Athens

Athens is the <a href="/facts/Capital_city/p06rGdJC">capital</a> and <a href="/facts/List_of_cities_and_towns_in_Greece/nfXK2mk6">largest city</a> of <a href="/facts/Greece/lqHw8bTB">Greece</a>. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the <a href="/facts/Attica_(region)/8SSbhBGu">Attica region</a> and is the southernmost capital on the <a href="/facts/European_mainland/EXR4F23f">European mainland</a>. With its urban area's population numbering over 3.6 million, it is the <a href="/facts/List_of_urban_areas_in_the_European_Union/Ffb5LFyB">eighth-largest urban area</a> in the <a href="/facts/European_Union/6GYcR8qM">European Union</a> (EU). The <a href="/facts/Municipality_of_Athens/mBxlp8X1">Municipality of Athens</a> (also City of Athens), which constitutes a small administrative unit of the entire urban area, had a population of 643,452 (2021) within its official limits, and a land area of 38.96 km2 (15.04 sq mi).
Athens is one of the <a href="/facts/List_of_oldest_continuously_inhabited_cities/74JX06Jp">world's oldest cities</a>, with its <a href="/facts/Recorded_history/pnBxFEvW">recorded history</a> spanning over 3,400 years, and its earliest human presence beginning somewhere between the 11th and 7th millennia <a href="/facts/Anno_Domini/NmQwnQNj">BC</a>. According to <a href="/facts/Greek_mythology/M7k4FvW8">Greek mythology</a> the city was named after <a href="/facts/Athena/bBX7jSvu">Athena</a>, the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom, but modern scholars generally agree that the goddess took her name after the city. <a href="/facts/Classical_Athens/a3b6Hpbw">Classical Athens</a> was one of the most powerful <a href="/facts/Polis/U4qS9yqU">city-states</a> in <a href="/facts/Ancient_Greece/PTVBrWXq">ancient Greece</a>. It was a centre for <a href="/facts/Greek_democracy/89ykJXx1">democracy</a>, <a href="/facts/The_arts/kabJ6XX6">the arts</a>, education and <a href="/facts/Ancient_Greek_philosophy/LWEkp8JX">philosophy</a>, and was highly influential throughout the European continent, particularly in <a href="/facts/Ancient_Rome/cGqIuxPd">Ancient Rome</a>. For this reason it is often regarded as the <a href="/facts/Cradle_of_civilization/slYINUco">cradle</a> of <a href="/facts/Western_civilization/rPbgAhzI">Western civilisation</a> and the <a href="/facts/History_of_democracy/FUl2tKJ6">birthplace of democracy</a> in its own right independently from the rest of Greece.
In modern times Athens is a large cosmopolitan <a href="/facts/Metropolis/s0mIpkgD">metropolis</a> and central to economic, financial, industrial, maritime, political and cultural life in Greece. It is a <a href="/facts/Globalization_and_World_Cities_Research_Network/xdxbC98a">Beta (+)</a> – 
status <a href="/facts/Global_city/Lqv5NqA5">global city</a> according to the <a href="/facts/Globalization_and_World_Cities_Research_Network/xdxbC98a">Globalization and World Cities Research Network</a>, and is one of the biggest economic centres in <a href="/facts/Southeast_Europe/zxgEvCdQ">Southeast Europe</a>. It also has a large financial sector, and its port <a href="/facts/Piraeus/VzkzdTHc">Piraeus</a> is both the second-busiest passenger port in Europe and the thirteenth-largest container port in the world. The <a href="/facts/Athens_metropolitan_area/XHU6SJ57">Athens metropolitan area</a> extends beyond its administrative municipal city limits as well as its <a href="/facts/Urban_Agglomeration/fu9v8h5P">urban agglomeration</a>, with a population of 3,638,281 (2021) over an area of 2,928.717 km2 (1,131 sq mi).
The heritage of the <a href="/facts/Classical_Greece/WoUfexFx">Classical Era</a> is still evident in the city, represented by <a href="/facts/Ancient_monument/np4mrBWf">ancient monuments</a>, and works of art, the most famous of all being the <a href="/facts/Parthenon/sp89Dxoa">Parthenon</a>, considered a key landmark of early <a href="/facts/Western_culture/rPbgAhzI">Western culture</a>. The city also retains <a href="/facts/Roman_Greece/137eD11z">Roman</a>, <a href="/facts/Byzantine_Empire/njEELXWF">Byzantine</a> and a smaller number of <a href="/facts/Ottoman_Empire/6QvfTRsg">Ottoman</a> monuments, while its historical urban core features elements of continuity through its millennia of history. Athens contains two <a href="/facts/World_Heritage_Site/6AbWWKV4">World Heritage Sites</a> recognised by <a href="/facts/UNESCO/QSbkRv3o">UNESCO</a>: the <a href="/facts/Acropolis_of_Athens/lqIuuC2F">Acropolis of Athens</a> and the medieval <a href="/facts/Daphni_Monastery/w4bRdxHL">Daphni Monastery</a>. Athens is also home to several museums and cultural institutions, such as the <a href="/facts/National_Archaeological_Museum%2c_Athens/fsbgCIM0">National Archeological Museum</a>, featuring the world's largest collection of ancient Greek antiquities, the <a href="/facts/Acropolis_Museum/slFDGtJo">Acropolis Museum</a>, the <a href="/facts/Goulandris_Museum_of_Cycladic_Art/WRFm0Ezw">Museum of Cycladic Art</a>, the <a href="/facts/Benaki_Museum/IvwQj2WL">Benaki Museum</a> and the <a href="/facts/Byzantine_and_Christian_Museum/MXIzbhkL">Byzantine and Christian Museum</a>. Athens was the host city of the <a href="/facts/1896_Summer_Olympics/AMYeSPQ7">first modern-day Olympic Games</a> in 1896, and 108 years later it hosted the <a href="/facts/2004_Summer_Olympics/7ljacRK4">2004 Summer Olympics</a>, making it one of five cities to have hosted the Summer Olympics on multiple occasions.

Athens open-in-new

Athens