Athens 101: Ancient Athens Greece
Ancient Athens was the most powerful of the Greek city-states during the golden age of Greece. Starting off as a Neolithic settlement somewhere between 4th and 3rd millennia B.C ancient Athens rose to become the greatest city of the ancient world, one that gave a new direction to humanism and civilization. Statesmen, military men, philosophers, historians, poets, dramatists from the age of ancient Athens are still subjects of study.
Ancient Athens reached its zenith as a powerful city-state during the 4th and 5th centuries B.C. This was the age of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Pericles, and Sophocles. Ancient Athens was a small city compared to the modern city of Athens; its total area was around 2 sq.km. However, the suburbs of Athens extended beyond the walls of the ancient city.
The military achievements of ancient Athens were numerous; the most famous military battles that the soldiers from ancient Athens fought were those against the Persian invaders. Wins against the Persians established Athenian hegemony in Greece and allowed it to establish the Delian League which consolidated Athenian power and the city grew rich from the spoils of war.
The Agora or the marketplace was where the civic and public affairs of ancient Athens were carried out. On one side of the Agora was the Areopagus, the high court of ancient Athens and on the other side was the Pnyx, the site where the Athenian Assembly gathered to take decisions related to the running of the state of ancient Athens.
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