Athens - Pireus

After a very good night with a visit to a typical Greek Taverna today we visit Piraeus (below text from Wikipedia).

Piraeus (Modern Greek: Πειραιάς Pireás, Ancient Greek / Katharevousa: Πειραιεύς Peiraieus) is a city in the periphery of Attica, Greece, located to the south of the city of Athens. It is the capital of the Piraeus Prefecture and belongs to the Athens urban area. It was the port of the ancient city of Athens and it was chosen to serve as the modern port when Athens was re-founded in 1834. Piraeus remains one of the busiest shipping and industrial centres of the Mediterranean and is the terminus for Line 1 (the "green line"), the electric train service now incorporated into the Athens Metro.

The population of the dimos (municipality) of Piraeus (Δήμος Πειραιώς) is 175,697 (2001). The nomarchia of Piraeus, which includes the surrounding land and some of the islands of the Saronic Gulf, has a population of 541,504 (2001). It consists of a rocky promontory, containing three natural harbours, a large one on the north-west which is an important commercial harbour for the eastern Mediterranean Sea, and two smaller ones, Zea and Mikrolimano, used for naval purposes. The port serves ferry routes to almost every island in the eastern portion of Greece, the island of Crete, the Cyclades, the Dodecanese, and much of the northern and the eastern Aegean. The western part of the port is used for cargo services and covers a huge area. Much of that part of the harbour is in suburban Drapetsona and Keratsini.

Ancient times

 

Piraeus has been inhabited since about 2,600 BC.^[1] The name Piraeus roughly means "the place over the passage". In very early antiquity Piraeus was a rocky island (the settlement of Munychia-the present Kastella) connected to the mainland by a low-lying stretch of land that was flooded with sea water most of the year and was used as a salt field whenever it dried up. Consequently it was called the "Halipedon" (salt field) and its muddy soil made it a tricky passage. The area was increasingly silted and flooding ceased, and by early classical times the land passage was made safe. It was then that Piraeus assumed its importance as a deep water harbor, and the older, shallow Phaleron harbor fell into gradual disuse.

Themistocles was the first to urge the Athenians to take advantage of these harbours, instead of using the sandy bay of Phaleron. Foreseeing a new attack by the Persians -after the Battle of Marathon- he built large fortification works and turned Piraeus into a military harbor in 493 BC. The shipyards that were created then, built the mighty Athenian fleet, which distinguished itself at the Battle of Salamis.

In 460 BC the fortifications were completed by Kimon and Pericles when Piraeus was connected with Athens by the Long Walls. The original town of Piraeus was planned by the architect Hippodamus of Miletus in the famous grid system that he devised, probably in the time of Pericles. The main agora was named after him, as an honor.

During the Peloponnesian Wars, Piraeus was the major Athenian port. In 404 BC, Munychia was seized by Thrasybulus and the exiles from Phyle, and in the Battle of Munychia, the Phyleans defeated the Thirty Tyrants in Athens. The three chief arsenals of Piraeus were Munychia, Zea and Cantharus, which could contain 82, 196 and 94 ships respectively in the 4th century BC. Piraeus, as a port, would follow the fate of Athens. After the end of the Peloponnesian Wars, when Athens came under Spartan occupation, Piraeus was to bear the brunt of the victors' rage. These walls would be torn down, the triremes found in the harbor surrendered to the Spartans or were burned, while the renowned neosoikoi ("ships' houses") would be pulled down and indeed in an almost festive manner-with music, dancing and songs.

After the reinstatement of democracy, Konon rebuilt the walls in 393 BC, funded the temples of Aphrodite Euploia, the sanctuary of Zeus Sotiros and Athena, and built the famous Skevothiki of Philon, the ruins of which have been discovered at Zea. This revival of the town was quashed by the Roman Sulla who captured Piraeus in 86 BC. The destruction was completed in 395 AD by the Goths under Alaric. During the Byzantine period the harbor of Piraeus was used at various intervals, but it was very far from the capital, Constantinople.

Ottoman times

 

In 1456, it became known as the "Aslan Liman" of the Turks (the Lion's Port), getting its name from the marble lion standing at the point where, later, the old Town Hall was built.^[1] The marble lion was removed and stolen in 1688, during Francesco Morozini's well-known expedition against Athens, and carried to the Arsenal of Venice where it still stands today (see Piraeus Lion). A copy of the lion statue is on display at the Piraeus Archaeological Musuem.

Throughout the Turkish occupation, Piraeus was mostly deserted except for a small place of habitation was around the St. Spyridonas Monastery. During that time there was only a customs house and the monastery of St. Spyridonas.

Modern Greek state

With the creation of the modern Greek state and the proclamation of Athens as the capital in 1832, the port again acquired a reason for existence and growth and developed into a great commercial and industrial center. People started to come back to the city once again. A town plan for Piraeus was also drawn up and approved by King Othon.[1] Following the establishment of the town, municipal elections were held to elect a new mayor for the city.

It quickly became the leading port and second largest city in Greece. Helping the city grow was its prime geographical location and closeness to the Greek capital.

The town flourished and lovely buildings were constructed. One of them, which continues to ornament the present town, is the Municipal Theater, an excellent example of neoclassical architecture. Today, Piraeus is the third largest city in Greece and the largest port in the country.
Large parts of the Themistoclean Walls around the shoreline survive in very good condition to this day, and are incorporated in seaside promenades. Remnants of the neosoikoi, where the triremes were kept in wintertime, were also excavated and valuable information about ancient shipbuilding and sailing was obtained by their study.
Greek shipping

In addition to being the largest marine-based shipping centre of Greece, Piraeus is also the commercial hub of Greek shipping, with most of Greece's shipowners basing their commercial operations there, largely centered around the street Akti Miaouli.

In its capacities as host to Greek shipping, Piraeus has been affected largely by the various Governments of Greece. For example, after World War II, the Greek government attempted to nationalize the proceeds of the insurance payments given to Greek shipowners who had lost vessels as a result of those vessels having been commandeered by the Allied Forces. The insurance had been provided by Lloyd's of London and guaranteed by the coalition of the allied forces. Although the Greek shipowners ultimately won their case against the Greek government in the British courts, most were uninterested in continuing to base their headquarters in Piraeus both out of distrust of the Greek government and the fact that the war had left the greater Athens area in a state of severe poverty. As a result, the Greek shipowners left Piraeus en masse in favor of operations in London, New York, Alexandria and other major shipping cities.