Athens is probably most famous ancient city today. At its peak, around the fifth century BC, the territory extended over 2,650 square kilometers, and it is believed only 250 000 to 300 000 people lived there: it was then the most populated and largest cities.

Where does the name of Athens?

According to legend, two gods fought the protection of a small town. Cecrops, the king of this city, in fact sought to give it a name. He decided that it would be the divinity that this would be most useful to natives who would win the "contest." Poseidon, god of the sea gushed rock of the Acropolis a saltwater fountain Athena, meanwhile, offered an olive. The king, to separate the two competitors, appealed to his people that VOTAT. Men chose Poseidon, Athena and women, but there were assembled in more women than men. Thus, the victorious goddess gave its name to the city.

We can see in this legend the first form of democracy where everyone votes, without exception, as Cecrops, King talked about in this ancient history, certainly lived around 1600 - 1700 BC A special page this site is also dedicated to democracy in this city.
This legend also used "excuse" the ancients used it to explain why women were, thereafter banned from several things: the right to vote, of course, but also, for example, that to give their names to their children. The rest of the story then goes that Poseidon was furious after his defeat, threatening to ravage the country, men intervirent to appease women by prohibiting these privileges.

The population


In the fifth century BC, there were about 110,000 slaves Athens, that is to say over a third of the population! The remainder consisted of 40,000 metics: this term had gathered all the foreigners living in the city, but were neither citizens nor slaves. They were free, but do not have the rights of citizens.
Finally, the civic body had 150,000 members. Among them, 40 000 citizens who formed the body politic; çi it was itself divided into four classes:

1st class: hoplites (1,000 members)
2nd class: Jumper (4000 members)
3rd class: hoplites (14,000 members)
4th class: light infantry and rowers on triremes (21,000 members)