Athens has been the capital of Greece since 1834 and the country's largest and most populous city. The Greater Athens Urban Area has a permanent population of 3.296.008 inhabitants. It was named after the goddess Athena. It is located in Attica, in eastern Central Greece, and is one of the oldest cities in the world, with its recorded history reaching up to 3200 BC.
Ancient Athens, originally a settlement on the Acropolis, developed in the 6th century BC. in a mighty city-state, which developed alongside its port, which was initially Faliro and later Piraeus. Until the 6th century, it was the most important center of arts, knowledge and philosophy, seat of Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum. It is widely referred to as the birthplace of democracy. Ancient Athens, like Greece in general at that time, is often described as the "cradle of Western civilization".
Modern Athens is the center of the economic, industrial, political and cultural life of Greece. According to the European Statistical Service, it is the 6th most populous in the European Union. The legacy of the classical era is still evident in the city, represented by ancient monuments and works of art, most famously the Parthenon, which is considered an emblematic monument of ancient Western civilization. Roman and Byzantine monuments are still preserved in the city, as well as a small number of Ottoman monuments, while in its historical core there are elements that reflect the historical continuity of the city. Athens is home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Acropolis and the medieval Daphni Monastery.
More recent attractions, dating from the establishment of Athens as the capital of the independent Greek state in 1834, include the Parliament of the Hellenes (19th century), the Trilogy, a set of three buildings: the National Library, the University and the Academy, and many more buildings, most donated by national benefactors. Athens hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and 108 years later hosted the 2004 Summer Olympics. Athens is home to the National Archaeological Museum, which has the world's largest collection of ancient Greek antiquities, as well as the new Acropolis Museum. Saint Dionysios the Areopagite is the patron saint of Athens.
