More information on Athens

ATHENS FACTS

- Records show the city’s origins go back to around 3,400 years ago, also making it one of the oldest cities in the world.

- Everyone can agree that Athens is an interesting city. Blessed with a rich cultural and historical past, the city is the subject of many known – and lesser-known – facts. Here is a compilation of 15 interesting facts you should know about Athens.

- Records show the city’s origins go back to around 3,400 years ago, also making it one of the oldest cities in the world.

- Athens has experienced almost every form of government.

- If it weren’t for an olive tree, Poseidon might have been the city’s patron.

- According to mythology, Athena and 

Poseidon competed for the title of the guardian of the city. They each offered a gift to gain favor of its people and the gods, but Athena’s olive tree was deemed more valuable than the salt water spring given by Poseidon, so her name was given to the city-state.

- The ancient Olympic games were never held in Athens.

- The first Olympic Games were held in 776 B.C. in Olympia, in Peloponnese, but the city-state of Athens also had its own games, called the Panathenaic Games, since 566 B.C

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