Athens

Athens

Athens is a historic city and the capital of Greece. Many of the intellectual and artistic ideas of Classical civilization originated here, and the city is often regarded as the birthplace of Western civilization. Located about 8 km from the Bay of Phaleron, an inlet of the Aegean Sea where Piraeus, the port of Athens is found, in a dry basin bordered by mountains and divided by a series of hills running north-south. Athens' many legacies to the world are expressed in and around the Acropolis, Athens' natural center, designated a World Heritage Site in 1987. The Acropolis, which rises some 500 feet above sea level, has springs near its base and has a single point of access, has clearly been a citadel and sanctuary since the earliest times. The Parthenon, one of the brightest jewels in the treasury of humanity, and even more so of Athens, bears witness to the fact that it was more than that. Other notable buildings include a 5,000-seat Odeum under the sanctuary of the Acropolis, on the southwestern slope of the hill, built by Herod Atticus, a wealthy Roman, in 161 AD in memory of his wife. It was a traditional Roman theatre, except that the semi-circular auditorium was carved into the rock, roofed with cedar, and had a three-story facade of arches. The city is a global center of archaeological research. In addition to national academic institutions such as the Athens University and the Archaeological Society, it is also home to a number of archaeological museums: the National Archaeological Museum, the Cycladic Museum, the Epigraphic Museum, the Byzantine & Christian Museum, as well as museums at the ancient Agora, Acropolis, Kerameikos and the Kerameikos Archaeological Museum.