by the Knowledge and Database Systems Laboratory
(Timos Sellis, Organization Committee Chair of VLDB'97).
Last update: 26-May-1997
General
Athens (Athena in the greek language) is the capital of Greece. It is the biggest city of the country with a population of about 3.5 million. Athens is a very old city and it's history begins at least 800 years B.C. The name of the city comes from 'Athena', an important goddess of the greek mythology . It is considered to be the heart of cultural and financial life of Greece and a symbol of the ancient greek civilization.
Geography And Weather
Athens lies at the center area of Greece in an area called Attiki. It is surrounded by mountains (Aegalaio, Pentelee, Parnetha and Ymetos) to the west, north, northeast and southeast. To the south and west of Athens lies it's port, Pireas, which is one of the biggest ports of the mediterranean sea. The weather in Athens is traditionally sunny and the climate is dry and pleasant. Typical temperatures of the year range between 10 deg. C (50 deg. F) in January and 30 deg.C (86 deg.C) in August.
The City History
Athens history begins at least 2800 years ago. The city became a great naval power during the 8th and 7th century BC. As a result Athens lived the so called 'Golden Age of Perikles' (5th century BC), where democracy, philosophy and culture flourished. The most famous remain of this era is the ancient monument of Parthenon, a temple of goddess Athena, which lies in the monuments of Acropolis. Excavations bring even in our days signs ot this era. The city has many museums (museum of the Acropole, National Archeological Museum) with ancient samples of this era.
In 146 B.C. Athens was occupied, together with the rest of Greece, by the Romans, who, although they actually were conquerors, they showed respect to the city's personality.
After the first years A.C. , Gothic tribes brought destructive invasions and looting to Athens. The gradual integration with the Byzantine Empire was completed with the shut down of the Philosophic Schools, the modification of shrines to Christian temples and the general rural confrontation of Athens.
After year 1214, when Constaninopole was occupied by the Franks, Athens was given to French dukes. Their successors were Catalans, Napolitans and finally in 1456 the Turks.
Until 1834, one year after its independence from the Turks, when Athens was proclaimed capital of Greece, it was a miserable village with very few people and piles of ancient ruins and stones. Nevertheless it was accepted as a place with a very strong presence of memories from the past. Since it was made the capital of the country, its rebirth from the ruins was initiated. New buildings were built in a close architectural connection with the ancient Greek style, and Acropolis and the rest of the ancient monuments were restored.
After World War II and especially after the 60's Athens lived a massive internal migration from the greek south province and the islands. Nowadays it is a typical western-type big city that concentrates a big percentage of the activities and resources of Greece in general. The city is still undergoing major changes, such as building a new metro and a new airport. It must also be noted that Athens is one of the five candidate cities for hosting the Olympic Games of 2004.
More information
For more information about Athens,onen can visit the following links:
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Technical University of Athens by the Knowledge and Database Systems Laboratory (Timos Sellis, Organization Committee Chair of VLDB'97). Last update: 26-May-1997 |