One of the most beautiful and famous ancient cities with a powerful economy, access to the sea, beautiful temples - Ancient Athens, named after one of the most revered goddesses of Greece, Athena. On the Greek Olympus, she was known as the patroness of war, sciences, crafts, and was also distinguished by extraordinary wisdom. The city, named after this deity, had to be equal in grandeur and power to its patroness.
Rise
The capital of Ancient Greece grew on the site of an elevated hill - the Acropolis. According to legend, in 1825 BC. e. The first king of Attica, Kekrops, erected a fortress on the top of the Acropolis, laying a city on this site. Not without the participation of the gods, this construction took place. Athena argued with the ruler of the seas and oceans, Poseidon, after whom the city would be named, and who would later become its patron. The supreme gods of Olympus, led by Zeus, became the judges. The competing gods were given the task: "Whoever brings the most useful gift to the inhabitants of the city will become its patron." Poseidon endowed Ancient Athens with the sun's rays, hitting the rock with his trident, and Athena, thrusting a spear into the rock, brought the Greeks an olive. The gods of Olympus bowed to the gift of Poseidon, but the goddesses andKekrop supported the patroness of war. The dispute was won by Athena and not in vain, because under her patronage Athens achieved high economic, political and cultural development. And in honor of the defeated Poseidon, the Greeks soon erected a temple.
The city grew noticeably as a result of the resettlement to its safe rocks of the people who were forced to emigrate due to the constant raids of nomadic tribes.
Rise of Athens
The city reached its high development during the reign of Peisistratus. This cruel but intelligent king believed that it was lazy people who threatened his power and were able to raise the people to rebellion. It was under him that the huge Agora market square was built, to which buyers came from all over the world. It was very easy for the Greeks to trade, since they, as inhabitants of an island state, had access to the sea. Agriculture and animal breeding could not distinguish Ancient Greece. Athens was no exception, the main reason for this was the rocky surface of the earth, on which nothing grew. But the Greeks earned in full on trade. King Peisistratus was a well-known developer: the temples of Apollo and Olympian Zeus were erected during his reign. He managed to complete the Temple of Apollo, but Antiochus IV Epiphanes continued to build the monastery of Zeus. But it was not destiny for the temple to be built in a short period of time. The Roman conqueror Sulla destroyed it, and only the ruler Hadrian completed the construction.
Historians believe that it was Peisistratus who laid the foundationfamous temple - the Parthenon. His story is quite dramatic. Having existed for a short time, it was destroyed by the Persians, and only the ruler Pericles managed to rebuild it. The famous sculptor Phidias, the author of one of the Seven Wonders of the World - the statue of Olympian Zeus, was invited to work on a beautiful and rich temple. His sculpture of Athena was so beautiful that the rulers did not dare to build other structures on the Acropolis.
According to the conclusions of archaeologists who examined the teeth of the remains of the inhabitants of that era, Ancient Athens fell from the plague, or, as it was also called, typhoid fever, which raged there in 430-423. Because of this incurable disease, a third of the population of the state died, the famous city of Ancient Athens fell.
