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152-486: Thurii was founded as a colony of Athens along with exiles from Sybaris in 443 BC. Justin writes that people say that the city of Thurii was built by Philoctetes and his monument is seen there even to his days, as well as the arrows of Hercules which laid up in the temple of Apollo . The site of that city had remained desolate for a period of 58 years after its destruction by the Crotoniats ; when at length, in 452 BC,

304-408: 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

456-504: A few kilometers from the sea, where ruins still exist. Roman ruins on the peninsula formed by the rivers Crathis and Sybaris may also perhaps be those of Thurii. One house stands out by size and decoration: the large domus located behind the Theatre, undoubtedly one of the most sumptuous private buildings in the Roman city. It was built in the late Republican era (1st century BC) and survived until

608-546: 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

760-590: A number of the Sybarite exiles and their descendants made an attempt to establish themselves again on the spot, under the guidance of some leaders of Thessalian origin; and the new colony rose so rapidly to prosperity that it excited the jealousy of the Crotoniats, who, in consequence, expelled the new settlers a little more than 5 years after the establishment of the colony. The fugitive Sybarites first appealed for support to Sparta , but without success: their application to

912-505: A period of more than 20 years, though there is reason to believe that this was just the time of its greatest prosperity. In 390 BC we find that its territory was already beginning to suffer from the incursions of the Lucanians , a new and formidable enemy, for protection against whom all the cities of Magna Graecia had entered into a defensive league. But the Thurians were too impatient to wait for

1064-516: 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

1216-615: A straight direction however the side streets were purposely built narrow and winding to impede the passage of an invading army. Incorporating the Aragon Castle , Doric Columns , City Hall, Clock Tower and Piazza Fontana, it is situated and entirely enclosed on the artificial island between the Big and Little Seas and is reached from the New City by crossing the Ponte Girevole ( swing bridge ) from

1368-575: 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

1520-502: A war with Tarentum (modern Taranto ). The subject of this was the possession of the fertile district of the Siritis , about 50 km north of Thurii, to which the Athenians had a claim of long standing, which was naturally taken up by their colonists. The Spartan general, Cleandridas , who had been banished from Greece some years before, and taken up his abode at Thurii, became the general of

1672-524: A year. As a consequence the successive sites of Sybaris, Thurii, and Copia became landlocked and lost their importance because they no longer had easy access to the sea for trade. It seems to have been abandoned during the Middle Ages when the inhabitants took refuge at a place called Terranova (Terranova da Sibari), about 15 km inland, on a hill on the left bank of the Crathis. The exact location of Greek Thurii

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1824-740: Is a coastal city in Apulia , Southern Italy . It is the capital of the province of Taranto , serving as an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base. Founded by Spartans in the 8th century BC during the period of Greek colonisation , Taranto was among the most important poleis in Magna Graecia , becoming a cultural, economic and military power that gave birth to philosophers, strategists, writers and athletes such as Archytas , Aristoxenus , Livius Andronicus , Heracleides , Iccus , Cleinias , Leonidas , Lysis and Sosibius . By 500 BC,

1976-594: 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 is both the 2nd busiest passenger port in Europe, and

2128-592: Is also called "the city of the two seas". The natural harbor at Taranto made it a logical home port for the Italian naval fleet before and during the First World War . During World War II, Taranto became famous for a November 1940 British air attack on the Regia Marina naval base stationed here, which today is called the Battle of Taranto . The city's name is the origin of the common name " tarantula ", originating from

2280-750: 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 the 2004 Summer Olympics , making it one of five cities to have hosted

2432-457: Is assigned by Diodorus to the year 446 BC; but other authorities place it three years later, 443 BC, and this seems to be the best authenticated date. The protection of the Athenian name probably secured the rising colony from the assaults of the Crotoniats, at least nothing is heard of any obstacles to its progress from that quarter; but it was early disturbed by dissensions between the descendants of

2584-474: 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

2736-565: Is characterised by three natural peninsulas and a man-made island, formed by digging a ditch during the construction of Aragon Castle . The city is known as the "city of two seas" because it is washed by the Big Sea in the bay between Punta Rondinella to the northwest and Capo San Dante to the south, and by the vast reservoir of the Little Sea. The Big Sea is frequently known as the Big Sea bay as that

2888-484: 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,

3040-459: Is found during the wars of Alexander of Epirus in this part of Italy. Later it was so hard pressed by the Lucanians that it had recourse to alliance with Rome and a Roman army was sent to its relief under Gaius Fabricius Luscinus in 282 BC. He defeated the Lucanians and Bruttians, who had laid siege to the city, in a pitched battle and several other successes broke their power, and thus relieved

3192-477: Is hot and humid, with temperatures averaging 29 °C (84 °F). On 28 November 2012 a large F3 tornado hit the port of Taranto and damaged the Taranto Steel Mill ; about 20 workers were injured, and another man was reported missing. It is classified as Geographical zone C and having a degree-day of 30. Taranto was founded in 706 BC by Dorian Greek immigrants hailing from Sparta . Its origin

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3344-475: Is not known but that of the Roman town, which probably occupied the same site, is fixed by several ruins as being about 6 km to the east of Terranova da Sibari and as occupying an area some 6 km in circuit. It is clear from the statements of Diodorus and Strabo that Thurii occupied a site near to, but distinct from, that of Sybaris. It is more likely that the true site is north of the Coscile (the ancient Sybaris),

3496-528: 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 the Kerameikos and other locations, are often richly provided for and demonstrate that from 900 BC onwards Athens

3648-402: 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 the city. Classical Athens was one of

3800-917: Is one of the most significant late works by the architect. In 2018 it is in poor condition and defaced by graffiti. In the modern districts, but above all in the central Borgo Umbertino , there are also the Fountain of the Rosa dei Venti , Monumento al Marinaio , the War Memorial and the Navy Yard , another symbol of the city, some archeological sites such as the Cripta del Redentore , churches like Maria Santissima del Monte Carmelo , San Pasquale and San Francesco di Paola and 18th- and 19th-century palaces such as Palazzo Magnini , Palazzo delle Poste, Palazzo del Governo , Palazzo degli Uffici and Palazzo Savino D'Amelio . On

3952-463: Is peculiar: the founders were Partheniae ("sons of virgins"), sons of unmarried Spartan women and Perioeci (free men, but not citizens of Sparta); these out-of-wedlock unions were permitted extraordinarily by the Spartans to increase the prospective number of soldiers (only the citizens of Sparta could become soldiers) during the bloody Messenian Wars , but later they were retroactively nullified, and

4104-605: 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. Taranto Taranto ( Italian pronunciation: [ˈtaːranto] ; Tarantino : Tarde )

4256-628: 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 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

4408-492: 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

4560-726: Is where ships harbour. It is separated from the Little Sea by a cape which closes the gulf, leading to the artificial island. This island formed the heart of the original city and it is connected to the mainland by the Ponte di Porta Napoli and the Ponte Girevole . The Big Sea is separated from the Ionian Sea by the Capo San Vito, the Isole Cheradi of St Peter and St Paul, and the three islands of San Nicolicchio, which are completely incorporated by

4712-401: 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

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4864-463: The Appian Way , called it Tarentum . The islets of S. Pietro and S. Paolo (St. Peter and St. Paul), collectively known as Cheradi Islands , protect the bay, called Mar Grande ( Big Sea ), where the commercial port is located. Taranto is known for the large population of dolphins and other cetaceans living near these islands. Another bay, called Mar Piccolo ( Little Sea ), is formed by

5016-454: The Athenians was more successful, and that people determined to send out a fresh colony, at the same time that they reinstated the settlers who had been lately expelled from thence. A body of Athenian colonists was accordingly sent out by Pericles , under the command of Lampon and Xenocritus . Pericles' expressed intent was for it to be a Panhellenic colony, and the number of Athenian citizens

5168-528: 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 a land area of 38.96 km (15.04 sq mi). Athens

5320-628: The ILVA steelworks . The latter form a little archipelago which closes off the arc creating the natural Big Sea bay. The Little Sea is considered to be a lagoon so it presents problems of water exchange. It is virtually divided into two by the Ponte Punta Penna Pizzone , which joins the Punta Penna to the Punta Pizzone. The first of these forms a rough triangle, whose corners are the opening to

5472-639: 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

5624-795: 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

5776-829: 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 );

5928-798: 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

6080-627: The Second Punic War with Hannibal . It was one of the cities which defected to the Carthaginians after the battle of Cannae in 212 BC. After the defection of Tarentum, they betrayed the Roman troops into the hands of the Carthaginian general Hanno . A few years later (210 BC), Hannibal, finding himself unable to protect his allies in Campania , removed the inhabitants of Atella who had survived

6232-686: The Tarantella . In geology , Taranto gives its name to the Tarantian Age of the Pleistocene Epoch. Taranto faces the Ionian Sea . It is 14.5 m (48 ft) above sea level . It was built on a plain running north/north-west–southeast, and surrounded by the Murgia plateau from the north-west to the east. Its territory extends for 209.64 km (80.94 sq mi) and is mostly underwater. It

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6384-492: The coral reef . Taranto has a number of sites of historic value. Situated at the angle of the canal, Big Sea and Piazza Castello , the Aragon Castle was built between 1486 and 1492 by orders of King Ferdinand II of Aragon to protect the city from the Turks ' frequent raids. The castle, which was designed by Italian painter and architect Francesco di Giorgio Martini , replaced a pre-existing 9th-century Byzantine fortress, which

6536-477: 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

6688-405: 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

6840-456: The weather station situated near the Grottaglie Military Airport , is a hot-summer Mediterranean climate , typical of the Mediterranean with frequent continental features. The spring is usually mild and rainy, but it is not uncommon to have sudden cold spells from the north and east, which often cause snowfall. Average annual precipitation is fairly low (even for southern Italy), measuring just 425 mm (16.7 in) per year. The summer

6992-416: 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 the city, represented by ancient monuments , and works of art,

7144-400: The 5th and 4th centuries BC. The denomination was a Nomos, a die-cast silver coin whose weight, size and purity were controlled by the state. The highly artistic coins presented the symbol of the city, Taras being saved by a dolphin, with the reverse side showing the likeness of a hippocamp , a horse-fish amalgam which is depicted in mythology as the beast that drew Poseidon's chariot. Taras

7296-403: The 5th century AD through a series of expansions and transformations that gradually modified the layout. The monumentality and the splendour of the house reached their peak between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD while from the 4th are tangible signs of a decline. Thurii had an active mint in antiquity. The coins of Thurii are of great beauty; their number and variety indeed gives us a higher idea of

7448-446: The 6th century BC - such as the remains of a temple dedicated to Poseidon, with its two surviving Doric columns still visible on Piazza Castello in the Città Vecchia . The Promenade ( lungomare ), named after former Italian king Victor Emmanuel III , overlooks the Mar Grande , the natural harbour and commercial port. The Concattedrale Gran Madre di Dio , designed by Gio Ponti , was built in 1967–1971 in reinforced concrete and

7600-420: 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

7752-401: 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

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7904-408: 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

8056-401: 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

8208-576: 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

8360-405: 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

8512-478: The ILVA steel plant, part of Gruppo Riva . 7% of Taranto's pollution is produced by the public; 93% is produced by factories. In 2005, the European Pollutant Emission Register estimated dioxin emissions from the Taranto ILVA plant were responsible for 83% of Italy's total reported emissions. Every year the city is exposed to 2.7 t (2.7 long tons; 3.0 short tons) of carbon monoxide and 57.7 t (56.8 long tons; 63.6 short tons) of carbon dioxide . In 2014,

8664-482: The Italian National Institute of Emissions and their Sources, stated that Taranto stands third in the world behind China's Linfen , and Copşa Mică in Romania, the most polluted cities in the world due to factories' emissions. In particular, the city produces ninety-two percent of Italy's dioxin . This is 8.8 percent of the dioxin in Europe. Between 1995 and 2004, leukaemias , myelomas and lymphomas increased by 30 to 40 percent. Dioxin accumulates over

8816-404: The Lucanians and Bruttians in their immediate neighbourhood would prevent them from quickly recovering from its effects. The city continued also to be on hostile, or at least unfriendly, terms with Dionysius of Syracuse , and was in consequence chosen as a place of retirement or exile by his brother Leptines and his friend Philistus . The rise of the Bruttian people about 356 BC probably became

8968-429: The Octavian family held some renown there, and Gaius Octavius (father of the future Caesar Augustus ) defeated a Spartacist army near there. As a result, the future emperor was granted the surname Thurinus shortly after birth. At the outbreak of the Civil Wars , it was deemed by Julius Caesar of sufficient importance to be secured with a garrison of Gaulish and Spanish horse, and it was there that M. Caelius Rufus

9120-417: 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

9272-450: 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

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9424-404: 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

9576-399: 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 the historians Herodotus and Thucydides ,

9728-432: The San Agostino church, located near Pendio La Riccia, the buried remains of an ancient Greek temple were discovered. Beginning in 1934 Benito Mussolini embarked on a project of rejuvenation that involved the demolition of the working class Turipenne pittaggio along the Via Garibaldi and ''Discesa Vasto'' which contained the homes of local fishermen as well as the old Jewish quarter. The demolitions, which also razed

9880-448: 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 the plural later on, like those of Θῆβαι ( Thêbai ) and Μυκῆναι ( Μukênai ). The root of

10032-415: The Thurians from all immediate danger from that quarter. But shortly after they were attacked on the other side by the Tarentines, who are said to have taken and plundered their city; and this aggression was one of the immediate causes of the war declared by the Romans against Tarentum in 282 BC. Thurii became a dependent ally of Rome, and was protected by a Roman garrison. It played a considerable part in

10184-414: The Thurians in this war, which, after various successes, was at length terminated by a compromise, both parties agreeing to the foundation of the new colony of Heracleia in the disputed territory. Knowledge of the history of Thurii is very scanty and fragmentary. Fresh disputes arising between the Athenian citizens and the other colonists were at length allayed by the oracle of Delphi , which decided that

10336-437: The advantage of a well-ordered system of laws; but the statement of Diodorus, who represents this as owing to the legislation of Charondas , and that lawgiver himself as a citizen of Thurii, is certainly erroneous. The city itself was laid out with great regularity, being divided by four broad streets or plateae, each of which was crossed in like manner by three others. Very shortly after its foundation, Thurii became involved in

10488-438: 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

10640-437: The artisans and fishermen dwelled in Ponte and Turipenne. An Armenian community was present in the 10th and 11th centuries having arrived in Taranto as troops in the Byzantine Army. The San't Andrea degli Armeni church in Piazza Monteoliveto, located in the Baglio quarter, stands as testimony to the neighbourhood where the Armenians made their homes. In 1746 the entire population of Taranto resided in Old City. This resulted in

10792-431: 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,

10944-592: The battle fleet of the Regia Marina at anchor in the harbour of Taranto, using aerial torpedoes despite the shallowness of the water. The Taranto Prize, defined as the "Biennial of the South", was a biennial cultural event that took place between 1947 and 1951. It was born on the initiative of thirty-year-old veterans who, returning from the Second World War , gathered in the «Cultural Club (Circolo della cultura)» and

11096-501: The cause of the complete decline of Thurii, but the statement of Diodorus that the city was conquered by that people must be received with considerable doubt. It reappears in history at a later period, when Corinthian soldiers en route to join Timoleon on his expedition to Syracuse are blockaded there by Carthaginian ships. At this point it was still an independent Greek city, though much fallen from its former greatness. No mention of it

11248-427: The city had no other founder than Apollo . But the same difference appears again on occasion of the great Athenian expedition to Sicily , when the city was divided into two parties, the one desirous of favoring and supporting the Athenians, the other opposed to them. The latter faction at first prevailed, so far that the Thurians observed the same neutrality towards the Athenian fleet under Nicias and Alcibiades as

11400-497: 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

11552-501: The city was among the largest in the world, with a population estimated up to 300,000 people. The seven-year rule of Archytas marked the apex of its development and recognition of its hegemony over other Greek colonies of southern Italy. During the Norman period, it became the capital of the Principality of Taranto , which covered almost all of the heel of Apulia . Taranto is now

11704-420: 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 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

11856-732: 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

12008-509: 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 the better gift would become their patron and appointed Cecrops , the king of Athens, as

12160-643: 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

12312-545: 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

12464-489: The city. Another tradition indicates Taras as the founder of the city; the symbol of the Greek city (as well as of the modern city) depicts the legend of Taras being saved from a shipwreck by riding a dolphin that was sent to him by Poseidon. Taranto increased its power, becoming a commercial power and a sovereign city of Magna Graecia , . Its independence and power came to an end as the Romans expanded throughout Italy. Taranto won

12616-537: 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

12768-537: The clergy. These include Palazzo Calò, Palazzo Carducci-Artenisio (1650), Palazzo Galeota (1728), Palazzo Gallo (17th century), P PMalazzo Latagliata, Palazzo Lo Jucco (1793), Palazzo D'Aquino, Palazzo Delli Ponti, Palazzo Gennarini, Palazzo d'Ayala, Palazzo Visconti, Palazzo Galizia, Palazzo Ciura and Palazzo Pantaleo. The 17th century de Beaumont-Bonelli-Bellacicco palace houses the Spartan Museum of Taranto - Hypogeum Bellacicco which extends below street and sea level to

12920-508: The coast of the Tarentine gulf between Crotona and Tarentum; both Metapontum and Heracleia having already fallen into almost complete decay. Its name is still found in the Itineraries, and it is noticed by Procopius as still existing in the 6th century. Over time, the sediment accretion of the Crathis river caused its river delta to shift towards the sea at a long term rate of one metre

13072-492: 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

13224-522: The competition was the sea. The Municipality of Taranto was declared bankrupt effective 31 December 2005, having accrued liabilities of €357 million. This was one of the biggest financial crises which has ever hit a municipality. The bankruptcy declaration was made on 18 October 2006 by the receiver Tommaso Blonda. He was appointed following the resignation of the mayor, Rossana Di Bello, on account of her sixteen-month prison sentence for abuse of office and forgery of documents relating to investigations into

13376-608: 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

13528-640: The contract for the management of the city incinerator, awarded to Termomeccanica. Taranto railway station connects the city with Rome , Naples , Milan , Bologna , Bari , Reggio di Calabria and Brindisi . Taranto-Grottaglie Airport is located 16 km away from Taranto, but does not offer any regularly scheduled commercial services. The two closest airports that do offer regularly scheduled commercial services are in Brindisi and Bari , approximately 70 km and 90 km away, respectively. The Ponte Girevole ( swing bridge ), built in 1887, runs across

13680-550: 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

13832-457: The east and the Porta Napoli channel linking it to the Big Sea in the west. The second half forms an ellipse whose major axis measures almost 5 km (3 mi) from the south-west to the north-east. The Galeso river flows into the first half. The two water bodies have slightly different winds and tides and their underwater springs have different salinities. These affect the currents on

13984-417: 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

14136-576: 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

14288-560: 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 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

14440-600: 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

14592-473: The evidence of coins, on which, however, the name is written "COPIA". But this new name did not continue long in use, and Thurii still continued to be known by its ancient appellation. It is mentioned as a municipal town on several occasions during the latter ages of the Roman Republic . In 72 BC it was taken by Spartacus and subjected to heavy contributions but not otherwise injured. According to Suetonius ,

14744-505: The fall of their city to Thurii; but it was not long before he was compelled to abandon the latter city also to its fate. When he himself in 204 BC withdrew his forces into Bruttium , he removed to Crotona 3500 of the principal citizens of Thurii, while he gave up the city itself to the plunder of his troops. It is evident that Thurii was now sunk to the lowest state of decay, but the great fertility of its territory rendered it desirable to preserve it from utter desolation. Hence in 194 BC, it

14896-458: 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

15048-525: The first of two wars against Rome for the control of Southern Italy: it was helped by Pyrrhus , king of Greek Epirus , who surprised Rome with the use of war elephants in battle, a thing never seen before by the Romans. Rome won the second war in 272 BC. This subsequently cut off Taranto from the centre of Mediterranean trade, by connecting the Via Appia directly to the port of Brundisium ( Brindisi ). Like many Greek city states, Taras issued its own coins in

15200-675: 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

15352-602: The hypogeum that is a crossroads with other hypogeum of Old City which together form the system of subterranean Taranto. Churches include the San Cataldo Cathedral (10th century) in Piazza Duomo, San Domenico Maggiore (1302), Sant'Andrea degli Armeni (16th century), Sant'Agostino (1402), San Michele (1763), Sant'Anna , the Madonna della Salute sanctuary (1752), and San Giuseppe (16th century). Close to

15504-410: 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 the Athenians the first domesticated olive tree . Cecrops accepted this gift and declared Athena

15656-487: 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

15808-535: 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

15960-510: The legendary founder of Athens, Erechtheus was an autochthon or of being musicians, because the cicada is a "musician" insect. In classical literature, 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

16112-544: 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

16264-568: 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

16416-458: 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

16568-459: 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 , the Acropolis of Athens and the medieval Daphni Monastery . Athens

16720-519: 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 the rest of Greece. In modern times, Athens

16872-462: The names of which sufficiently indicate their origin. They were: the Arcadian (from Arcadia ), Achaean (from Achaea ), Elean (from Elea ), Boeotian (from Boeotia ), Amphictyonic (from Amphictyonis ), Dorian (from Doris ), Ionian (from Ionia ), Athenian (from Athens ), Euboean (from Euboea ), and Nesiotic (from the islands). The form of government was democratic, and the city is said to have enjoyed

17024-457: The navigable ship canal that joins Mar Piccolo ( Little Sea ) with Mar Grande ( Big Sea ) and stretches along 89.9 m (295 ft). When the bridge is open, the two ends of the city are disconnected. In 1991 Taranto was declared a high environmental risk area by the Ministry of Environment . As a consequence of the pollutants discharged into the air by the factories in the area, most notably

17176-568: 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

17328-476: The necessity of building additional stories on the narrow houses. It is still inhabited with a number of people living in juxtaposition to the old palazzi. By 2013 the population of the Old City was just 1000 at a time when the wider city had more than 200,000 inhabitants. There are a number of 17th and 18th-century palazzi in Old City. For years, they served as the main residence of local aristocratic families and

17480-476: The neighboring barbarians. The Thurians meanwhile concluded a treaty of peace with Crotona, and the new city rose rapidly to prosperity. Fresh colonists poured in from all quarters, especially the Peloponnese ; and though it continued to be generally regarded as an Athenian colony, the Athenians in fact formed but a small element of the population. The citizens were divided, as we learn from Diodorus, into ten tribes,

17632-411: The newspaper 'Voce del Popolo'. The coordinator, Antonio Rizzo, was a physicist who graduated with Enrico Fermi. He intended to promote a new cultural impulse of a pacifist nature for the city. The event was structured into two sections: literature and painting. Several artists of international calibre, such as Pier Paolo Pasolini , Carlo Emilio Gadda , and Giorgio de Chirico , participated. The theme of

17784-491: The night of 11–12 November 1940 during the Second World War between British naval forces, under Admiral Andrew Cunningham , and Italian naval forces, under Admiral Inigo Campioni . The Royal Navy launched the first all-aircraft ship-to-ship naval attack in history, employing 21 Fairey Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier HMS  Illustrious in the Mediterranean Sea . The attack struck

17936-440: 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

18088-459: The opulence and prosperity of the city than we should gather from the statements of ancient writers. 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 the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica region and is the southernmost capital on

18240-586: The original Sybarite settlers and the new colonists, the former laying claim not only to honorary distinctions, but to the exclusive possession of important political privileges. These disputes at length ended in a revolution, and the Sybarites were finally expelled from the city. They established themselves for a short time in Sybaris on the Traeis but did not maintain their footing long, being dislodged and finally dispersed by

18392-442: The other cities of Italy. Thurii was, in fact, the city where Alcibiades escaped his Athenian captors who were taking him home for trial. But two years afterwards (413 BC) the Athenian party had regained the ascendency; and when Demosthenes and Eurymedon touched at Thurii, the citizens afforded them every assistance, and even furnished an auxiliary force of 700 hoplites and 300 dartmen. From this time we hear nothing of Thurii for

18544-712: The outskirts and in the countryside there are several traditional ancient country houses called masseria , like Masseria Capitignano . The Old City or Città Vecchia is where the Greeks built their acropolis. Today it retains the same street layout of 967, when the Byzantines under Nicephorus Phocas rebuilt what the Saracen troops led by the Slavic Sabir had razed to the ground in 927 AD. There are four main arteries (Corso Vittorio II, Via Duomo, Via di Mezzo and Via Garibaldi) which run in

18696-605: 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 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

18848-473: The peninsula of the old city and has flourishing fishing . At the end of the 19th century, a channel was excavated to allow naval ships to enter the Mar Piccolo harbour, and the ancient Greek city become an island connected to the mainland by bridges. The islets and the coast are strongly fortified and Mar Piccolo is a naval port with strategic importance. Because of the presence of these two bays, Taranto

19000-457: 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 the fight against

19152-425: 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

19304-522: The sons were then obliged to leave Greece forever. Phalanthus, the Parthenian leader, went to Delphi to consult the oracle : the puzzling answer designated the harbour of Taranto as the new home of the exiles. The Partheniae arrived in Apulia, and founded the city, naming it Taras after the son of the Greek sea god, Poseidon , and of a local nymph , Satyrion. According to other sources, Heracles founded

19456-419: The sophist Protagoras at the request of Pericles, adopting the laws of Zaleucus of Locri . The new colonists at first established themselves on the site of the deserted Sybaris, but shortly afterwards removed (apparently in obedience to an oracle) to a spot at a short distance from thence, where there was a fountain named "Thuria", from whence the new city derived its name of Thurii. The foundation of Thurii

19608-570: The south and the Ponte di Porta Napoli from the north. Almost rectangular in shape, it is divided into four pittaggi (quarters) that are delineated by the cross formed between Via di Mezzo and postilier Via Nuova. These are "Baglio" and "San Pietro" in the upper section which face the Big Sea; and "Turipenne" and "Ponte" in the lower part fronting the Little Sea. The nobility, clergy and military personnel made their homes in Baglio and San Pietro, whilst

19760-689: 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

19912-543: 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

20064-440: The subject matter consists of naiskos scenes (scenes showing the statue of a deceased person in a naos, a miniature temple or shrine). Most often the naiskos scene occupies one side of the vase, while a mythological scene occupies the other. Images depicting many of the Greek myths are only known from South Italian vases, since Athenian ones seem to have had more limited repertoires of depiction. The Battle of Taranto took place on

20216-402: The support of their allies, and issued forth with an army of 14,000 foot and 1000 horse, with which they repulsed the attacks of the Lucanians; but having rashly followed them into their own territory, they were totally defeated, near Laüs , and above 10,000 of them cut to pieces. This defeat must have inflicted a severe blow on the prosperity of Thurii, while the continually increasing power of

20368-404: The surface and in the depths of the Big Sea and the two halves of the Little Sea. In the Big Sea and in the northern part of the Little Sea, there are some underwater springs called citri , which carry undrinkable freshwater together with salt water. This creates the ideal biological conditions for cultivating Mediterranean mussels , known locally as cozze . The climate of the city, recorded by

20520-429: The terms tarantella , tarantism and tarantula — although no spider species of the family Theraphosidae inhabit the area. In ancient times, residents of Taranto bitten by the large local Wolf Spider , Lycosa tarentula , would promptly do a long vigorous dance like a jig , in order to sweat the venom out of their pores — even though the wolf spider's venom is not fatal to humans. The frenetic dance became known as

20672-481: The third-largest continental city in southern Italy (south of Rome, roughly the southern half of the Italian peninsula), with well-developed steel and iron foundries, oil refineries, chemical works, naval shipyards and food-processing factories. Taranto will host the 2026 Mediterranean Games . Taranto's pre-history dates back to 706 BC when it was founded as a Greek colony, established by the Spartans . The ancient city

20824-664: 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

20976-400: 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

21128-473: 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 the city. Modern scholars now generally agree that the goddess takes her name from

21280-974: The works, or individuals who have distinguished the works from others. Some of the most famous of the Apulian vase painters at Taras are now called: the Iliupersis Painter , the Lycurgus Painter , the Gioia del Colle Painter , the Darius Painter , the Underworld Painter , and the White Sakkos Painter , among others. The wares produced by these workshops were usually large elaborate vessels intended for mortuary use. The forms produced included volute kraters , loutrophoroi , paterai , oinochoai , lekythoi , fish plates , etc. The decoration of these vessels

21432-640: The years. Over 9 kilos of dioxin have been discharged into the city's air by its factories. Grazing is banned within 20 km (12 mi) of the ILVA plant. In 2013, the ILVA plant was placed under special administration when its owner, the Riva family, was accused of failing to prevent toxic emissions, which caused at least 400 premature deaths. Emissions of both carbon monoxide , carbon dioxide and dioxin have decreased. Animal species have returned that had left, including swallows , cranes , dolphins , seahorses and

21584-540: Was red figure (with figures reserved in red clay fabric, while the background was covered in a black gloss), with overpainting ( sovradipinto ) in white, pink, yellow, and maroon slips. Often the style of the drawings is florid and frilly, as was already the fashion in 4th-century Athens. Distinctive South Italian features also begin to appear. Many figures are shown seated on rocks. Floral motifs become very ornate, including spiraling vines and leaves, roses , lilies , poppies , sprays of laurel , acanthus leaves . Often

21736-503: Was also the centre of a thriving decorated Greek pottery industry during the 4th century BC. Most of the South Italian Greek vessels known as Basilican ware were made in different workshops in the city. Unfortunately, none of the names of the artists have survived, so modern scholars have been obliged to give the recognizable artistic hands and workshops nicknames based on the subject matter of their works, museums which possess

21888-493: Was deemed unfit for 15th-century warfare. In 1707 it ceased to be used as a military fortress and was converted to a prison until under Napoleon Bonaparte it reverted to its original military function. To date it is the property of the Italian Navy and is open to the public. Twenty-first-century excavations revealed the castle's earlier Byzantine foundations which can be viewed. There are several Greek temple ruins - some from

22040-406: 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 a significant naval power with a large fleet, and helped the rebellion of the Ionian cities against Persian rule. In

22192-429: Was one of the places selected for the establishment of a Roman colony with Latin rights. The number of colonists was small in proportion to the extent of land to be divided among them, but they amounted to 3000 foot and 300 knights. Livy says merely that the colony was sent in Thurinum agrum , but Strabo tells us that the Romans gave the new colony the name of Copiae , as confirmed both by Stephanus of Byzantium and by

22344-432: Was put to death, after a vain attempt to excite an insurrection in this part of Italy. In 40 BC also it was attacked by Sextus Pompeius , who laid waste its territory, but he was repulsed from the walls of the city. Thurii was at this time still a place of some importance, and it is mentioned as an existing town by Pliny and Ptolemy, as well as Strabo. It was probably, indeed, the only place of any consideration remaining on

22496-420: 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

22648-511: 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

22800-432: 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

22952-433: Was situated on a peninsula ; the modern city has been built over the ancient Greek city of which only a few ruins remain, including part of the city wall, two temple columns dating to the 6th century BC, and tombs. The Greek colonists from Sparta called the city Taras ( Τάρᾱς , gen. Τάραντος Tárantos ) after the mythical hero Taras , while the Romans , who connected the city to Rome with an extension of

23104-403: Was small, the greater part of those who took part in the colony being collected from various parts of Greece . Among them were two celebrated names: Herodotus the historian, and the orator Lysias , both of whom appear to have formed part of the original colony. Hippodamus also went out with the colonists and became the architect of the new city. The laws of the new colony were established by

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