• ATHENS• ANCIENT TIMES AND MODERN ATHENS

Ancient times (1100 -323 BC)Classical times ( 5th century BC)-The Golden Age of Pericles

Classical Times in Greece, from 500 BC until the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, are justly considered as one of the highest expressions of the Greek civilization . The ideas and concepts, the art and systems of governing which human mind created during this epoch are of a diachronic value .

Athens has been a city for 3.500 years but its greatest glory was during the classical period of ancient Greece from which so many buildings and artifacts still survive. Athens became the cradle of democracy .

Pericles was an aristocrat that defended the democratic values. He dominated in the political life of Athens for approximately 30 years.

He adopted different political reforms that allowed to the people to actively participate into politics.

He restored the temples destroyed by the barbarians and ordered the construction of magnificent monuments, such as the Acropolis , thus introducing an epoch that is called "The Golden Age of Pericles “

Pericles

Currency with the Goddess Athenas’ head

Nowadays the inhabited area is 30.000 hectares with 3.500.000 people.

The ratio of the urban and suburban green space in the basin of Athens is 2,55 square metres per resident , while the European Organization of the Environment considers the proportion of 10 square meters per individual hardly acceptable.

On 18th September, 1834 Athens was recognized as the capital of Greece.

In those days Athens was 300 hectares and counted 10.000 – 12.000 people .

Photo of Athens at the beginning of the 19th century

Small houses, land ,dirt road.

This Athens has vanished

Athens from the air

Small houses with red tiles

Modern Greece1830: The independence of Greece was signed.

1834: Athens capital of Greece.

1837 : University built

1862 : Athens was lit up with gas.

1889 : “electricity “ came to Athens

1896 : Olympic games. The first car was launched

1905 : Asphalt covering of the streets. The first telephone

1907 :The first cinema. The population of Athens was 165.000.1908: Operation of the first organized telephone center with 800 subscribers. There were 12 primary schools and 5 high schools.1920: 30.000 people. About 80 cars in Athens.1923: Launch of the first “Citroen” taxis. Minor Asia Destruction: 300.000 refugees from Minor Asia moved to Athens. Serious problems of cleanliness and water shortage surfaced.

1925: The construction of the dam in lake Marathon started that year in

order to solve the water supply problem of the capital

1940-1944: German possession, National Resistance. 1997: Athens is in charge of the Olympic Games 2004.2001: The new airport “Eleftherios Venizelos” is built.2004: The Olympic Games 13-29 August.

Urban history of Athens

The basic points of the urban development

100 m..The first event during the Olympic Games of 1896

Athens 1840

Environmental Problems: Air pollution – smog Excessive use of cars Lack of open spaces Vast number of cement constructions and the bad town planning choke the City. High temperatures in summer

Efforts made in recent years: Car pools round the historical center of the city since 1995 Reformation of some public places, pedestrian zones Underground parking lots Improvement of the means of transportation - the metro since 2000 New motorways (Attiki odos) Tree plantations

Olympic stadium

Attiki Odos

Airport of Athens

smog

Metro map

The ratio of the urban and suburban green space in the basin of Athens is 2,55 square metres per resident , while the European Organization of the Environment considers the proportion of 10 square meters per individual hardly acceptable.

Diachronic development of population in the basin of

Athens

0

500000

1000000

1500000

2000000

2500000

3000000

3500000

4000000

1834 1836 1862 1879 1881 1897 1907 1920 1922 1971 1981 1991 1998

Years

Polulation

Years 1834 1836 1862 1879 1881 1897 1907 1920 1922 1971 1981 1991 1998 2008

Population

10.000

14.000

40.000

63.000

68.000

130.000

165.000

300.000

600.000

2.800.000

3.370.000

3.500.000

3.450.000

3,074.160