Athens is one of the oldest named cities in the world, having been continuously inhabited for at least 7000 years. Situated in southern Europe, Athens became the leading city of Ancient Greece in the first millennium BC and its cultural achievements during the 5th century BC laid the foundations of western civilization.
During the early Middle Ages, the city experienced a decline, then recovered under the later Byzantine Empire and was relatively prosperous during the period of the Crusades (12th and 13th centuries), benefiting from Italian trade. Following a period of sharp decline under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, Athens re-emerged in the 19th century as the capital of the independent Greek state.
Contents

1 Name
1.1 Geographical setting
2 Antiquity
2.1 Origins and early history
2.2 Reform and democracy
2.3 Classical Athens
2.3.1 Early Athenian military history
2.3.2 Artists and philosophers
2.3.3 Peloponnesian War
3 Athenian coup of 411 BC
3.1 Corinthian War and the Second Athenian League
3.2 Athens under Macedon
3.3 Hellenistic Athens
3.4 Roman Athens
4 Middle Ages
4.1 Byzantine Athens
4.2 Latin Athens
4.2.1 Burgundian period
4.2.2 Aragonese period
4.2.3 Florentine period
5 Modern history
5.1 Ottoman Athens
5.2 Independence from the Ottomans
5.3 Modern Athens
5.3.1 Population influx
5.3.2 Athens under the Nazis
5.3.3 Postwar Athens
5.3.4 Athens today
5.3.5 Recent historical population
5.4 Notable Athenians
5.5 Ancient sites in Athens
6 Notes
7 Further reading

The contest of Athena and Poseidon. West Pediment of the Parthenon.
The name of Athens, connected to the name of its patron goddess Athena, originates from an earlier, Pre-Greek language.[1][verification needed] The etiological myth explaining how Athens acquired this name through the legendary contest between Poseidon and Athena was described by