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Attica (, Attikḗ (Ancient Greek) or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital city of Greece and the core city of the metropolitan area, as well as its surrounding suburban cities and towns. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean Sea, bordering on Boeotia to the north and Megaris to the west. The southern tip of the peninsula, known as Laurion, was an important mining region.
The history of Attica is closely linked with that of Athens. In ancient times, Attica corresponded with the Athens city-state. It was the most prominent region in Ancient Greece, specifically during the Golden Age of Athens in the Classical Greece. Classical Athens (the classical Classical Athens) was divided into deme, or municipalities, from the reform of Cleisthenes in 508/7 BC, grouped into three zones: urban ( astu) in the region of Ancient Athens main town, and Piraeus (the port), coastal ( paralia) along the coastline, and inland ( mesogeia) in the interior.
The modern administrative region of Attica is more extensive than the historical region, and includes Megaris as part of the regional unit of West Attica, the Saronic Islands and Cythera, as well as the municipality of Troizinia on the Peloponnese mainland.
To the west of Eleusis, the Greek mainland narrows into Megaris, connecting to the Peloponnese at the Isthmus of Corinth. The southwestern coast of Attica, also known as the Athens Riviera, forms the eastern coastline of the Saronic Gulf. Mountains separate the peninsula into the plains of Pedias, Mesogeia, and the Thriasian Plain. The mountains of Attica are the Hymettus, the eastern portion of the Geraneia, Parnitha (the highest mountain of Attica), Aigaleo and Penteli. Four mountains — Aigaleo, Parnitha, Penteli and Hymettus (clockwise from the southwest) — delineate the hilly plain on which the Athens urban area now spreads. The plain is pockmarked by a plethora of semi-continuous hills, the most notable ones being the Tourkovounia, Lykavittos, the Acropolis of Athens itself and Philopappou. Mesogeia lies to the east of Mount Hymettus and is bound to the north by the foothills of Mount Penteli, to the east by the Euboean Gulf and Mount Myrrhinous, and to the south by the mountains of Lavrio (modern Lavreotiki), Paneio (Πάνειον Όρος), and Laureotic Olympus (Λαυρεωτικός Όλυμπος). The Lavrio region terminates in Cape Sounion, forming the southeastern tip of the Attic peninsula.
Athens' water reservoir, Lake Marathon, is artificial and was created by damming in 1920. Pine and fir forests cover the area around Parnitha. Hymettus, Penteli, Myrrhinous and Lavrio are forested with pine trees, whereas the rest are covered by shrubbery. Parts of the sprawling forests of mount Penteli and Parnitha have been lost to forest fires, while the Synngrou Estate on the foothills of the former (intersecting the border between the suburban towns of Kifisia, Melissia and Marousi is home to the sole remaining natural forest in the Athenian plain.
The Kifisos is the longest river in Attica, which starts from the foothills of mount Parnitha near Varibobi, crosses the Athenian plain and empties into the delta of Faliro east of the port of Piraeus.
According to Plato, Attica's ancient boundaries were fixed by the Isthmus, and, toward the continent, they extended as far as the mountain of Cithaeron and Parnitha. The boundary line came down toward the sea, bounded by the district of Oropus on the right and by the river Asopus on the left.
During the Mycenaean Greece, the inhabitants of Attica lived in autonomous Agrarian society. The main places where prehistoric remains were found are Marathon, Rafina, Nea Makri, Brauron, Thorikos, Agios Kosmas, Elefsina, Acharnes, Markopoulo, Spata, Afidnes and Athens main city. All of these settlements flourished during the Mycenaean period.
According to tradition, Attica comprised twelve small communities during the reign of Cecrops II, the legendary Ionian king of Athens. Strabo assigns these the names of Cecropia, Tetrapolis, Epacria, Decelea, Eleusis, Aphidna, Thoricus, Brauron, Cytherus, Sphettus, Cephisia, and possibly Phaleron. These were said to have been later incorporated in an Athenian state during the reign of Theseus, the mythical king of Athens.Strabo 9.1.20 Modern historians consider it more likely that the communities were progressively incorporated into an Athenian state during the 8th and the 7th centuries BC. Ancient History until 30 BC ( Ιστορία των αρχαίων χρόνων ως το 30 πΧ), L. Tsaktsiras, M. Tiverios, schoolbook for A' Gymnasiou, 13th edition, Athens, 1994, p. 115
Until the 6th century BC, aristocracy families lived independent lives in the suburbs of Athens, such as Hippios Kolonos. Only after Peisistratos's tyranny and the reforms implemented by Cleisthenes did the local communities lose their independence and succumb to the central government in Athens. As a result of these reforms, Attica was divided into approximately a hundred municipalities, the ( dēmoi, δῆμοι), and also into three large sectors: the city (ἄστυ), which comprised the areas of central Athens, Ymittos, Aegaleo and the foot of Mount Parnitha, the coast (παράλια), that included the area between Eleusis and Cape Sounion and the area around the city (ἐσωτερικό-μεσογαία), inhabited by people living on the north of Mount Parnitha, Penteliko and the area east of the mountain of Hymettus on the plain of Mesogeia. Principally, each civic unit would include equal parts of townspeople, seamen, and farmers. A "trittýs" ("third") of each sector constituted a tribe. Consequently, Attica comprised ten tribes.
During the Peloponnesian war, Attica was invaded and raided several times by the Lacedaemonians, while in the war's third phase the fortress of Decelea was captured and fortified by Lacedaemon.
Many other types of worship can be traced to the Prehistoric. For example, the worship of Pan and the Nymphs was common in many areas of Attica such as Marathon, Parnitha and Ymittos. The god of wine, Dionysus, was worshipped mainly in the area of Icaria, now the suburb of Dionysus. Iphigeneia and Artemis were worshipped in Brauron, Artemis in Rafina, Athena on Sounion, Aphrodite on Iera Odos, and Apollo in Daphne.
The festival of Chalceia was celebrated every autumn in Attica. The festival honored the gods Hephaestus and Athena. In the deme of Athmonon, in modern-day Marousi, the Athmoneia games were also celebrated.
The sites of historical interest date to the 11th and 12th centuries, when Attica was under the rule of the Franks. The great monastery of Dafni, that was built under Justinian I's rule, is an isolated case that does not signify a widespread development of Attica during the Byzantine period. On the other hand, the buildings built during the 11th and 12th centuries show a greater development that continued during the rule of the Franks, who did not impose strict rule.
From the 14th century onwards, the Arvanites came to Attica from what is today southern Albania. They were mostly invited as mercenaries by the local Greek lords.
During the Ottoman rule, Athens enjoyed some rights. However, that was not the case for the villages of Attica. Great areas were possessed by the Ottoman Empire, who terrorized the population with the help of . The monasteries of Attica played a crucial role in preserving the Greek element of the villages.
In spite of its conquerors, Attica managed to maintain its traditions. This fact is proved by the preservation of ancient Toponymy such as Oropos, Dionysus, Eleusis, and Marathon. During the Greek War of Independence in the 1820s, the peasants of Attica were the first to revolt (April 1821), occupying Athens and seizing the Acropolis that was handed over to the Greek revolutionaries in June 1822.
Mela, A.; Tousi, E.; Melas, E.; Varelidis, G. Spatial Distribution and Quality of Urban Public Spaces in the Attica Region (Greece) during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey-Based Analysis. Urban Sci. 2024, 8, 2.https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci8010002
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