Explore Attica - Athens

Attica includes cities known since ancient times, such as Athens, Piraeus, Eleusis, Megara, Lavrio, Sounion, and Marathon. It is connected to the Peloponnese by the Isthmus of Corinth.

The prefect of Attica today includes some islands of the Aegean Sea: Aegina, Salamis, Hydra, Spetses, Kythira, and Antikythera, each of which is historically of great importance to the history of Attica as well as Greece more broadly, both in ancient times and Greece’s recent history.

Attica’s history is closely related to the history of Athens, particularly of the 5th century BCE Athens, the “Golden Age” of the classical period. In the 2nd century BCE, Attica became a Roman province, followed later by Byzantine, Venetian, and then Ottoman rule. In 1821, a successful revolution against the Ottomans began and from 1829, Athens was chosen as the capital of the newly-formed Greek state.