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The Acropolis was first inhabited in Neolithic times (around 3000 BC), and began to take on the form of a city when it was fortified by the Mycenaeans (inhabitants of the southeastern Greek mainland) in about 1400 BC.

The 6th and 5th centuries BC saw the city-state develop into a colonial power. Under Perikles (495–429 BC) Athens enjoyed its greatest period of building, when the Parthenon, Erechtheion and Temple of Nike were erected. Cultural and intellectual life flourished until Sparta’s defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC).

Roman rule began in 146 BC and lasted five centuries. Athenians initially maintained good relations with their rulers, but in 86 BC a potential move towards Athenian independence was brutally crushed by the Romans. Emperor Hadrian (AD 76–138) remained a great admirer of Greek culture, however, and together with Greek scholar Herodes Atticus he set up various building schemes, including the great theatre (see Herodes Atticus Theatre).

When Roman territory was divided between East and West in AD 395, Greece fell within the east, and subsequently became part of the Byzantine Empire. The pagan philosophical schools were closed and many temples were rebuilt as churches.

The Ottoman Turks took Athens in 1458, and the city became a provincial backwater. After bombarding the Parthenon, the Venetians held the city briefly in 1687. Then, during the 18th century, English and French artists and writers visited Athens as part of the Grand Tour, signalling its reawakening but also walking off with many ancient artworks.

In 1821 Greeks rose up against Ottoman domination, initially alone and then, as of 1827, with the aid of Britain, France and Russia. Although the war ended in 1829, the Ottomans held the Acropolis until 1834, when the new king, Otto I, entered the city. Athens became capital of the new Greek state and was rebuilt, largely in Neo-Classical style.

Mussolini declared war on Greece in October 1940, and the German army entered Athens in April 1941, raising the swastika over the Acropolis. The Third Reich used the Hotel Grande Bretagne as wartime headquarters.

At the close of WWII, with its political future uncertain, Greece fell into civil war. The US began pouring economic and military aid into the country, but on the proviso that the Communist Left would not gain power. In the 1950s and ’60s, Athens saw rapid industrialization, mass migration from rural areas and the growth of sprawling suburbs.

In April 1967, a coup d’etat led by Georgios Papadopoulos signalled the beginning of a seven-year military junta. Student protests on 17 November 1973 were violently put down by the military, who stormed Athens’ Polytechnic and killed many. But the regime fell in 1974, following a failed attempt to take Cyprus.

Greece joined the EEC (now the EU) in 1981, and in the same year Andreas Papandreou became the country’s first Socialist prime minister. In 1985, Athens was the first European City of Culture. Hosting the highly successful 2004 Olympics means that the city now has improved transport, sports and cultural facilities.