A sweeping history of Athens, telling the three-thousand-year story of the birthplace of Western civilization. Even
 on the most smog-bound of days, the rocky outcrop on which the 
Acropolis stands is visible above the sprawling roofscape of the Greek 
capital. Athens presents one of the most recognizable and symbolically 
freighted panoramas of any of the world's cities: the pillars and 
pediments of the Parthenon – the temple dedicated to Athena, goddess of 
wisdom, that crowns the Acropolis – dominate a city whose name is 
synonymous for many with civilization itself. It is hard not to 
feel the hand of history in such a place. The birthplace of democracy, 
Western philosophy and theatre, Athens' importance cannot be 
understated. Few cities have enjoyed a history so rich in artistic 
creativity and the making of ideas; or one so curiously patterned by 
alternating cycles of turbulence and quietness. From the legal reforms 
of the lawmaker Solon in the sixth century BCE to the travails of early 
twenty-first century Athens, as it struggles with the legacy of the 
economic crises of the 2000s, Clark brings the city's history to life, 
evoking its cultural richness and political resonance in this epic, 
kaleidoscopic history.

Athens: City of Wisdom PDF

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