"Athens" Athens by Ramonq

click: Greek music

I remember back in the old schooldays when I used to memorise begrudgingly the ancient Greek gods and godesses for our ancient history class, yet I never realised that the knowledge I gained from those innocent days in the classroom will one day become useful. Classical Hellenic culture seemed remote and alien at that time, but when I was actually walking around the Parthenon, things started to make sense and I got to appreciate the origins of Western civilisation that I now enjoy.

Athens isn't a beautiful city in the European tradition of streets overflowing with grand ornate historical buildings, well-manicured parks and awesome cathedrals. In fact, Athens seems to be jampacked with non-descript medium rise apartment blocks that were built in the 20th century, topped with unsightly aerials and satellite dishes. There's the occasional square that breaks the monotony of endless rows of apartments and the insane vehicular traffic. Yet the city can grow on you if you stop comparing it to other grand European cities and just accept Athens for what it is.

Why does Athens appear relatively new, even though it's thousands of years old? Well it's because the city underwent through a rollercoaster ride when it rose to its pinnacle under the ancient Greek and Roman empire and declined to an insignificant village under the Ottoman Empire, and then rose again as the capital city of modern Greece. According to ancient Greek mythology, Athens got its name from the Greek godess, Athena, who won a duel with Poseidon, the sea god, to compete as the protector and diety for the city on the Parthenon. Poseidon summoned forth a spring from the ground but to no avail. Athena, the godess of wisdom, on the other hand, succeeded in commanding that an olive tree sprout from the soil. Hence the ancient Greek built a stunning temple for Athena on top of this huge rock called the Acropolis. By the 5th century BC, Athens was at its peak when it became the cultural and intellectual centre of the classical world. Even when it was conquered by the Romans,

Athens still commanded great respect from the coloniser and derived many of its spiritual and artistic inspiration from them. To the north of the Acropolis, where the Agora (market) can be found, Athens flourished and the Roman emperor Hadrian lavished resources on the city by building temples, baths, and walls to protect roads to its main seaport, Piraeus. One can still view the ruins of this ancient heritage.

Christianity came to Athens when St Paul lectured here and the city became part of the Byzantine empire whose capital was in Constantinople(Istanbul). The city declined in importance when Athens was under constant attack by the Slavs from the north. The Christian Crusaders used the city as a outpost base on their way to Jerusalem for a couple of centuries, but later fell under the Ottoman Turks in the middle of the 15th century. The Acropolis was transformed into a Muslim temple, and Parthenon even became a storage space for ammunition which exploded and destroyed the classical building. Thus began the long decline of Athens that by the 19th century, the city was reduced to an insignificant miserable little provincial town whose centre was the maze-like narrow streets around Plaka district. This is my favourite part of Athens because it's a pleasant place to explore and there are lots of alfresco restaurants on the squares and narrow streets.

When Greece got its independence from the Turks, Athens became the capital city even though the Greeks desired Constantinople, which the Turks have held on, as its capital. An attempt to resurrect Athens was planned by hiring an architect and he laid out diagonal boulevards that converge at Syntagma Square and the Royal Palace. Athens expanded to the north and east of the old city. While many of the older buildings got its inspiration from the Hellenistic style, the construction boom of the pragmatic 1960's made Athens appear like it is today. The Olympics in 2004 has given Athens an impetus to improve their polluted city by building subways and improving public infratructure. I think that Athens may be undergoing its own well-deserved Renaissance

• Pros:Acropolis
• Cons:polluted and not well maintained city
• In a nutshell:Olympic City, Olympian problems