The Modern City

THE MODERN CITY At the conclusion of the Greek War of Independence, Athens was little more than a village of the Turkish type, the poorly built houses clustering on the northern and eastern slopes of the Acropolis. The narrow crooked lanes of this quarter still con trast with the straight, regularly laid-out streets of the modern city, which extends to the north-west, north, south and east of the citadel. The greater commercial advantages offered by other cities were outweighed by the historic claims of Athens in the choice of a capital for the newly founded kingdom, and the seat of government was transferred hither from Nauplia in 1833. The new town was, for the most part, laid out by the German archi tect Schaubert. It contains several squares and boulevards, a large public garden and many handsome public and private edifices. A great number of the public institutions owe their origin to the munificence of patriotic Greeks, among whom Andreas Syngros and George Averoff may be especially mentioned. The old palace, designed by Friedrich von Gartner (1792-1847), is a tasteless structure; attached to it is a beautiful garden laid out by Queen Amalia. On the south-east is the newer palace of the President. The Academy, from designs by Theophil Hansen (1813-91), is constructed of Pentelic marble in the Ionic style: the colonnades and pediments are richly coloured and gilded, and may perhaps convey some idea of the ancient style of decoration. Close by is the University, with a colonnade adorned with paint ings, and the National Library with a handsome Doric portico of Pentelic marble. The Observatory, connected with the Univer sity, stands on the summit of the hill of the Nymphs; like the Academy, it was erected at the expense of a wealthy Greek, Baron Sina of Vienna. In the public garden is the Zappeion, a large building with a Corinthian portico, intended for the display of Greek industries; here also is a monument to Byron, erected in 1896. The Boule, or parliament-house, possesses an excellent library. Other public buildings are the Polytechnic Institute, built by contributions from Greeks of Epirus, the theatre, the Arsakeion (a school for girls), the Varvakeion (a high school), the military school (rxoXi Ev€Xiri6wv), the Gennadeion (a library attached to the American school), and several hospitals, schools and orphanages. The cathedral, a large modern structure, is de void of architectural merit, but some of the smaller, ancient Byzantine churches are singularly interesting and beautiful. Since the successive enlargements of the boundaries of Greece in 1881, 1912 and 1920 Athens has increased rapidly as the focus of society, politics and trade. Since 1922 whole new quarters have sprung up to house the great influx of refugees from Asia Minor, especially in the Patesia and Pangrati regions of the city, which now encircles Lycabettus. Neighbouring townships such as Marousi, Kephisia, Psychiko, Eraklion, Kallithea and Phaleron have grown correspondingly, particularly since the coming of the motor car and the improvements of the roads have made them popular residential suburbs. Athens and Peiraeeus are well served by electric tramways which run also to Phaleron. There is an electric railway to Peiraeeus and a steam suburban line to Kephisia which is to be electrified. There are motor omnibus services to all suburbs and to outlying towns in Attica such as Eleusis, Marathon and Laurium, and even to and from Thebes.

Museums.

The museums of Athens have steadily grown in importance, are well arranged, and the remnants of ancient art which they contain have fortunately escaped injudicious restora tion. The National museum, founded in 1866, is especially rich in archaic sculptures and in sepulchral and votive reliefs. Among the most notable works of art are the bronze youths from Mara thon and Cerigotto, the colossal archaic "Apollo" from Sunium, the Scopaic heads from Tegea, the Demeter relief from Eleusis and the sculptures of Damophon from Lycosura. Its unrivalled collection of prehistoric antiquities contains the treasures of Mycenae (found by Schliemann), Vaphio, Dendra and Tiryns, and rich series of vases and other objects from "Mycenaean" sites all over Greece and from Thessaly and from the Cyclades. There are also terra-cottas from Tanagra and Asia Minor; bronzes from Olympia, Delos and the Acropolis, and numerous painted vases, among them the unequalled white lecythi from Athens and Eretria. The Epigraphical museum contains an immense number of valuable historical inscriptions. The Acropolis museum (opened in 1878) possesses a singularly interesting collection of sculptures belonging to the "archaic" period of Greek art, all found on the Acropolis ; here, too, are some fragments of the sculptures of the Parthenon and the reliefs from the parapet of the temple of Nike. In the Polytechnic there is a historical and ethnological museum, and the national gallery of paintings. The national col lection of coins is accommodated in the Academy and the Byzan tine museum is to be moved to a large villa on the Kephisia road. In the old Turkish mosque near the library of Hadrian is the museum of decorative art which, though recently founded, is steadily increasing. There is a small museum of antiquities at Peiraeeus.

Scientific Institutions.

Owing to the numbers and activity of its institutions, both native and foreign, for the prosecution of research and the encouragement of classical studies, Athens has become once more an international seat of learning. The Greek Archaeological Society, founded in 1837, numbers some distinguished scholars among its members, and displays great activity in the conduct of excavations. There are also several Greek societies for encouraging the study of philology, Byzantine art, ethnology and other learned subjects. Of the foreign archae ological schools the French was founded in 1846, the German in 1874, the American in 1882, the British in 1886, the Austrian in 1898 and the Italian in 1909. (See ARCHAEOLOGY, GREEK.) Industry and Commerce.—In spite of some disadvantages from its situation and the natural resources of Attica, Athens has greatly prospered in industry and commerce. It is the centre of banking and of all mercantile business, export and import. With Peiraeeus it is, as the terminus of all the steamship and railway lines (the Peloponnesian, the Attic and the main line which con nects with Salonica and the direct route to Paris or Berlin), the most important manufacturing town in Greece. There are cloth and cotton mills, distilleries, breweries, potteries, flour mills, soap factories, shipbuilding and engineering works, tanneries and chem ical works and carpet factories, the last a new and rising industry established by the refugees from Asia Minor. Exports are mainly wine, oil, tobacco, marble and cognac, and imports are coal, grain and manufactured articles of all kinds. Peiraeeus is now also a great entrepot for the Levant.

Peiraeeus.

Peiraeeus, which had never revived since its destruction by the Romans in 86 B.C., was, at the beginning of the 19th century, a small fishing village known as Porto Leone. When Athens became the capital in 1833 the ancient name of its port was revived, and since that time piers and quays have been constructed, and spacious squares and broad regular streets have been laid out. The town now possesses an exchange, a large theatre, a gymnasium, a naval school, municipal buildings and several hospitals and charitable institutions erected by private munificence. The harbour, in which ships of all nations may be seen, as well as great numbers of the picturesque sailing craft engaged in the coasting trade, is somewhat difficult of access to larger vessels, but has been improved by the construction of breakwaters and dry docks. New additions to the harbour accom modation are in progress.

Population.—The population of Athens has rapidly increased. In 1834 it was below 5,000; in 187o it was 44,51o, in 1879, in 1889, Io7,251; in 1896, 111,486. Peiraeeus, which in 1834 possessed only a few hundred inhabitants, in 1879 possessed 21,618; in 34,3 2 7 ; in 1896, 43,848. The total population of Athens in 1907 was 167,479 and of Peiraeeus 67,982, and in 1928 the population of the two cities was reckoned at almost 71 2,000.

I.

The Prehistoric Period.—Archaeology gives the early his tory of Athens, for it is barely mentioned by Homer and the numerous legends have little historical value. Its neolithic inhab itants, of the race that occupied most of Greece and was related to that of the Danubian and Carpathian areas, were followed by a bronze-using folk akin to the islanders and Cretans, possibly a non-Hellenic people. Next came the mysterious makers of Min yan ware (see AEGEAN CIVILIZATION), and in the late bronze age Athens became a strong castle like Tiryns with traces of a "pal ace." Rich finds of "Geometric" vases indicate prosperity in the early iron age. Some try to associate this pottery with Dorians, though the Athenians always boasted they were children of the soil and free from admixture, that is to say Dorians. At the dawn of history proper the independent communities of Attica were absorbed into a central state of Athens under a monarchy (see THESEUS) of Ionian affinities, for the people were divided into four tribes whose names—Geleontes, Hopletes, Argadeis and Aegicoreis—recur in several true Ionian towns. The centraliza tion (synoecism), to which many Greek peoples never attained, laid the foundations of Athenian greatness. But in other respects the new constitution tended to arrest development. When the monarchy was supplanted in the usual Greek fashion by a heredi tary nobility, according to tradition, between about boo and 683 B.C., all power was appropriated by a privileged class of Eupa tridae (q.v.), who owed their predominance to their control over legal procedure; the Geomori and Demiurgi, who formed the bulk of the community, enjoyed no political rights. The aristocratic council of the Areopagus (q.v.) constituted the chief criminal court, and nominated the magistrates, among whom the chief archon (q.v.) passed judgment in family suits, controlled admis sion to the genos or clan, and consequently the acquisition of the franchise. This system was further supported by religious pre scriptions which the nobles retained as a corporate secret. The Eupatridae also tended to become sole owners of the land, reduc ing the original freeholders or tenants to the position of serfs. During this period Athens seems to have made little use of her militia, commanded by the polemarch, or of her navy, which was raised in special local divisions known as naucraries (see NAV CRARY) ; hence no military esprit de corps could arise to check the Eupatrid ascendancy. Nor did the commons obtain relief through any commercial or colonial enterprises as in many other Greek States. The first attack upon the aristocracy proceeded from a young noble named Cylon, who endeavoured to become tyrant about 63o B.C. The people helped to crush this yet discontent must have been rife, for in 621 the Eupatrids com missioned Dracon (q.v.), a junior magistrate, to draft and publish a code of criminal law. By this notable concession the nobles lost that exclusive legal knowledge which had formed one of their main instruments of oppression.

2.

The Rise of Athens.—A still greater danger grew out of the widespread financial distress, which was steadily driving many of the agricultural population into slavery and threatened the entire state with ruin. After a protracted war with the neigh bouring Megarians had accentuated the crisis, the Eupatridae gave to one of their number, the celebrated Solon (q.v.), free power to remodel the whole state (594)• By his economic legisla tion Solon placed agriculture once more upon a sound footing and encouraged commercial enterprise, thus laying the foundation of material prosperity. His constitutional reforms proved less suc cessful, for, although he put into the hands of the people safe guards against oppression, he could not ensure their use in practice. After a period of party-feud among the nobles the new constitu tion was superseded by the autocratic rule of Peisistratus (q.v.), and his sons Hippias and Hipparchus. The age of despotism, which lasted, with interruptions, from 56o to 51o, was a period of great prosperity. The rulers fostered agriculture, stimulated commerce and industry (notably the famous Attic ceramics), adorned the city with public works and temples, and rendered it a centre of culture. Their vigorous foreign policy first made Athens an Aegean Power and secured connections with mainland Powers. They also weakened the undue influence of the nobles and created a national Athenian spirit in place of the ancient clan f eeling.

The equalization of classes was already far advanced when, about 509, an Alcmaeonid named Cleisthenes (q.v.), who had taken the chief part in the final expulsion of the tyrants, acquired ascendancy as leader of the commons. His constitution (508 507) expressed the change of political feeling by providing a national basis of franchise and a new state organization. By making effective the powers of the Ecclesia (Popular Assembly) the Boule (Council) and Heliaea, Cleisthenes became the true founder of Athenian democracy.

This revolution was accompanied by a conflict with Sparta and other powers, but in the ensuing wars Athens worsted powerful enemies like Thebes and Chalcis (5o6). A bolder stroke followed in 500, when a force was sent to support the Ionians in revolt against Persia and helped to sack Sardis. After the failure of this expedition the Athenians became absorbed in a struggle with Aegina (q.v.). In 493 the prospect of a Persian invasion brought into power men like Themistocles and Miltiades (qq.v.), to whose firmness and insight the Athenians largely owed their triumph in the great campaign of 490 against Persia. After a second political reaction, the prospect of a second Persian war, and the naval superiority of Aegina, led to a strong policy. In 483 Themis tocles overcame the opposition of Aristeides (q.v.), and passed his famous measure providing for a large increase of the Athenian fleet. In the great invasion of 480-479 the Athenians displayed a resolution which could not be shaken even by the evacuation and destruction of their native city. Though the traditional account exaggerates the services of Athens, the ultimate victory was chiefly due to the numbers and efficiency of her fleet and to the wise policy of Themistocles. (See SALAMIS ; PLATAEA.) 3. Imperial Athens.—After the Persian retreat and the re occupation of their city the Athenians continued the war with unabated vigour. Led by Aristeides and Cimon they rendered such prominent service as to receive in return the formal leadership of the Greek allies and the presidency of the newly formed Delian league (q.v.). The ascendancy acquired in these years eventually raised Athens to the rank of an imperial state. For the moment it tended to impair the good relations which had subsisted between Athens and Sparta since the first days of the Persian peril. But so long as Cimon's influence prevailed the ideal of "peace at home and the complete humiliation of Persia" was steadily up held. Similarly the internal policy of Athens continued to be shaped by the conservatives. The only notable innovations since the days of Cleisthenes had been the reduction of the archonship to a routine magistracy appointed partly by lot (487), and the rise of the ten elective strategi (generals) as chief executive officers. (See STRATEGUS.) But the triumph of the navy in 48o and the great expansion of commerce and industry had shifted the political centre of gravity from the moderate democrats to the more radical party. Though Themistocles soon lost his influ ence, his party eventually found a new leader in Ephialtes, and after the failure of Cimon's foreign policy (see CIMON) triumphed over the conservatives. The year 461 marks the reversal of Athenian policy at home and abroad. By cancelling the political power of the Areopagus and multiplying the functions of the popular law-courts, Ephialtes abolished the last checks upon the sovereignty of the commons. His successor, Pericles, merely developed the full democracy so as to secure its effectual as well as its theoretical supremacy. The foreign policy of Athens was now directed towards an almost reckless expansion. (See PERI CLES.) Besides securing her Aegean possessions and her commerce by the defeat of Corinth and Aegina, her last rivals on sea, Athens acquired an extensive dominion in central Greece and for a time quite overshadowed the Spartan land-power. The rapid loss of the new conquests after 447 proved that Athens lacked a sufficient land-army to defend permanently so extensive a frontier. Under the guidance of Pericles the Athenians renounced the unprofitable rivalry with Sparta and Persia, and devoted themselves to the consolidation and judicious extension of their maritime influence.

The years of the supremacy of Pericles are the most glorious in Athenian history. In actual extent of territory the empire had receded somewhat, but in point of security and organ ization it now stood at its height. The Delian confederacy lay under Athenian control, and the points of strategic importance were largely held by cleruchies (q.v.; see also PERICLES) and garrisons. Out of a citizen body of over 5o,000 freemen, rein forced by mercenaries and slaves, a superb fleet exceeding 300 sail and an army of 30,00o drilled soldiers could be mustered. The city, with its fortifications extending to the port of Peiraeeus, was impregnable to a land attack. Her commerce extended from Egypt and Colchis to Etruria and Carthage, and her manufac tures, which attracted skilled operatives from many lands, found a ready sale all over the Mediterranean. With tolls, and the tribute of the Delian league (q.v.), a fund of 9,700 talents (£2,300,000) was amassed in the treasury.

Yet the material prosperity of Athens under Pericles was less notable than her brilliant attainments in every field of culture. No city ever adorned herself with such an array of temples, public buildings and works of art as the Athens of Pericles and Pheidias. Her achievements in literature are hardly less great. The Attic drama of the period produced many masterpieces, and the scientific thought of Europe in the departments of logic, ethics, rhetoric and history mainly owes its origin to a new movement of Greek thought which was largely fostered by the patronage of Pericles himself. Besides producing numerous men of genius herself Athens attracted all the great intellects of Greece. The brilliant summary of the historian Thucydides in the famous funeral speech of Pericles (delivered in 43o), in which the social life, the institutions and the culture of his country are set forth as a model, gives an ideal picture of Athens in her greatest days.

The payment for public service which Pericles had introduced may have contributed to raise the general level of culture of the citizens, but it created a dangerous precedent and incurred the censure of notable Greek thinkers. Moreover, all this pros perity was obtained at the expense of the confederates, whom Athens exploited in a somewhat selfish and illiberal manner. The cry of "tyrant city" roused public opinion in Greece against Athens and brought on the Peloponnesian War (q.v.) which ruined the Athenian empire The issue was deter mined less by any intrinsic superiority on the part of her enemies than by the blunders committed by a people unable to carry out a consistent foreign policy, and served since Pericles by none but selfish or short-sighted advisers. It speaks well for the patriotism of her commons that Athens, weakened by plague and military disasters, should have withstood for so long the blows of enemies from without, and the damage inflicted by traitors within her walls. (See ANTIPHON ; THERAMENES.) 4. The Fourth the complete defeat of Athens by land and sea, it was felt that her former services on behalf of Greece and her high culture should exempt her from total ruin. Though stripped of her empire, Athens obtained very tolerable terms from her enemies. The democratic constitution, which had been supplanted for a while by a government of oligarchs, was restored in 403 after the latter's misrule had brought about their own downfall. (See CRITIAS ; THERAMENES ; THRASY BULUS.) Indeed the spread of democracy elsewhere increased the prestige of the Athenian administration, which had now reached a high pitch of efficiency. Athenian art and literature in the 4th king of Naples His palace was in the Propylaea ; the lofty "tower of the Franks," which adjoined the south wing of that building, was possibly built in his time. The Acciajuoli dynasty lasted till June 1458, when the Acropolis was taken by the Turks under Omar, the general of the sultan Mohammed II., who had occupied the lower city in 1456. When the sultan entered Athens he was greatly struck by its ancient monuments and treated its inhabitants with comparative leniency.

1o. Period of Turkish Rule: 1458-1833.—Af ter the Turkish conquest Athens disappeared from the eyes of Western civiliza tion. The Parthenon was transformed into a mosque; the existing minaret at its south-western corner was built after 1466. The Propylaea served as the residence of the Turkish commandant and the Erechtheum as his harem. In 1466 the Venetians succeeded in occupying the city, but failed to take the Acropolis. About 1645 a powder magazine in the Propylaea was ignited by light ning and the upper portion of the structure was destroyed. Under Francesco Morosini the Venetians again attacked Athens in Sept. 1687 ; a bomb fired during the bombardment of the Acropolis exploded a powder magazine in the Parthenon and the building was rent asunder. After capturing the Acropolis the Venetians employed material from its ancient edifices in repairing its walls. They withdrew in the following year, when the Turks set fire to the city. The central sculptures of the western pediment of the Parthenon, which Morosini intended to take to Venice, were unskilfully moved, and falling to the ground were broken to pieces. Several ancient monuments were sacrificed to provide material for a new wall with which the Turks surrounded the city in 1778.

In 1821 the Greek insurgents surprised the city, and in 1822 captured the Acropolis. Athens again fell into the hands of the Turks in 1826, who bombarded and took the Acropolis in the following year; the Erectheum suffered greatly, and the monu ment of Thrasyllus was destroyed. The Turks remained in pos session of the Acropolis till 1833, when Athens was chosen as the capital of the newly established kingdom of Greece ; since that date the history of the city forms part of that of modern Greece.

(See GREECE : History, Modern.)