Mythological Foundation

Athens is the modern-day capital of Greece, and the most populous urban center in the region of Attica. In ancient mythology, the foundation of the city was attributed to the hero Cecrops, who was also the first king. Both he and his successor, Erichthonius, were depicted as snake-human hybrids to symbolize the autochthony of the Athenians who had inhabited the land since the beginning of times.

The most important landmark mentioned in myth is the acropolis, which was considered the centre of political and religious power, as it hosted the royal palace and the main buildings for the worship of the protectress of the city, Athena, as well as the sacred olive tree and the salt water spring that she and Poseidon had gifted to the city during their contest to claim its ownership.

For further discussion of Athena and the mythological foundation of Athens, see chapter 11.

In myth, the foundation of Athens is also tied to the hero Theseus. An early king of Athens, Theseus was credited with establishing elements of the Athenian political system and instituting the Panathenaic Festival.

For further discussion of Theseus, see chapter 22.

Historical Foundation

The acropolis is indeed one of the places with the earliest traces of human occupation, including large fortification works dating from the 15th century BCE, the so-called ‘Cyclopean Walls’. Athens does not seem to have been a major Mycenaean palatial centre, but it was still affected by the collapse of the Bronze Age. During the Archaic Period the city expanded with an ambitious building program sponsored by both the tyrants of the city and aristocratic families that funded new walls, an aqueduct, temples, and a sacred way that connected Athens to the sanctuary of Eleusis. Most of the remains that are visible nowadays are, however, dating from the Classical and Hellenistic periods, when the city rose to fame and was monumentalized by its own democratic government and foreign kings alike.

Several of the most important archaeological remains are located along the Panathenaic Way that connected Eleusis and Athens coming through the northwestern Dipylon Gate. This route went through the cemetery of Kerameikos, the agora, where the most important public buildings such as fountains, the mint, and the seat of the assembly had been situated since the late Archaic Period. The same area also contained important religious buildings such as the Altar of the Twelve Gods, from which all distances were calculated, and a large temple dedicated to Athena and Hephaistos as patrons of craftsmen.

The Panathenaic Way proceeded southeast and climbed up to the acropolis, and ended at its monumental entrance, the Propylaia. On the top of the hill were the Parthenon, dedicated to Athena as protectress of the city, the Erechtheion, a religious building containing the sacred olive tree as well as other ancestral cults, and various altars and sacred precincts dedicated to Zeus and other gods.

The area south of the acropolis is occupied by the 2nd century CE Odeon of Herodes Atticus, a long Hellenistic portico, the great Theatre of Dionysus (built in its current form in the late fifth century BCE over an earlier structure), and the coeval Odeion of Pericles, another building for public assemblies.

Lastly, on the southeastern portion of the city was the great temple of Olympian Zeus, started in the late 6th century BCE and completed only in the 2nd century AD by Roman Emperor Hadrian.