Athenian

Athenian refers to a person from Athens, the capital of Greece, or to anything pertaining to the ancient Greek city-state of Athens or the modern city. The term derives from the Greek Athēnaios, meaning “of Athens,” linked to the goddess Athena, patron of the city.

In classical antiquity, Athenians were citizens of the polis of Athens. Reforms attributed to Cleisthenes in the late 6th century BCE laid the foundations of Athenian democracy, with eligible male citizens participating in the Ekklesia (Assembly) and the Boule, and holding certain magistracies. Citizenship was limited and excluded women, slaves, and resident foreigners (metics). Athens grew into a commercial and cultural power and led the Delian League, a maritime alliance that contributed to tensions with Sparta and the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BCE).

Culturally, Athens produced enduring contributions in philosophy, drama, art, and science. Philosophers such as Socrates and Plato, and dramatists such as Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, flourished there. The city’s architecture and art culminated in monuments such as the Parthenon on the Acropolis, and Attic Greek, the dialect of the region, became the standard of much classical literature. Religious life centered on Athena and festivals such as the Panathenaea.

In modern usage, Athenian denotes residents or things pertaining to Athens, whether the modern city or the ancient polis. The term is common in scholarship on ancient Greece and in references to Athenian democracy, culture, and archaeology, as well as in discussions of classical architecture and art.