As per the report it is listed as alpha world city. Athens has had the importance since ancient times because it is same region where Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum located.
These are the reasons that Athens is considered as cradle of Western Civilization and also birthplace of democracy. Moreover, Athens homes various ancient architectural sites along the art works.
Home Country. Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, with its recorded history spanning approximately 3, years. Classical Athens, as a landlocked location, was a powerful city-state that emerged in conjunction with the seagoing development of the port of Piraeus.
A centre for the arts, learning and philosophy, home of Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum, it is widely referred to as the cradle of Western civilisation and the birthplace of democracy, largely due to the impact of its cultural and political achievements during the 5th and 4th centuries BC on the rest of the then known European continent. Today a cosmopolitan metropolis, modern Athens is central to economic, financial, industrial, political and cultural life in Greece.
In , Athens was ranked the world's 39th richest city by purchasing power and the 77th most expensive in a UBS study. The City of Athens is recognised as a global city because of its geo-strategic location and its importance in finance, commerce, media, entertainment, arts, international trade, culture, education and tourism.
It is one of the biggest economic centers in southeastern Europe, with a large financial sector and features the largest passenger port in Europe and the third largest in the world. Sparta's former allies soon turned against her due to her imperialist policy and soon Athens's former enemies Thebes and Corinth had become her allies. Finally Thebes defeated Sparta in in the Battle of Leuctra. Then the Greek cities including Athens and Sparta turned against Thebes whose dominance was stopped at the Battle of Mantinea BC with the death of its military genius leader Epaminondas.
By mid century, however, the northern Greek kingdom of Macedon was becoming dominant in Athenian affairs, despite the warnings of the last great statesman of independent Athens, Demosthenes.
Further, the conquests of his son, Alexander the Great, widened Greek horizons and made the traditional Greek city state obsolete. Athens remained a wealthy city with a brilliant cultural life, but ceased to be an independent power. In the 2nd century, after years of Macedonian supremacy, Greece was absorbed into the Roman Republic. In BC, most Athenian houses and fortifications were leveled by Roman general Sulla, while many civic buildings and monuments were left intact.
Under Rome, Athens was given the status of a free city because of its widely admired schools. The Roman emperor Hadrian would construct, a library, a gymnasium, an aqueduct which is still in use, several temples and sanctuaries, a bridge and would finance the completion of the Temple of Olympian Zeus. The city was sacked by the Heruli in AD resulting in the burning of all the public buildings, the plundering of the lower city, and the damaging of the Agora and Acropolis.
After this the city to the north of the Acropolis was hastily refortified on a smaller scale with the Agora left outside the walls.
Athens remained a centre of learning and philosophy during years of Roman rule, patronized by emperors such as Nero and Hadrian. But the conversion of the Empire to Christianity ended the city's role as a centre of pagan learning; the Emperor Justinian closed the schools of philosophy in AD.
This is generally taken to mark the end of the ancient history of Athens. By AD, Athens was under rule by the Byzantines and had grown out of favor. The Parthenon and Erechtheion were transformed into churches. During the period of the Byzantine Empire Athens was a provincial town, and experienced fluctuating fortunes. In the early years many of its works of art were taken by the emperors to Constantinople. Furthermore, although the Byzantines retained control of the Aegean and its citys throughout this period, during the seventh and eighth centuries direct control did not extend far beyond the coast.
From about the city shrank considerably due to barbarian raids by the Avars and Slavs, and was reduced to a shadow of its former self. As the seventh century progressed, much of Greece was overrun by Slavic peoples from the north, and Athens entered a period of uncertainty and insecurity. The one notable figure from this period is the Empress Irene of Athens, a native Athenian, who seized control of the Byzantine Empire in a palace coup.
By the middle of the 9th century, as Greece was fully reconquered again, the city began to recover. Just as other cities benefited from improved security and the restoration of effective central control during this period, so Athens expanded once more.
The invasions of the Turks after the battle of Manzikert in and the ensuing civil wars largely passed the region by, and Athens continued its provincial existence unharmed. When the Byzantine Empire 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 eleventh century and continuing until the end of the twelfth century.
The agora or marketplace, which had been deserted since late antiquity, began to be built over, and soon 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 Byzantine churches around Athens were built during these two centuries, and this reflects the growth of the town in general.
However, this medieval prosperity was not to last. In , 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 until , Athens was ruled by Latins in three separate periods. It was initially the capital of the eponymous Duchy of Athens, a fief of the Latin Empire which replaced Byzantium.
After Thebes became a possession of the Latin dukes, which were of the Burgundian family called De la Roche, it replaced Athens as the capital and seat of government, though Athens remained the most influential ecclesiastical centre in the duchy and site of a prime fortress. It was held by the Catalans until After , when Thebes was lost, it became the capital of the duchy again.
In , the Florentine Nerio I Acciajuoli took the city and made himself duke. His descendants ruled the city as their capital until the Turkish conquest of It was the last Latin state in Greece to fall. Under the Burgundian dukes, a bell tower was added to the Parthenon.
The Burgundians brought chivalry and tournaments to Athens; they also fortified the Acropolis. They were themselves influenced by Greek culture and their court was a syncretistic mix of classical knowledge and French knightly haute couture. The history of Catalan Athens, called Cetines rarely Athenes by the conquerors, is most obscure. At some point during the Catalan period, the Acropolis was further fortified and the Athenian archdiocese received an extra two suffragan sees.
The Florentines had to dispute the city with the Republic of Venice, but they ultimately emerged victorious after seven years of Venetian rule Finally, in , Athens fell to the Ottoman Empire. As the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II the Conqueror 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 Athen's main mosque. Despite the initial efforts of the Ottoman authorities to turn Athens into a model provincial capital, the city's population severely declined and by the 17th century it was a mere village. Great damage to Athens was caused in the 17th century, when Ottoman power was declining.
The Turks would begin a practice of storing gun powder and explosives in the Parthenon and Propylaea. In , a lighting bolt would strike the Propylaea, causing its destruction.
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