Greece » Athens

Athens is the capital of Greece and one of the most famous cities in the world, named after goddess Athena. Modern Athens is a bustling cosmopolitan metropolis, home to some 3.2 million people. The Athens metropolitan area is currently growing both northwards and eastwards across Attica and it constitutes the dominant center of economic, financial, industrial, cultural and political life in Greece as well as in the Balkans today. The city is also rapidly becoming a leading business centre in Europe. Ancient Athens was a powerful city-state and a renowned center of learning, home of Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum. The latter is widely regarded as one of the finest examples of Classical Greek architecture, still standing as an epic legacy to the West and indeed to the rest of the world. Many of these cultural landmarks were renovated ahead of the 2004 Olympic Games.

 

It is considered to have been the cradle of Western civilization, largely due to the immense impact of its cultural and political achievements during the 4th and 5th centuries BC on the rest of the known European Continent. The heritage of the Athenian Enlightenment is still evident in the city, portrayed through a number of spectacular ancient monuments and artworks, the most famous of all being the Parthenon on the Acropolis ("high city"), nurtured by Ictinus, Callicrates and Phidias. The latter is widely regarded as one of the finest examples of Classical Greek architecture, still standing as an epic legacy to the West and indeed to the rest of the world. Many of these cultural landmarks were renovated ahead of the 2004 Olympic Games. Athens is also the most important commercial city of Greece and Piraeus, its main port, is one of the most important in the Mediterranean. Athens is one of the few capitals of Europe with thousands of years of history. Many consider the city as the cradle of the modern civilization.