II . As the Ottoman Sultan rode into the city, he was greatly struck by the beauty of its ancient monuments and issued a firman (imperial edict) forbidding their looting or destruction, on pain of death. The Parthenon was converted into the main mosque of

5264-545: The Parthenon and the Agora (the meeting point of ancient Athenians), away from the busy City Centre. The hills of Athens also provide green space. Lycabettus , Philopappos hill and the area around it, including Pnyx and Ardettos hill , are planted with pines and other trees, with the character of a small forest rather than typical metropolitan parkland. Also to be found is the Pedion tou Areos ( Field of Mars ) of 27.7 hectares, near

5376-599: The Persians within one year, after a heroic but ultimately failed resistance at Thermopylae by Spartans and other Greeks led by King Leonidas , after both Boeotia and Attica fell to the Persians. The decades that followed became known as the Golden Age of Athenian democracy , during which time Athens became the leading city of Ancient Greece , with its cultural achievements laying the foundations for Western civilization . The playwrights Aeschylus , Sophocles and Euripides flourished in Athens during this time, as did

5488-717: The Persians, against the acropolis at Athens should have been repaid in kind after many years by one woman, a citizen of the land which had suffered it, and in sport. It has been argued that Thaïs was at this time Alexander's lover. T. D. Ogden suggests that Ptolemy took her over at some later point, though other writers believe she was always Ptolemy's companion. Thaïs's subsequent career is uncertain. According to Athenaeus (who lived more than five centuries later), she married her lover Ptolemy, who became king of Egypt, after Alexander's death. Even if they were not actually married, their relationship seems to have acquired "quasi-legal status". She has three children with Ptolemy, two boys and

5600-480: The age of thirty, Villon composed the longer work which came to be known as Le grand testament (1461–1462). This has generally been judged Villon's greatest work, and there is evidence in the work itself that Villon felt the same. Besides Le Lais and Le grand testament , Villon's surviving works include multiple poems. Sixteen of these shorter poems vary from the serious to the light-hearted. An additional eleven poems in thieves' jargon were attributed to Villon from

5712-544: The ancient monuments suffered badly. The Ottoman forces remained in possession until March 1833, when they withdrew. Following the Greek War of Independence and the establishment of the Greek Kingdom , Athens was chosen to replace Nafplio as the second capital of the newly independent Greek state in 1834, largely because of historical and sentimental reasons. At the time, after the extensive destruction it had suffered during

SECTION 50

#1732851041668

5824-431: The authorities of the city throughout the 1990s resulted in the improvement of air quality; the appearance of smog (or nefos as the Athenians used to call it) has become less common. Measures taken by the Greek authorities throughout the 1990s have improved the quality of air over the Attica Basin. Nevertheless, air pollution still remains an issue for Athens, particularly during the hottest summer days. In late June 2007,

5936-402: The banquet, so the king led them all out for the comus to the sound of voices and flutes and pipes, Thaïs the courtesan leading the whole performance. She was the first, after the king, to hurl her blazing torch into the palace. As the others all did the same, immediately the entire palace area was consumed, so great was the conflagration. It was remarkable that the impious act of Xerxes, king of

6048-400: The better gift would become their patron and appointed Cecrops , the king of Athens, as the judge. According to the account given by Pseudo-Apollodorus , Poseidon struck the ground with his trident and a salt water spring welled up. In an alternative version of the myth from Vergil 's poem Georgics , Poseidon instead gave the Athenians the first horse. In both versions, Athena offered

6160-509: The chapel of the Collège de Navarre was broken open and five hundred gold crowns stolen. Villon was involved in the robbery. Many scholars believe that he fled from Paris soon afterward and that this is when he composed what is now known as the Le Petit Testament ("The Smaller Testament") or Le Lais ("Legacy" or "Bequests"). The robbery was not discovered until March of the next year, and it

6272-497: The city is much debated, but is generally taken to mark the end of the ancient history of Athens. Athens was sacked by the Slavs in 582, but remained in imperial hands thereafter, as highlighted by the visit of the emperor Constans II ( r.  641–668 ) in 662/3 and its inclusion in the Theme of Hellas . The city was threatened by Saracen raids in the 8th–9th centuries—in 896, Athens

6384-575: The city was sometimes referred to as the City of the Violet Crown , first documented in Pindar's ἰοστέφανοι Ἀθᾶναι ( iostéphanoi Athânai ), or as τὸ κλεινὸν ἄστυ ( tò kleinòn ásty , "the glorious city"). During the medieval period, the name of the city was rendered once again in the singular as Ἀθήνα . Variant names included Setines, Satine, and Astines, all derivations involving false splitting of prepositional phrases. King Alphonse X of Castile gives

6496-732: The city's infrastructure (including the Attiki Odos motorway, the expansion of the Athens Metro , and the new Athens International Airport ), considerably alleviated pollution and transformed Athens into a much more functional city. In 2004, Athens hosted the 2004 Summer Olympics . Athens sprawls across the central plain of Attica that is often referred to as the Athens Basin or the Attica Basin ( Greek : Λεκανοπέδιο Αθηνών/Αττικής , romanized :  Lekanopédio Athinón/Attikís ). The basin

6608-591: The city, in response of complaints of maladministration by the local governors. After her death, Athens came under the purview of the Kizlar Agha. The Turks began a practice of storing gunpowder and explosives in the Parthenon and Propylaea . In 1640, a lightning bolt struck the Propylaea, causing its destruction. In 1687, during the Morean War , the Acropolis was besieged by the Venetians under Francesco Morosini , and

6720-402: The city, represented by ancient monuments , and works of art, the most famous of all being the Parthenon , considered a key landmark of early Western culture . The city also retains Roman , Byzantine and a smaller number of Ottoman monuments, while its historical urban core features elements of continuity through its millennia of history. Athens is home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites ,

6832-444: The city. Under Ottoman rule, Athens was denuded of any importance and its population severely declined, leaving it as a "small country town" ( Franz Babinger ). From the early 17th century, Athens came under the jurisdiction of the Kizlar Agha , the chief black eunuch of the Sultan's harem . The city had originally been granted by Sultan Ahmed I ( r.  1603–1617 ) to Basilica, one of his favourite concubines, who hailed from

SECTION 60

#1732851041668

6944-407: The city. Classical Athens was one of the most powerful city-states in ancient Greece . It was a centre for democracy, the arts, education and philosophy, and was highly influential throughout the European continent, particularly in Ancient Rome . For this reason, it is often regarded as the cradle of Western civilization and the birthplace of democracy in its own right independently from

7056-409: The city. Modern scholars now generally agree that the goddess takes her name from the city, because the ending - ene is common in names of locations, but rare for personal names. According to the ancient Athenian founding myth , Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war, competed against Poseidon , the God of the Seas, for patronage of the yet-unnamed city; they agreed that whoever gave the Athenians

7168-431: The city. The National Garden of Athens was completed in 1840 and is a green refuge of 15.5 hectares in the centre of the Greek capital. It is to be found between the Parliament and Zappeion buildings, the latter of which maintains its own garden of seven hectares. Parts of the City Centre have been redeveloped under a masterplan called the Unification of Archeological Sites of Athens , which has also gathered funding from

7280-444: The colder half of the year with the remaining rainfall falling sparsely, mainly during thunderstorms. Fog is rare in the city center, but somewhat more frequent in areas to the east, close to mount Hymettus . The southern section of the Athens metropolitan area (i.e., Elliniko , Athens Riviera ) lies in the transitional zone between Mediterranean ( Csa ) and hot semi-arid climate ( BSh ), with its port-city of Piraeus being

7392-451: The completion of the Temple of Olympian Zeus . In the early 4th century AD, the Eastern Roman Empire began to be governed from Constantinople , and with the construction and expansion of the imperial city, many of Athens's works of art were taken by the emperors to adorn it. The Empire became Christianized, and the use of Latin declined in favour of exclusive use of Greek ; in the Roman imperial period , both languages had been used. In

7504-511: The destruction was a whim; Plutarch and Diodorus assert that it was intended as retribution for Xerxes' burning of the old Temple of Athena on the Acropolis in Athens (the site of the extant Parthenon ) in 480 BC during the second Persian invasion of Greece . When the king [Alexander] had caught fire at their words, all leaped up from their couches and passed the word along to form a victory procession in honour of Dionysus . Promptly many torches were gathered. Female musicians were present at

7616-450: The early 5th century. The sack of the city by the Herules in 267 and by the Visigoths under their king Alaric I ( r.  395–410 ) in 396, however, dealt a heavy blow to the city's fabric and fortunes, and Athens was henceforth confined to a small fortified area that embraced a fraction of the ancient city. The emperor Justinian I ( r.  527–565 ) banned the teaching of philosophy by pagans in 529, an event whose impact on

7728-417: The empire became increasingly anti-pagan, Athens became a provincial town and experienced fluctuating fortunes. The city remained an important center of learning, especially of Neoplatonism —with notable pupils including Gregory of Nazianzus , Basil of Caesarea and emperor Julian ( r.  355–363 )—and consequently a center of paganism. Christian items do not appear in the archaeological record until

7840-413: The ending of the first period of Iconoclasm at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787. A few years later, another Athenian, Theophano , became empress as the wife of Staurakios (r. 811–812). Invasion of the empire by the Turks after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, and the ensuing civil wars, largely passed the region by and Athens continued its provincial existence unharmed. When the Byzantine Empire

7952-538: The equator such as Seoul, Melbourne, Buenos Aires, Cape Town and Norfolk (Virgina, US). According to the meteorological station near the city center which is operated by the National Observatory of Athens , the downtown area has simple mean annual temperature of 19.2 °C (66.6 °F) while parts of the urban agglomeration may reach up to 19.8 °C (67.6 °F), being affected by the urban heat island effect. Athens receives about 433.1 millimetres (17.05 in) of precipitation per year, largely concentrated during

8064-608: The far past, mid-past, and modern time. Rossetti used "The Ballad of Dead Ladies"; "To Death, of his Lady"; and "His Mother's Service to Our Lady". W.E. Henley , while editing Slang and its analogues translated two ballades into English criminal slang as "Villon's Straight Tip to All Cross Coves" and "Villon’s Good-Night". American poet Richard Wilbur , whose translations from French poetry and plays were widely acclaimed, also translated many of Villon's most famous ballades in Collected Poems: 1943–2004 . The phrase "Where are

8176-454: The feast ends by comparing Thaïs to Helen of Troy : "Thaïs led the way/To light him to his prey/And like another Helen, fired another Troy." The poem was later set to music as an oratorio, also called Alexander's Feast , by George Frederick Handel . Robert Herrick (1591–1674) in "What Kind of Mistress He Would Have" concludes, "Let her Lucrece all day be, Thaïs in the night to me, Be she such as neither will, Famish me, nor overfill." Thaïs

8288-532: The fight against the Persians, the league soon turned into a vehicle for Athens's own imperial ambitions. The resulting tensions brought about the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), in which Athens was defeated by its rival Sparta. By the mid-4th century BC, the northern Greek kingdom of Macedon was becoming dominant in Athenian affairs. In 338 BC the armies of Philip II defeated an alliance of some of

8400-455: The first blood, not only received a dagger-thrust in return, but a blow from a stone, which struck him down. He died of his wounds. Villon fled, and was sentenced to banishment – a sentence which was remitted in January 1456 by a pardon from King Charles VII after he received the second of two petitions which made the claim that Sermaise had forgiven Villon before he died. Two different versions of

8512-458: The first important public buildings of the new capital. In 1896, Athens hosted the first modern Olympic Games . During the 1920s a number of Greek refugees , expelled from Asia Minor after the Greco-Turkish War and Population exchange between Greece and Turkey , swelled Athens's population; nevertheless it was most particularly following World War II , and from the 1950s and 1960s, that

8624-460: The first major recorded incident of his life occurred. While in the Rue Saint-Jacques in the company of a priest named Giles and a girl named Isabeau, he met a Breton named Jean le Hardi, a Master of Arts, who was also with a priest, Philippe Chermoye (or Sermoise or Sermaise). A scuffle broke out and daggers were drawn. Sermaise, who is accused of having threatened and attacked Villon and drawn

8736-456: The formal pardon exist; in one, the culprit is identified as "François des Loges, autrement dit Villon" ("François des Loges, otherwise called Villon"), in the other as "François de Montcorbier." He is also said to have named himself to the barber-surgeon who dressed his wounds as "Michel Mouton." The documents of this affair at least confirm the date of his birth, by presenting him as twenty-six years old or thereabouts. Around Christmas 1456,

8848-675: The growth of the town in general. However, this medieval prosperity was not to last. In 1204, the Fourth Crusade conquered Athens and the city was not recovered from the Latins before it was taken by the Ottoman Turks . It did not become Greek in government again until the 19th century. From 1204 until 1458, Athens was ruled by Latins in three separate periods, following the Crusades . The "Latins", or " Franks ", were western Europeans and followers of

8960-535: The historians Herodotus and Thucydides , the physician Hippocrates , and the philosopher Socrates . Guided by Pericles , who promoted the arts and fostered democracy, Athens embarked on an ambitious building program that saw the construction of the Acropolis of Athens (including the Parthenon ), as well as empire-building via the Delian League . Originally intended as an association of Greek city-states to continue

9072-487: The last decade (particularly the plant built on the small island of Psytalia) have greatly improved water quality in the Saronic Gulf, and the coastal waters of Athens are now accessible again to swimmers. Parnitha National Park is punctuated by well-marked paths, gorges, springs, torrents and caves dotting the protected area. Hiking and mountain-biking in all four mountains are popular outdoor activities for residents of

9184-535: The later Roman period, Athens was ruled by the emperors continuing until the 13th century, its citizens identifying themselves as citizens of the Roman Empire (" Rhomaioi "). The conversion of the empire from paganism to Christianity greatly affected Athens, resulting in reduced reverence for the city. Ancient monuments such as the Parthenon, Erechtheion and the Hephaisteion (Theseion) were converted into churches. As

9296-493: The looting of the Parthenon. One of its western pediments was removed, causing even more damage to the structure. During the Venetian occupation, the two mosques of the city were converted into Catholic and Protestant churches, but on 9 April 1688 the Venetians abandoned Athens again to the Ottomans. In 1822, a Greek insurgency captured the city, but it fell to the Ottomans again in 1826 (though Acropolis held till June 1827). Again

9408-440: The loyal wife, while Thaïs is the epitome of sex. Thaïs, says Ovid, is the subject of his art. Athenaeus's book The Deipnosophists records a number of remarks attributed to Thaïs. She "said once to a boastful lover of hers, who had borrowed some goblets from a great many people, and said that he meant to break them up, and make others of them, 'You will destroy what belongs to each private person'." Another time, when asked who she

9520-568: The major commercial port of Piraeus to the southernmost suburb of Varkiza for some 25 km (20 mi), is also connected to the City Centre by tram. In the northern suburb of Maroussi, the upgraded main Olympic Complex (known by its Greek acronym OAKA) dominates the skyline. The area has been redeveloped according to a design by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava , with steel arches, landscaped gardens, fountains, futuristic glass, and

9632-458: The most extreme example, receiving just 331.9 millimetres (13.07 in) per year. The areas to the south generally see less extreme temperature variations as their climate is moderated by the Saronic gulf . The northern part of the city (i.e., Kifissia ), owing to its higher elevation, features moderately lower temperatures and slightly increased precipitation year-round. The generally dry climate of

9744-465: The names of real people – rich men, royal officials, lawyers, prostitutes, and policemen – from medieval Paris. George Heyer (1869–1925; father of novelist Georgette Heyer ) published a translation in 1924. Oxford University Press brought out The Retrospect of Francois Villon: being a Rendering into English Verse of huitains I TO XLI. Of Le Testament and of the three Ballades to which they lead, transl. George Heyer (London, 1924). On 25 December 1924 it

9856-568: The nearby town of Loutraki (accessible by car via the Athens – Corinth National Highway, or the Athens Suburban Railway ). The concept of a partner city is used under different names in different countries, but they mean the same thing, that two cities in different countries assist each other as partners. Athens has quite a number of partners, whether as a "twin", a "sister", or a "partner." The Municipality of Athens has an official population of 643,452 people (in 2021). According to

9968-440: The northern parts of the city, where blizzards occur on a somewhat more regular basis. The most recent examples include the snowstorms of 16 February 2021 and 24 January 2022, when the entire urban area was blanketed in snow. Athens may get particularly hot in the summer, owing partly to the strong urban heat island effect characterizing the city. In fact, Athens is considered to be the hottest city in mainland Europe , and

10080-488: The plural later on, like those of Θῆβαι ( Thêbai ) and Μυκῆναι ( Μukênai ). The root of the word is probably not of Greek or Indo-European origin, and is possibly a remnant of the Pre-Greek substrate of Attica. In antiquity, it was debated whether Athens took its name from its patron goddess Athena ( Attic Ἀθηνᾶ , Athēnâ , Ionic Ἀθήνη , Athḗnē , and Doric Ἀθάνα , Athā́nā ) or Athena took her name from

10192-754: The poet's rhyme scheme. Barbara Sargent-Baur's complete works translation (1994) includes 11 poems long attributed to Villon but possibly the work of a medieval imitator. A new English translation by David Georgi came out in 2013. The book also includes Villon's French, printed across from the English. Notes in the back provide a wealth of information about the poems and about medieval Paris. "More than any translation, Georgi's emphasizes Villon's famous gallows humor...his word play, jokes, and puns". Translations of three Villon poems were made in 1867 by Dante Gabriel Rossetti . These three poems were "central texts" to Rossetti's 1870 book of Poems , which explored themes from

10304-425: The population of the city exploded, and Athens experienced a gradual expansion. In the 1980s, it became evident that smog from factories and an ever-increasing fleet of automobiles, as well as a lack of adequate free space due to congestion, had evolved into the city's most important challenge. A series of anti-pollution measures taken by the city's authorities in the 1990s, combined with a substantial improvement of

10416-456: The post-classical period she is commonly portrayed in literature and art as Alexander's rather than Ptolemy's lover. In Terence 's play Eunuchus , there is a female protagonist who is a courtesan named Thaïs after the historical figure. Thaïs' words from the play are quoted in Cicero 's essay De Amicitia . In Ovid 's Remedia Amoris (383), Thaïs is contrasted with Andromache , the epitome of

10528-476: The pseudo-etymology 'the one without death/ignorance'. In Ottoman Turkish, it was called آتينا ‎ Ātīnā , and in modern Turkish, it is Atina . The oldest known human presence in Athens is the Cave of Schist, which has been dated to between the 11th and 7th millennia BC. Athens has been continuously inhabited for at least 5,000 years (3000 BC). By 1400 BC, the settlement had become an important centre of

10640-537: The rest of Greece. In modern times, Athens is a large cosmopolitan metropolis and central to economic, financial, industrial, maritime, political and cultural life in Greece. It is a Beta (+) - status global city according to the Globalization and World Cities Research Network , and is one of the biggest economic centers in Southeastern Europe. It also has a large financial sector, and its port Piraeus

10752-596: The same poem, which he titled "Ballade of the Ladies of Time Past", in his Collected Poems: 1943–2004 . In his translation, the refrain is rendered as: "But where shall last year's snow be found?" Villon's poems enjoyed substantial popularity in the decades after they were written. In 1489, a printed volume of his poems was published by Pierre Levet . This edition was almost immediately followed by several others. In 1533, poet and humanist scholar Clément Marot published an important edition, in which he recognized Villon as one of

10864-409: The sentence was commuted to banishment by the parlement on 5 January 1463. Villon's fate after January 1463 is unknown. Rabelais retells two stories about him which are usually dismissed as without any basis in fact. Anthony Bonner speculated that the poet, as he left Paris, was "broken in health and spirit." Bonner writes further: He might have died on a mat of straw in some cheap tavern, or in

10976-473: The snows of yester-year ?" is one of the most famous lines of translated poetry in the English-speaking world. It is the refrain in "The Ballad of Dead Ladies", Dante Gabriel Rossetti 's translation of Villon's 1461 " Ballade des dames du temps jadis ". In the original the line is: "Mais où sont les neiges d'antan?" ["But where are the snows of yesteryear?"]. Richard Wilbur published his translation of

11088-689: The southern suburbs (including Alimos , Nea Smyrni , Moschato , Tavros , Agios Ioannis Renti , Kallithea , Piraeus , Agios Dimitrios , Palaio Faliro , Elliniko , Glyfada , Lagonisi , Saronida , Argyroupoli , Ilioupoli , Varkiza , Voula , Vari and Vouliagmeni ); the eastern suburbs (including Zografou , Dafni , Vyronas , Kaisariani , Cholargos and Papagou ); and the western suburbs (including Peristeri , Ilion , Egaleo , Koridallos , Agia Varvara , Keratsini , Perama , Nikaia , Drapetsona , Chaidari , Petroupoli , Agioi Anargyroi , Ano Liosia , Aspropyrgos , Eleusina , Acharnes and Kamatero ). The Athens city coastline, extending from

11200-543: The southern suburbs (such as Alimos , Palaio Faliro , Elliniko , Glyfada , Voula , Vouliagmeni and Varkiza ) known as the Athens Riviera , host a number of sandy beaches, most of which are operated by the Greek National Tourism Organisation and require an entrance fee. Casinos operate on both Mount Parnitha, some 25 km (16 mi) from downtown Athens (accessible by car or cable car), and

11312-440: The stem of the verb θάω , stem θη- ( tháō , thē- , "to suck") to denote Athens as having fertile soil. Athenians were called cicada -wearers (Ancient Greek: Τεττιγοφόροι ) because they used to wear pins of golden cicadas. A symbol of being autochthonous (earth-born), because the legendary founder of Athens, Erechtheus was an autochthon or of being musicians, because the cicada is a "musician" insect. In classical literature,

11424-664: The town became an important centre for the production of soaps and dyes. The growth of the town attracted the Venetians , and various other traders who frequented the ports of the Aegean, to Athens. This interest in trade appears to have further increased the economic prosperity of the town. The 11th and 12th centuries were the Golden Age of Byzantine art in Athens. Almost all of the most important Middle Byzantine churches in and around Athens were built during these two centuries, and this reflects

11536-400: The war of independence, it was reduced to a town of about 4,000 people (less than half its earlier population) in a loose swarm of houses along the foot of the Acropolis. The first King of Greece , King Otto of Bavaria, commissioned the architects Stamatios Kleanthis and Eduard Schaubert to design a modern city plan fit for the capital of a state. The first modern city plan consisted of

11648-513: Was a wanderer. He may have been, as his friends Regnier de Montigny and Colin des Cayeux were, a member of a wandering gang of thieves. The next date for which there are recorded whereabouts for Villon is the summer of 1461; Villon wrote that he spent that summer in the bishop's prison at Meung-sur-Loire . His crime is not known, but in Le Testament ("The Testament") dated that year he inveighs bitterly against Bishop Thibault d'Aussigny, who held

11760-485: Was not until May that the police came on the track of a gang of student-robbers, owing to the indiscretion of one of them, Guy Tabarie. A year more passed, when Tabarie, after being arrested, turned king's evidence and accused the absent Villon of being the ringleader, and of having gone to Angers , partly at least, to arrange similar burglaries there. Villon, for either this or another crime, was sentenced to banishment; he did not attempt to return to Paris. For four years, he

11872-420: Was raided and possibly occupied for a short period, an event which left some archaeological remains and elements of Arabic ornamentation in contemporary buildings —but there is also evidence of a mosque existing in the city at the time. In the great dispute over Byzantine Iconoclasm , Athens is commonly held to have supported the iconophile position, chiefly due to the role played by Empress Irene of Athens in

11984-511: Was recorded in the areas of Elefsina and Tatoi on 10 July 1977. Athens became the capital of Greece in 1834, following Nafplion , which was the provisional capital from 1829. The municipality (city) of Athens is also the capital of the Attica region. The term Athens can refer either to the municipality of Athens, to Greater Athens or urban area, or to the entire Athens Metropolitan Area. The large city centre ( Greek : Κέντρο της Αθήνας , romanized :  Kéntro tis Athínas ) of

12096-432: Was rescued by the resolute leadership of the three Komnenos emperors Alexios , John and Manuel , Attica and the rest of Greece prospered. Archaeological evidence tells us that the medieval town experienced a period of rapid and sustained growth, starting in the 11th century and continuing until the end of the 12th century. The Agora (marketplace) had been deserted since late antiquity, began to be built over, and soon

12208-488: Was reviewed in The Times Literary Supplement , p. 886 and the review began "It is a little unfortunate that this translation of Villon should appear only a few months after the excellent rendering made by Mr. J. Heron Lepper. Mr. Heyer's work is very nearly as good, however: he makes happy use of quaint words and archaic idioms, and preserves with admirable skill the lyrical vigour of Villon's huitains. It

12320-447: Was still living when her son was thirty years old. The surname "Villon," the poet tells us, is the name he adopted from his foster father, Guillaume de Villon, chaplain in the collegiate church of Saint-Benoît-le-Bétourné and a professor of canon law , who took Villon into his house. François describes Guillaume de Villon as "more than a father to me". Villon became a student in arts, perhaps at about twelve years of age. He received

12432-537: Was taken to the Grand Châtelet fortress that stood at what is now Place du Châtelet in Paris. In default of evidence, the old charge of burgling the College of Navarre was revived. No royal pardon arrived to counter the demand for restitution, but bail was accepted and Villon was released. However, he fell promptly into a street quarrel. He was arrested, tortured and condemned to be hanged ( "pendu et étranglé" ), although

12544-471: Was visiting she said "To dwell with Aegeus , great Pandion's son," - a witty way of describing an unknown patron as a smelly goat (Aegeus Sea, or Goat Sea, was named after Aegeus the smelly goat son born of Pandion from a bestial relationship). In the Divine Comedy , a character called Thaïs is one of just a few women whom Dante Alighieri sees on his journey through Hell ( Inferno , XVIII, 133–136). She

#667332