ATHENS, ii-the'-me, the capital of Attica, founded 1556 n.c. by Cecrops, and an Egyptian colony : was called Cerro/31a from its founder, and afterwards Atheism, in honour of Minerva (Athena), who contested with Neptune the right of naming it, when the assembled gods ordered that it should belong to whichever of the two gave the most useful and necessary present to the inhabitants of the earth ; whereupon Nep tune struck the ground with his trident, and at once a horse Issued from the earth ; but Minerva produced the olive, and was awarded unanimously the right of naming. Athens was governed by seventeen kings,—viz., Ce crops, 2556 B.C. ; Cranaus, 1506 ; Amphictyon, 1497 ; Erichthonius, 1487 ; Pandion, .137 Erechtheus, 1397; Cecrops II., r347; Pan dion II., 1307 ; .IEgeus, 1283 ; Theseus, 2235 ; Menestheus, 1205 ; Demophoon, 1182 ; Oxyn tes, 1149; Aphidas, t x37 ; Thymcetes, 1136; Melanthus, x228 ; and Codrus, 1091, who was killed after 21 years' reign, when the monarchi cal power was abolished, and the state governed for 317 years by life archons (23 of whom suc ceeded), then for 7o years by decennial archons (7 succeeded), and finally, in 684 n.c., after an anarchy of three years, by annual archons (see ARCHONTES). Under these latter the democracy developed itself, and Athens rapidly rose. The Persians, irritated by the part taken by the Athenians in burning Sardis during the Ionic revolt, directed their efforts chiefly against it, and Xerxes took and burnt it, 480 ; but the Persian defeats at Marllthon, Salamis, Platma, and Mycale raised Athens to superiority in the affairs of Greece ; the town vas rebuilt and embellished by Themistocles, tad a new and magnificent harbour erected. Athens became arrogant, and assumed the tone of mistress to its allies, the members of the confederacy of Delos, and luxury and intem perance began to spread among all ranks ; the Peloponnesian war (see PELOPONNESIACUM I3ELLUM), at first a private quarrel, soon became a general Greek war, and Sparta and her allies did not lay down their arms till, after twenty eight years' conflict, the Athenian hegemony was destroyed by Lysander, 404 ; but though her material power was thus ruined, the period of her intellectual supremacy then began. In
the age of Philip, Athens had somewhat re covered, and opposed his ambitious views, but her short-lived efforts were of no great service to the interests of Greece, and she fell into the hands of the Romans, 86 s.c. The Athenians have been admired for their love of liberty, and for their great men ; but they were fickle and ungrateful. Athens became the university of the later Roman republic. The philosophic schools, first founded by Plato, were main tained by the less learned successors of the great philosophers of the fourth century B.C., till suppressed by the emperor Justinian. Athens was called "Aare (the city), as Rome was Urbs. Its inhabitants thought themselves the most ancient nation of Greece, and sprung from the soil : whence they were called air6x.d.wtc, or both meaning soil bent, and (grasshoh5ers); and in con nection with the last name they sometimes wore grasshoppers in their hair as badges, those in sects being supposed to be directly sprungfrom the ground. Its population was about i2o,'000 about the end of the Peloponnesian war. The Acropolis contained, beside several other temples, Minerva's famous temple, the Par thenon, which, after being burnt by the Persians, was rebuilt of the finest marble by Pericles, and still exists in a ruined state. The three harbours, Pira'us, MinYeria, and Phlite'runz, were walled by Themistocles, and connected with the city by the Long Walls built by Pericles.
ATHENtEA, ci-the-nal-a (see PANATHENIEA and CHALCEA).