Ancient Athens in the context of "Naupactus"

⭐ In the context of Naupactus, Ancient Athens is considered to have valued the location primarily for its…

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⭐ Core Definition: Ancient Athens

Classical Athens, known contemporaneously simply as Athens (Ancient Greek: Ἀθῆναι, Athênai [atʰɛ̂ːnai̯]; Modern Greek: Αθήναι, Athine [aˈθine]), was the major urban centre of the notable polis (city-state) of the same name during the classical period (480–323 BC) of ancient Greece, located in Attica, Greece, leading the Delian League in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta and the Peloponnesian League. Athenian democracy was established in 508 BC under Cleisthenes following the tyranny of Isagoras. This system remained remarkably stable, and with a few brief interruptions, it remained in place for 180 years, until 322 BC (amid the aftermath of the Lamian War). The peak of Athenian hegemony was achieved during the Age of Pericles in the 440s and 430s BC.

In the classical period, Athens was a centre for the arts, learning, and philosophy, and it was the home of Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum. Athens was also the birthplace of Socrates, Plato, Pericles, Aristophanes, Sophocles, and many other prominent philosophers, writers, and politicians of the ancient world. It is widely referred to as the cradle of Western civilization and as 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.

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Ancient Athens in the context of Attica

Attica (Greek: Αττική, romanisedAttikí, Greek pronunciation: [atiˈci]; Ancient Greek: Ἀττική, romanisedAttikḗ, Ancient Greek pronunciation: [atːikɛ̌ː]), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and the core city of the metropolitan area, as well as its surrounding suburban cities and towns. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean Sea, bordering on Boeotia to the north and Megaris to the west. The mines of Laurion were an important mining region located at Lavrio, on the southern tip of the peninsula.

The history of Attica is closely linked with that of Athens. In ancient times, Attica corresponded with the classical Athens city‑state. It was the most prominent region in Ancient Greece, specifically during the Golden Age of Athens in the classical period. Ancient Attica was divided into demoi, or municipalities, from the reform of Cleisthenes in 508/7 BC, grouped into three zones: urban (astu) in the region of Athens main town, and Piraeus (the port), coastal (paralia) along the coastline, and inland (mesogeia) in the interior.

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Ancient Athens in the context of Attic calendar

The Attic calendar or Athenian calendar is the lunisolar calendar beginning in midsummer with the lunar month of Hekatombaion, in use in ancient Attica, the ancestral territory of the Athenian polis. It is sometimes called the Greek calendar because of Athens's cultural importance, but it is only one of many ancient Greek calendars.

Although relatively abundant, the evidence for the Attic calendar is still patchy and often contested. As it was well known in Athens and of little use outside Attica, no contemporary source set out to describe the system as a whole. Further, even during the well-sourced 5th and 4th centuries BC, the calendar underwent changes, not all perfectly understood. As such, any account given of it must be a tentative reconstruction.

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Ancient Athens in the context of Ancient Corinth

37°54′19″N 22°52′49″E / 37.9053455°N 22.8801924°E / 37.9053455; 22.8801924

Corinth (/ˈkɒrɪnθ/ KORR-inth; Ancient Greek: Κόρινθος Kórinthos; Doric Greek: Ϙόρινθος Qórinthos; Latin: Corinthus) was a city-state (polis) on the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow stretch of land that joins the Peloponnese peninsula to the mainland of Greece, roughly halfway between Athens and Sparta. The modern city of Corinth is located approximately 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) northeast of the ancient ruins. Since 1896, systematic archaeological investigations of the Corinth Excavations by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens have revealed large parts of the ancient city, and recent excavations conducted by the Greek Ministry of Culture have brought to light important new facets of antiquity.

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Ancient Athens in the context of Lavrio

Lavrio, Lavrion or Laurium (Greek: Λαύριο; Ancient Greek: Λαύρειον (later Λαύριον); from Middle Ages until 1908: Εργαστήρια Ergastiria) is a town in southeastern part of Attica, Greece. It is part of Athens metropolitan area and the seat of the municipality of Lavreotiki. Laurium was famous in Classical antiquity for its silver mines, which was one of the chief sources of revenue of the Athenian state. The metallic silver was mainly used for coinage. The Archaeological Museum of Lavrion shows much of the story of these mines.

It is located about 60 km SE of Athens city center, SE of Keratea and N of Cape Sounio. Laurium is situated on a bay overlooking the island of Makronisos (ancient times: Helena) in the east. The port is in the middle and gridded streets cover the residential area of Lavrio. GR-89 runs through Lavrio and ends south in Sounio.

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Ancient Athens in the context of Peisistratus

Pisistratus (also spelled Peisistratus or Peisistratos; Ancient Greek: Πεισίστρατος Peisistratos; c. 600 BC – 527 BC) was a politician in ancient Athens, ruling as tyrant in the late 560s, the early 550s and from 546 BC until his death. His unification of Attica, the triangular peninsula of Greece containing Athens, along with economic and cultural improvements laid the groundwork for the later pre-eminence of Athens in ancient Greece. His legacy lies primarily in his institution of the Panathenaic Games, historically assigned the date of 566 BC, and the consequent first attempt at producing a definitive version of the Homeric epics. Pisistratus's championing of the lower class of Athens is an early example of populism. While in power, he did not hesitate to confront the aristocracy and greatly reduce their privileges, confiscating their lands and giving them to the poor. Pisistratus funded many religious and artistic programs, in order to improve the economy and spread the wealth more equally among the Athenian people.

Pisistratids is the common family or clan name for the three tyrants, who ruled in Athens from 546 to 510 BC, referring to Pisistratus and his two sons, Hipparchus and Hippias.

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Ancient Athens in the context of Oeniadae

Oeniadae or Oiniadai (Ancient Greek: Οἰνιάδαι), or Oeneiadae or Oineiadai (Οἰνειάδαι), was a town in ancient Acarnania, situated on the west bank of the Achelous River, about 10 miles (16 km) from its mouth. It was one of the most important of the Acarnanian towns, being strongly fortified both by nature and by art, and commanding the whole of the south of Acarnania. It was surrounded by marshes, many of them of great extent and depth, which rendered it quite inaccessible in the winter to an invading force. Its territory appears to have extended on both sides of the Achelous, and to have consisted of the district called Paracheloitis, which was very fertile. It seems to have derived its name from the mythical Oeneus, the great Aetolian hero.

The town is first mentioned about 455 BCE. The Messenians, who had been settled at Naupactus by the Athenians at the end of the Third Messenian War, shortly afterwards made an expedition against Oeniadae, which they took; but after holding it for a year, they were attacked by the Acarnanians and compelled to abandon the town. Oeniadae is represented at that time as an enemy of Athens, which is said to have been one of the reasons that induced the Messenians to attack the place. Twenty-three years before the Peloponnesian War (454 BCE) Pericles laid siege to the town, but was unable to take it. In the Peloponnesian War, Oeniadae still continued opposed to the Athenians, and was the only Acarnanian town, with the exception of Astacus, which sided with the Lacedaemonians. In the third year of the war (429 BCE) Phormion made an expedition into Acarnania to secure the Athenian ascendancy; but though he took Astacus, he did not continue to march against Oeniadae, because it was the winter, at which season the marshes secured the town from all attack. In the following year (428 BCE) his son Asopius sailed up the Achelous, and ravaged the territory of Oeniadae; but it was not till 424 BCE that Demosthenes, assisted by all the other Acarnanians, compelled the town to join the Athenian alliance.

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Ancient Athens in the context of Peripatetic school

The Peripatetic school (Ancient Greek: Περίπατος lit.'walkway') was a philosophical school founded in 335 BC by Aristotle in the Lyceum in ancient Athens. It was an informal institution whose members conducted philosophical and scientific inquiries. The school fell into decline after the middle of the 3rd century BC, but had a revival in the Roman Empire.

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Ancient Athens in the context of Pagae

Pagae or Pagai (/ˈpæ/; Doric Greek: Παγαί), or Pegae or Pegai (Ancient Greek: Πηγαί) was a town of ancient Megaris, on the Alcyonian or Corinthian Gulf. According to some sources of greek mythology Pagae had been the home town of Tereus. It was the harbour of Megaris on the western coast, and was the most important place in the country next to the capital. According to Strabo it was situated on the narrowest part of the Megaric isthmus, the distance from Pagae to Nisaea being 120 stadia. When the Megarians joined Athens in 455 BCE, the Athenians garrisoned Pagae, and its harbour was of service to them in sending out an expedition against the northern coast of Peloponnesus. The Athenians retained possession of Pagae a short time after Megara revolted from them in 454 BCE; but, by the thirty years' truce made in the same year, they surrendered the place to the Megarians. At one period of the Peloponnesian War (424 BCE) we find Pagae held by the aristocratical exiles from Megara. Pagae continued to exist until a late period, and under the Roman emperors was a place of sufficient importance to coin its own money. Strabo calls it τὸ τῶν Μεγαρέων φρούριον. Pausanias visited in the 2nd century and saw there a chapel of the hero Aegialeus, who fell at Glisas in the second expedition of the Argives against Thebes, but who was buried at this place. He also saw near the road to Pagae, a rock covered with marks of arrows, which were supposed to have been made by a body of the Persian cavalry of Mardonius, who in the night had discharged their arrows at the rock under the impulse of Artemis, mistaking it for the enemy. In commemoration of this event, there was a brazen statue of Artemis Soteira at Pagae. From 193 BCE Pagae was a member of the Achaean League. Pagae is also mentioned in other ancient sources, including Ptolemy, Stephanus of Byzantium, Pomponius Mela, Pliny the Elder, Hierocles, and the Tabula Peutingeriana, where it is called Pache.

Its site is located near the modern Alepochori. Remains of the city walls can be seen today.

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