Classical Athens

Athens
Ἀθῆναι
508 BC–322 BC
Delian League ("Athenian Empire") shown in yellow, Athenian territory shown in red, situation in 431 BC, before the Peloponnesian War.
Capital		Athens
Languages		Attic Greek
Religion		Ancient Greek religion
Government		Direct democracy
Strategos
•	449-429 BC	Pericles
Legislature		Ecclesia
Historical era		Classical antiquity
•	Cleisthenes establishes Athenian democracy	508 BC
•	Delian League	478–404 BC (404–403 BC Thirty tyrants)
•	Second Athenian Empire	378–355 BC
•	Dissolution of Athenian democracy in 322 BC by Antipater	322 BC
Population
•	5th century BC1 est.	250,000 (men with civil rights: 30,000)
Currency		Drachma
Preceded by Succeeded by Athenian tyranny Macedon
1BBC History
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The city of Athens during the classical period of Ancient Greece (508–322 BC) was the major urban center of the notable polis (city-state) of the same name, located in Attica, Greece, leading the Delian League in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta and the Peloponnesian League. Athenian democracy was established in 508 BC under Cleisthenes following the tyranny of Isagoras. This system remained remarkably stable, and with a few brief interruptions remained in place for 180 years, until 322 BC (aftermath of Lamian War). The peak of Athenian hegemony was achieved in the 440s to 430s BC, known as the Age of Pericles.

In the classical period, Athens was a center for the arts, learning and philosophy, home of Plato's Akademia and Aristotle's Lyceum, Athens was also the birthplace of Socrates, Pericles, Sophocles, and many other prominent philosophers, writers and politicians of the ancient world. It is widely referred to as the cradle of Western Civilization, and the birthplace of democracy, largely due to the impact of its cultural and political achievements during the 5th and 4th centuries BC on the rest of the then-known European continent.