First edition. In commemoration of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, twenty outstanding scholars have set about to celebrate, with prose and illustration, 2,500 years of Greece's most famous city. This unique work, with its collection of rare drawings and photographs, explores the historical Athens from its Classical beginnings to the city's rebirth as the bustling, modern capitol of the Greek nation.
The reader is invited to view many beautiful illustrations that capture Athens' timeless architecture, mosaics, wall-paintings and sculpture that have fascinated both ancient and modern travelers. Each scholar/author shares with us their special insight into the many facets of the city's long history.
The text of this work is presented in seventeen well-written chapters that focus on the city's architecture, art, culture, monuments, landscape, history and urban development. These essays allow the reader to form a multi-dimensional understanding of this birthplace of Democracy and origin of Western Thought and Civilization.