Athens it was one of the main cities of Ancient Greece and it was where democracy emerged, in the 6th century BC. a., after the reforms realized by Clístenes. The Athens region has been inhabited since the Neolithic, and it is believed that the city already existed during the Mycenaean Civilization. Her name was chosen as a tribute to the goddess Athena.
Athens grew considerably during the Archaic Period, and, during the Classic Period, has become one of the largest Greek cities, rivaling Sparta. The models of these two cities were different, but even rivals, they united against the Persians during the Medical Wars. After that, Athens and Sparta went to war, with Athens being defeated in 304 a. Ç.
readmore: Homeric Period - marked as the period of civilizational retreat in Greece
Emergence of Athens
Studies carried out by archeology show that the human presence in the Athens region is, more or less,
eight thousand years ago. Thus, there are traces that indicate that human beings settled in this region still in the Neolithic Period.The human presence in Athens resulted in the emergence of an organized community around the second millennium BC. Ç. It is believed that there existed an established community that could still have been part of the Mycenaean Civilization. Even archaeological remains show that there were fortifications in the Acropolis region and that, possibly, there was a palace there.
The community that existed in Athens during this period is believed to have fallen into decay when Greece was invaded by the peoples of the sea (of unknown geographical origin) and by dorians. This end was accompanied by that of the entire region inhabited by the Mycenaeans.
From the Archaic Period of Greek history onwards, the region began to reorganize and the community began to grow. The population increased, commerce became more prosperous, and social organization became more complex. It was through this organization that democracy was established in Athens.
In Greek mythology, the name of the city would have been a tribute to the goddessAthena after a contest in which the local population participated.
Athenian Democracy
The city of Athens was marked in history for having been a environment conducive to intellectual and artistic development, and many attribute this to the development of democracy, a system that established a culture that allowed citizens to express themselves freely.
We saw that the growth of Athens during the Archaic Period was accompanied by measures aimed at the institutional organization of the city. The kickoff for this institutional organization and the establishment of norms that governed the life of the community were given by the legislator dragon, in the middle of the VII century; Ç.
As Athens grew, there was a great concentration of wealth which meant that impoverished peasants had to become slaves to pay the debts they owed. This situation created a scenario in which part of the Athenian population began to leave the city to settle in other regions in order to survive.
This was the colonizationgreek, when the Greeks began to found colonies elsewhere. In addition to colonization, there was social upheavals in Athens, and the continuation of this situation made it clear that measures were needed that could stabilize the city. It was then that Drácon elaborated a series of laws for Athens around 621 BC. Ç.
At laws of dracon were considered very rigid and, in 594 a. a., were reformed by the legislator Solon. THE Solon's reform kicked off democracy in Athens at the end of the VI century; Ç. He abolished debt slavery and he divided the city into four tribes, the richer the tribe, the greater the political rights it enjoyed.
Between 510 a. Ç. and 507 a. C., the legislator Clístenes promoted new reforms in Athens, and what was established by him is considered by the historians like the frame for the emergence of the democratic system. Through these reforms, the following was established:
The city would be divided into 10 tribes according to each citizen's location;
Bulé, the council that proposed the laws, was expanded to 500 members;
All Athenian citizens could gather in Ecclesia, the assembly where decisions were made.
The model of Cleisthenes was consolidated in Athens and was expanded to all the cities of Attica, the region where Athens was founded. Athenian democracy was a milestone for Greece, as it established an alternative to the aristocratic polis model. However, she it was still a very limited model, as it excluded women and foreigners., for example. If you want to know more about the beginning of the political system that is still present in much of the world, read: Athenian Democracy.
Athens and Sparta
When we talk about Athens, it is almost inevitable that we are reminded of Sparta, its great rival. The city of Sparta was south of Greece, in a region called Laconia, located on the Peloponnese Peninsula. The Spartans descended from the Dorians and had a totally different social organization of the one that existed in Athens.
Sparta was a one polisaristocratic,in which a minority of aristocrats enjoyed political rights and a host of other privileges. these were the Spartans and held citizenship. Besides them there were the helots, a class of exploited semi-slaves and constantly victims of the Spartans' violence. Finally, there were the periecos, free men who dedicated themselves to functions that the Spartans could not assume, such as commerce. Nor did they participate in politics.
As Greece developed, Athens and Sparta became major cities with influence on Greek diplomacy. Thus, both always sought to defend their interests in Greece, achieving the greatest number of economic partners and expanding their organizational model to other polis.
Athenians and Spartans gave up their rivalry in part of the V century; Ç., due to a foreign threat: you Persians. The two cities joined forces to expel the Persians in a two-stage war: the first between 492-490 a. Ç. and the Monday between 480-479 a. Ç. These were the Medical Wars, a conflict in which the Greeks were victorious.
Victory in the Medical Wars soon caused the two cities to resume their hostility to each other. The Athenians prospered quickly with their leadership in the turns onindelos, league of Greek cities formed during the war against the Persians. The Athenians used the league's resources for their own benefit.
This situation bothered Sparta, concerned about the Athenian enrichment, and this caused the hostility to increase. O the trigger for the war between them were the disputes of interest between Athens and Corinth, which was one of Sparta's great allies. Corinth pressed Sparta so that war was declared, and the Spartans, who did not want to lose the support of Corinth, initiated the confrontation against Athens in 431 a. Ç.
This was the Peloponnesian War, which extended from 431 a. Ç. to 404 a. Ç. This conflict had many phases, but in the end the Athenians were defeated. In their last moments, the Athenians were impoverished and saw their city besieged by the Spartans for six months. In 404 a. Ç. they surrendered to the Spartans, who destroyed the walls of Athens and tore up the Athenian maritime empire. The city, however, was not destroyed and the inhabitants were not enslaved.
Accessalso: Alexander the Great, one of the most outstanding names in antiquity
Athens' golden age
Athenian history was still marked by the existence of a golden age, that is, a period of great economic and cultural development. It was this period that marked the city as the home of great Greek intellectuals, such as philosophers. It is considered the height of Athens and ended when the city was defeated in the Peloponnesian War.
The Athenian Golden Age took place during the government of pericles, one of the greatest lawmakers in Athenian history. Athens attracted artists and intellectuals such as Herodotus, considered the "father of history", Socrates, one of the great names in philosophy, Aristophanes and sophocles, theater highlights, and Pindar, featured in poetry, among others.
The athenian decadence began when Pericles died, in 429 a. a., victim of the mysterious disease that reached Athens between 430 a. Ç. and 427 a. Ç. and became known as Athens Plague. The defeat in the war against Sparta consolidated this debacle. In the IV century; C., Athens passed to the domain Macedonian, and, in the II century a. C., the romans conquered it.
