Athens 雅典

Definition 定义

Athens, Greece, with its famous Acropolis, has come to symbolize the whole of the country in the popular imagination, and not without cause. It not only has its iconic ruins and the famous port of Piraeus but, thanks to ancient writers, its history is better documented than most other ancient Greek city-states.

希腊雅典及其著名的雅典卫城在大众的想象中已经成为整个国家的象征，并非没有原因。 它不仅拥有标志性的遗址和著名的比雷埃夫斯港，而且由于古代作家的记载，它的历史比大多数其他古希腊城邦都有更好的记载。

The city began as a small community of the Mycenaean Civilization (c. 1700-1100 BCE) and grew into a city that, at its height, was associated with the development of democracy, philosophy, science, mathematics, drama and literature, art, and many other aspects of world culture and civilization including the Olympic Games. The city was burned in the Persian invasion of 480 BCE, rebuilt by the statesman Pericles (l. 495-429 BCE), and became the superpower of the ancient world through its formidable military and wealth.

这座城市最初是迈锡尼文明（公元前 1700-1100 年）的一个小社区，后来发展成为一座在其鼎盛时期与民主、哲学、科学、数学、戏剧和文学、艺术、 以及包括奥运会在内的世界文化和文明的许多其他方面。 这座城市在公元前 480 年的波斯入侵中被烧毁，由政治家伯里克利（公元前 495-429 年）重建，并通过其强大的军事和财富成为古代世界的超级大国。

It fell to Sparta after the Second Peloponnesian War (413-404 BCE) but again revived to assume a significant position of leadership among the city-states even after it was conquered by Philip II of Macedon (r. 359-336 BCE) in 338 BCE following his victory at the Battle of Chaeronea. The city was taken as a province of Rome after the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE and became a favorite of a number of Roman emperors, especially Hadrian (r. 117-138 CE) who contributed funds and building projects to beautify it. Paul the Apostle is depicted in the Book of Acts as preaching to the Athenians, and it would later develop into an important center of Christian theology.

在第二次伯罗奔尼撒战争（公元前 413-404 年）之后它落入斯巴达手中，但即使在 338 年被马其顿的菲利普二世（公元前 359-336 年在位）征服后，它又重新恢复了在城邦中的重要领导地位 公元前他在喀罗尼亚战役中获胜后。 在公元前 31 年的亚克兴战役之后，这座城市被视为罗马的一个省，并成为许多罗马皇帝的最爱，尤其是哈德良（公元 117-138 年在位），他出资建造了美化它的项目。 使徒保罗在使徒行传中被描述为向雅典人传道，后来发展成为基督教神学的一个重要中心。

After Greece was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1458, Athens entered a long period of decline which was only reversed in the 19th century after the country won its independence from the Turks in 1821. Recognizing the importance of the past in maintaining national identity, the government focused on efforts to restore and preserve monuments and temples like the Parthenon as well as ancient locales like the agora. Today, Athens is the capital of Greece and among the most often visited and highly regarded cultural centers in the world.

1458 年希腊被奥斯曼帝国征服后，雅典进入了长期的衰落时期，直到 19 世纪该国于 1821 年从土耳其人手中获得独立后才被扭转。认识到过去在维护民族认同方面的重要性， 政府专注于修复和保护帕台农神庙等古迹和寺庙以及集市等古老场所。 今天，雅典是希腊的首都，也是世界上最常参观和备受推崇的文化中心之一。

Early Settlement & Legend 早期定居和传奇

Evidence of human habitation on the Acropolis and, below, in the area around the agora, dates back to the Neolithic Period with a more advanced culture developing clearly c. 5000 BCE and, probably, as early as 7000 BCE. According to legend, the Athenian King Cecrops wanted the city named for himself but the gods, seeing how beautiful it was, felt it deserved an immortal name. A contest was held among the gods on the Acropolis, with Cecrops and the citizenry looking on, to determine which deity would win the honor.

在雅典卫城和下面的集市周围地区有人类居住的证据可以追溯到新石器时代，更先进的文化明显发展 c。 公元前 5000 年，可能早在公元前 7000 年。 据传说，雅典国王塞克罗普斯想要以自己的名字命名这座城市，但众神看到它如此美丽，觉得它值得一个不朽的名字。 在雅典卫城的众神之间举行了一场比赛，Cecrops 和市民们都在观望，以确定哪位神灵会赢得这一荣誉。

Poseidon struck a rock with his trident, and as water gushed forth, he assured the people that now they would never suffer drought. Athena was next in line and dropped a seed into the earth which sprouted swiftly as an olive tree. The people thought the olive tree more valuable than the water (as, according to some versions of the story, the water was salty, as was Poseidon's realm), and Athena was chosen as patron and the city named for her. According to scholar Robin Waterfield:
This myth may reveal long-forgotten historical events. The ancient Greek name for Athens is a plural word, because once there were several villages which came together under the auspices of the goddess Athena – “the communities of Athena” – as it were. If the chief deity of one of these original villages was Poseidon, the myth reflects his losing out to Athena. (36)

波塞冬用他的三叉戟击打了一块岩石，随着水流涌出，他向人们保证，现在他们永远不会遭受干旱。 雅典娜排在第二位，她将一粒种子撒在地上，种子迅速发芽，像一棵橄榄树。 人们认为橄榄树比水更有价值（因为，根据故事的某些版本，水是咸的，波塞冬的王国也是如此），雅典娜被选为守护神，并以她的名字命名了这座城市。 根据学者罗宾沃特菲尔德的说法：

这个神话可能揭示长期被遗忘的历史事件。 雅典的古希腊名字是一个复数词，因为曾经有几个村庄在雅典娜女神的支持下聚集在一起——“雅典娜的社区”——就像它一样。 如果这些原始村庄之一的主神是波塞冬，那么神话反映了他输给了雅典娜。

The myth was also used, later, to justify the second-class status of Athenian women since it was the women of Athens who chose Athena’s gift over Poseidon’s and, so this justification goes, to turn away Poseidon’s wrath from the city, women’s names were not recorded on birth records as mothers (the woman’s father’s name was given) and women were denied a political voice and civic rights outside of their participation in religious activities.

这个神话后来也被用来证明雅典妇女的二等地位是正当的，因为是雅典妇女选择了雅典娜的礼物而不是波塞冬的礼物，所以这个理由是为了让波塞冬的愤怒远离城市，女性的名字是 出生记录中没有记录为母亲（给出了该妇女的父亲的名字），并且在参与宗教活动之外，妇女被剥夺了政治发言权和公民权利。

As the soil was not conducive to large-scale agricultural programs, Athens turned to tradefor its livelihood and mainly to sea trade through its port at Piraeus. The early Mycenaean period saw massive fortresses rise all over Greece, and Athens was no exception. The remains of a Mycenaean palace can still be seen today on the Acropolis in the present day. Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey (8th century BCE) portray the Mycenaeans as great warriors and seafaring people trading widely throughout the Aegean and the Mediterranean region, and this became a point of pride for the Athenians who considered themselves direct descendants of the great Homeric heroes.

由于土壤不利于大规模农业计划，雅典转向以贸易为生，主要通过比雷埃夫斯港口进行海上贸易。 迈锡尼早期，希腊各地都建起了巨大的堡垒，雅典也不例外。 今天在雅典卫城依旧可以看到迈锡尼宫殿的遗迹。 荷马的《伊利亚特》和《奥德赛》（公元前 8 世纪）将迈锡尼人描绘成伟大的战士和航海者，在爱琴海和地中海地区进行广泛的贸易，这成为雅典人的骄傲，他们认为自己是伟大的荷马英雄的直系后裔。

Around 1200 BCE the Sea Peoples invaded the Greek archipelago of the Aegean from the south while, simultaneously, the Dorians came down from the north into mainland Greece. While the Sea Peoples made definite incursions into Attica (the mainland region surrounding Athens) the Dorians bypassed the city, allowing the Mycenaean culture to survive (although, like the rest of Greece, there seems to have been an economic and cultural downturn following these invasions during the Bronze Age Collapse). The Athenians, afterward, claimed for themselves a special status in that they spoke Ionian, instead of Doric, Greek and held to customs they felt were more ancient and therefore superior to those of their neighbors.

大约在公元前 1200 年，海上民族从南部入侵爱琴海的希腊群岛，与此同时，多利安人从北部进入希腊大陆。 当海洋民族明确入侵阿提卡（雅典周围的大陆地区）时，多利安人绕过了这座城市，让迈锡尼文化得以生存（尽管与希腊其他地区一样，这些入侵之后似乎出现了经济和文化衰退 在青铜时代崩溃期间）。 后来，雅典人声称自己享有特殊地位，因为他们说爱奥尼亚语，而不是多立克语，希腊语，并坚持他们认为更古老的习俗，因此优于邻居的习俗。

Solon & the Law 梭伦与法律

The wealthy aristocrats held control of both the land and the Greek government, and, in time, poorer landowners became enslaved (or nearly so) through debt to the wealthier citizens. Further, there was a perceived lack of consistency among the other laws of the city. The first series of laws written to address these problems were provided by the statesman Draco (also given as Dracon/Drakon) c. 621 BCE but were considered too severe (the penalty for most infractions was death), and so the great lawgiver Solon (l. c. 630 - c. 560 BCE) was called upon to modify and revise them. Solon, though an aristocrat himself, created a series of laws which equalized the political power of the citizenry and, in so doing, provided the groundwork for Athenian democracy c. 594 BCE.

富裕的贵族控制着土地和希腊政府，随着时间的流逝，较贫穷的地主因欠富裕公民的债务而成为（或几乎如此）的奴隶。 此外，该市的其他法律之间也明显缺乏一致性。 为解决这些问题而编写的第一批法律是由政治家 Draco（也称为 Dracon/Drakon）c 提供的。 公元前 621 年但被认为过于严厉（大多数违法行为的惩罚是死刑），因此伟大的立法者梭伦（公元前 630 年 - 公元前 560 年）被要求修改和修订它们。 梭伦本人虽然是贵族，但制定了一系列平等的公民政治权力的法律，并由此为雅典的民主奠定了基础 c。 公元前 594 年。

Solon also devoted considerable effort to making the policies of Athens not only just but profitable. He legalized prostitution in ancient Athens and taxed both individual prostitutes and brothels. As Athens was a popular and profitable trade center, many young men arrived in the city and sought the services of prostitutes while young Athenian males, who usually did not marry until after the age of 30, were provided with the means to gain sexual experience without running the risk of enraging the father and male relatives of a virgin female through pre-marital sex. By encouraging young men to visit prostitutes, Solon diffused one source of blood feuds in the city since young women of good families were understood to be off-limits to any males except the one chosen to be her husband.

梭伦还致力于使雅典的政策不仅公正而且有利可图。 他将古代雅典的卖淫合法化，并对个人妓女和妓院征税。 由于雅典是一个受欢迎且有利可图的贸易中心，许多年轻人来到这座城市并寻求妓女的服务，而雅典的年轻男性通常要到 30 岁以后才结婚，他们可以在没有人的情况下获得性经验。 冒着通过婚前性行为激怒处女的父亲和男性亲属的风险。 梭伦鼓励年轻男子去妓院，散播了城里血仇的一个来源，因为据了解，出身好家庭的年轻女性除了被选为丈夫的人外，任何男性都不得入内。

After Solon resigned from public office, various factional leaders sought to seize power, and the ultimate victor, Peisistratus (d. c. 528 BCE), recognized the value of Solon's revisions and kept them, in a modified form, throughout his reign as a benevolent tyrant. His son, Hippias (r c. 528-510 BCE) continued his policies as co-ruler with his brother Hipparchus (r. c. 528-514 BCE) until Hipparchus was assassinated over a love affair in 514 BCE.

梭伦辞去公职后，各派系领导人寻求夺取政权，最终的胜利者佩西斯特拉图斯（公元前 528 年）认识到梭伦修订的价值，并在整个统治期间以仁慈的暴君的身份保留修订版。 他的儿子 Hippias（公元前 528-510 年）与他的兄弟 Hipparchus（公元前 528-514 年）继续他的共同统治者的政策，直到 Hipparchus 在公元前 514 年因恋情被暗杀。

The Tyrannicides & Democracy 暴君与民主

Hipparchus was attracted to a young man named Harmodios, but his advances were rejected because Harmodios was already involved with another man, Aristogeiton. Hipparchus did not take the rejection well and so removed Harmodios’ sister from her highly visible and prestigious position among the women of Athena's cult who participated in the Panathenaic Festival honoring the goddess. As scholar Sarah B. Pomeroy notes, "to prevent a candidate from participating in this event was to cast aspersions on her reputation" (76). Hipparchus’ removal of the girl was tantamount to claiming she was not a virgin and so insulting both her and her family. Harmodius and Aristogeiton murdered Hipparchus during the festival, were caught afterwards, and executed.

喜帕恰斯被一个名叫哈莫迪欧斯的年轻人所吸引，但他的求爱被拒绝了，因为哈莫迪欧斯已经和另一个男人阿里斯托吉顿有关系。 喜帕恰斯（Hipparchus）没有很好地接受拒绝，因此将哈摩狄奥斯的妹妹从她在参加纪念女神的泛雅典娜节（Panathenaic Festival）的雅典娜（Athena）崇拜的女性中非常显眼和享有声望的位置上除名。 正如学者 Sarah B. Pomeroy 指出的那样，“阻止候选人参加这次活动就是在诋毁她的声誉”（76）。 喜帕恰斯将女孩带走无异于声称她不是处女，因此侮辱了她和她的家人。 哈莫迪乌斯和阿里斯托吉顿在节日期间谋杀了喜帕恰斯，事后被捕并处决。

After this, Hippias became increasingly paranoid and erratic in his reign which culminated in the Athenian Revolt of 510 BCE which was actually a military action by Sparta under their king Cleomenes I (r. c. 519 - c. 490 BCE) who was invited by the Athenians to rid them of Hippias. Afterwards, the Athenians, not wanting to be obliged to Sparta, rewrote their history casting Harmodios and Aristogeiton as "the tyrannicides" who had struck the first blow for freedom and restored the democratic ideals of the city. Actually, they had done neither; they were simply avenging a personal insult.

在此之后，希皮亚斯在他的统治中变得越来越偏执和不稳定，最终在公元前 510 年的雅典起义中达到高潮，这实际上是斯巴达在他们的国王克利奥墨尼斯一世（公元前 519 年 - 公元前 490 年）的领导下的一次军事行动，他应雅典人的邀请前往 摆脱他们的希庇阿斯。 之后，雅典人不想对斯巴达有义务，改写了他们的历史，将哈莫迪欧斯和阿里斯托吉顿称为“暴君”，他们为自由打了第一枪，恢复了城市的民主理想。 事实上，他们两者都没有做。 他们只是在报复个人侮辱。

In the aftermath of the coup, and after settling affairs with various factions, the statesman Cleisthenes (l. 6th century BCE) was appointed to reform the government and the laws and, c. 507 BCE, he instituted a new form of government which today is recognized as democracy. Cleisthenes is regarded as the "Father of Athenian Democracy", but this form of government was significantly different from how democracy is understood in the present day. In Athenian democracy, only upper-class male citizens had a political voice, disenfranchising women, foreigners, and, of course, the many slaves who made up a large part of Athens’ population.

在政变之后，在解决了与各个派系的事务之后，政治家 Cleisthenes（公元前 6 世纪）被任命为政府和法律改革，c。 公元前 507 年，他建立了一种新的政府形式，今天被公认为民主。 克利斯提尼被视为“雅典民主之父”，但这种政府形式与当今对民主的理解截然不同。 在雅典民主制中，只有上层阶级的男性公民才有政治发言权，剥夺了女性、外国人的权利，当然还有占雅典人口很大一部分的许多奴隶。

Even so, this new form of government involved the citizenry directly in political decisions, and even those who were not allowed to vote understood that decisions were being made now by a majority of informed citizens rather than a tyrant. Athenian democracy would provide the stability necessary to make Athens the cultural and intellectual center of the ancient world; a reputation that lasts even into the modern age. Waterfield comments:
The pride that followed from widespread involvement in public life gave Athenians the energy to develop their city both internally and in relation to their neighbors. (62)

即便如此，这种新的政府形式让公民直接参与政治决策，甚至那些不被允许投票的人也明白，现在决策是由大多数知情公民而非暴君做出的。 雅典民主将提供必要的稳定性，使雅典成为古代世界的文化和知识中心； 甚至延续到现代的声誉。 水田评论：

广泛参与公共生活所带来的自豪感使雅典人有能力在内部和与邻居的关系中发展他们的城市。

Believing themselves descended from great heroes, and with heroes in their midst like the tyrannicides, the Athenians understood they now had the best form of government which they should encourage elsewhere; so they decided to incite the Greek communities of Asia Minor, then under the control of the Persian Achaemenid Empire (c. 550-330 BCE) to revolt.

雅典人相信自己是伟大英雄的后裔，他们中间有像暴君一样的英雄，他们明白他们现在拥有最好的政府形式，他们应该在其他地方鼓励； 所以他们决定煽动当时在波斯阿契美尼德帝国（公元前 550-330 年）控制下的小亚细亚希腊社区起义。

The Persian Wars 与波斯战争

The Persian Empire at this time was led by the emperor Darius I (the Great, r. 522-486 BCE) who quickly crushed the rebellion and then sent a force against Athens. The Persians were defeated at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE, losing over 6,000 men to the brilliant tactics of the Athenian general Miltiades (l. 554-489 BCE) whose losses numbered only 192 soldiers. The Persian military was considered invincible at this time and so this victory increased the Athenians’ already high opinion of themselves.

此时的波斯帝国由皇帝大流士一世（大流士一世，公元前 522-486 年在位）领导，他迅速镇压了叛乱，然后派遣军队对抗雅典。 波斯人在公元前 490 年的马拉松战役中被击败，在雅典将军 Miltiades（公元前 554-489 年）的出色战术中损失了 6,000 多人，后者仅损失了 192 名士兵。 波斯军队在这个时候被认为是不可战胜的，因此这次胜利增加了雅典人对自己的高度评价。

In 480 BCE, however, Darius I’s son and successor, Xerxes I (r. 486-465 BCE) assembled the largest army mustered in the world up to that time and launched an invasion of Greece, with Athens as the primary target, to avenge the insult to his father. His forces were held at Thermopylae by the Spartan king Leonidas (d. 480 BCE) and his famous 300 warriors but, after defeating and killing them, Greece lay open for conquest.

然而，在公元前 480 年，大流士一世的儿子和继任者薛西斯一世（公元前 486-465 年在位）集结了当时世界上最大的军队，并以雅典为主要目标发动了对希腊的入侵，以报复 对他父亲的侮辱。 他的军队被斯巴达国王列奥尼达（公元前 480 年）和他著名的 300 名战士控制在温泉关，但在击败并杀死他们之后，希腊准备征服。

The Persian navy was defeated by the Athenian-led forces at the Battle of Salamis, however, when the Athenian general Themistocles (l. 524-460 BCE) outmaneuvered and outfought them, and this defeat was followed by the land battles of Plataea and Mycale in 479 BCE which drove the Persians from Greece and established Athens as a superpower. Waterfield notes:
This was Athens’ finest hour. Themistocles was the acknowledged savior of Greece, and the city expressly waved the banner of panhellenism, both by expressing what was common to all Greeks and by continuing the fight against the Persians. From obscure origins, a small and impoverished city had risen to power and prominence. (72)

波斯海军在萨拉米斯海战中被雅典领导的军队击败，然而，当时雅典将军 Themistocles（公元前 524-460 年）战胜了他们并击败了他们，这次失败之后是普拉蒂亚和迈卡勒的陆战 公元前 479 年，将波斯人从希腊赶出并建立了雅典作为超级大国。 水田注意事项：

这是雅典最辉煌的时刻。 Themistocles 是希腊公认的救世主，这座城市明确地挥舞着泛希腊主义的旗帜，表达了所有希腊人的共同点，并继续与波斯人作战。 从一个不起眼的起源，一个贫穷的小城市已经崛起为权力和显赫。

Under Pericles, Athens formed the Delian League, ostensibly to create a cohesive Greek network among city-states to ward off further Persian attacks. The other city-states paid into the treasury of the Delian League and Athens agreed to protect them against Persian aggression in return. Pericles used the money from the league to beautify and fortify Athens and, under his leadership, the city grew so powerful that the Athenian Empire could effectively dictate the laws, customs, and trade of all its neighbors in Attica and the islands of the Aegean.

在伯里克利的领导下，雅典成立了提利安联盟，表面上是为了在城邦之间建立一个有凝聚力的希腊网络，以抵御波斯的进一步攻击。 其他城邦向提洛同盟和雅典支付了金库，作为回报，他们同意保护他们免受波斯的侵略。 伯里克利使用联盟的资金来美化和加固雅典，在他的领导下，这座城市变得如此强大，以至于雅典帝国可以有效地支配其在阿提卡和爱琴海诸岛的所有邻国的法律、习俗和贸易。

The Golden Age 黄金时代

Under Pericles, Athens entered its golden age and great thinkers, writers, and artists flourished in the city. Herodotus (l. c. 484-425/423 BCE), the "father of history", lived and wrote in Athens. Socrates (l. c. 470/469-399 BCE), the "father of philosophy", taught in the marketplace. Hippocrates (l. c. 460-370 BCE), 'the father of medicine', practiced there. Phidias (l. 480-430 BCE) created his great works of Greek sculpture for the Parthenon on the Acropolis and the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world.

在伯里克利的统治下，雅典进入了黄金时代，伟大的思想家、作家和艺术家在这座城市蓬勃发展。 “历史之父”希罗多德（公元前 484-425/423 年）在雅典生活和写作。 苏格拉底（公元前 470/469-399 年），“哲学之父”，在市场上任教。 “医学之父”希波克拉底（公元前 460-370 年）在那里执业。 菲迪亚斯（L. 480-430 BCE）为雅典卫城的帕台农神庙和奥林匹亚的宙斯雕像创作了他伟大的希腊雕塑作品，这是古代世界七大奇迹之一。

Democritus (l. c. 460 - c. 370 BCE) envisioned an atomic universe. Aeschylus (l. c. 525 - c. 456 BCE) Euripides (l. c. 484-407 BCE), Aristophanes (l. c. 460 - c. 380 BCE) and Sophocles(l. 496 - c. 406 BCE) made Greek drama, both comedy and tragedy, famous, and the lyric poet Pindar (l. c. 518 - c. 448 BCE) another important figure of Greek literature, wrote his Odes. This legacy would continue as Plato (l. 428/427-348/347 BCE) would found his Academy outside the walls of Athens in 385 BCE and, later, Aristotle (l. 384-322 BCE) would establish his school of the Lyceum in the city center.

德谟克利特（公元前 460 年 - 公元前 370 年）设想了一个原子宇宙。 Aeschylus (lc 525 - c. 456 BCE) Euripides (lc 484-407 BCE), Aristophanes (lc 460 - c. 380 BCE) 和 Sophocles (l. 496 - c. 406 BCE) 制作了希腊戏剧，既有喜剧也有悲剧， 著名的抒情诗人品达（公元前 518 年 - 公元前 448 年）是希腊文学的另一位重要人物，他写下了他的颂歌。 随着柏拉图（公元前 428/427-348/347 年）在公元前 385 年在雅典城墙外建立了他的学院，并且后来，亚里士多德（公元前 384-322 年）建立了他的学园学校，这一遗产将继续存在 在市中心。

The might of the Athenian Empire encouraged an arrogance in the policymakers of the day which grew intolerable to its neighbors. When Athens sent troops to help Sparta put down a Helot rebellion, the Spartans refused the gesture and sent the Athenian force back home in dishonor, thus provoking a war which had long been brewing. Later, when Athens sent their fleet to help defend its ally Corcyra (Corfu) against a Corinthian invasion during the Battle of Sybota in 433 BCE, their action was interpreted by Sparta as aggression instead of assistance, as Corinth was an ally of Sparta.

雅典帝国的强大助长了当时决策者的傲慢态度，这让邻国无法容忍。 当雅典派军队帮助斯巴达镇压希洛特叛乱时，斯巴达人拒绝了这一姿态，并以耻辱的方式将雅典军队送回家，从而挑起了一场酝酿已久的战争。 后来，在公元前 433 年的 Sybota 战役期间，当雅典派遣他们的舰队帮助其盟友 Corcyra（科孚岛）抵御科林斯人的入侵时，他们的行动被斯巴达解释为侵略而不是援助，因为科林斯是斯巴达的盟友。

Conclusion 结束

The First Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE) between Athens and Sparta (though involving, directly or indirectly, all of Greece) ended in a truce between the parties involved, but Athens was defeated in the Second Peloponnesian War and fell from its height of power. The empire and the city’s wealth gone, the walls destroyed, only its reputation as a great seat of learning, Greek philosophy and culture prevented the sack of the city and the enslavement of the populace. Athens struggled to throw off this condition as a subject state, and with some success, until they were defeated in 338 BCE by the Macedonian forces under Philip II at Chaeronea.

雅典和斯巴达之间的第一次伯罗奔尼撒战争（公元前 431-404 年）（尽管直接或间接涉及整个希腊）以双方停战告终，但雅典在第二次伯罗奔尼撒战争中被击败，并从其高度下降 力量。 帝国和城市的财富消失了，城墙被毁，只有它作为学问、希腊哲学和文化的名声才阻止了城市的洗劫和民众的奴役。 雅典努力摆脱这种作为附属国的条件，并取得了一些成功，直到公元前 338 年他们在喀罗尼亚被腓力二世率领的马其顿军队击败。

Athens was then subject to Macedonian rule until their defeat by the Romans in 197 BCE at the Battle of Cynoscephalae after which Greece was methodically conquered by the Roman Empire. It is a tribute to the enduring reputation of Athens as a cultural center that the Roman general Sulla, who sacked the city in 87-86 BCE, slaughtered the people, destroyed the agora, and burned the port of Piraeus, always maintained his innocence, claiming he had ordered his men to treat the city well and they simply had failed to heed him.

雅典随后受到马其顿的统治，直到公元前 197 年在 Cynoscephalae 战役中被罗马人击败，之后希腊被罗马帝国有条不紊地征服。 公元前 87 至 86 年洗劫雅典、屠杀人民、摧毁集市、烧毁比雷埃夫斯港的罗马将军苏拉，始终保持着自己的清白，这是对雅典作为文化中心的持久声誉的致敬， 声称他命令手下善待这座城市，而他们根本没有理会他。

According to the biblical Book of Acts, Saint Paul preached to the Athenians at the Areopagus (the hill of Mars), praising their interest in religion and telling them about the new god Jesus Christ. After the rise of Christianity following its adoption by the Roman Empire, Athens became an important center for the new faith and, in the 6th century CE, pagan schools were closed and temples either destroyed or converted into churches.

根据圣经的使徒行传，圣保罗在亚略巴古（火星山）向雅典人传道，称赞他们对宗教的兴趣，并告诉他们关于新神耶稣基督的事。 在基督教被罗马帝国采用后兴起后，雅典成为新信仰的重要中心，在公元 6 世纪，异教学校关闭，寺庙被毁或改建为教堂。

The city was sacked by a number of so-called "barbarian tribes" in Late Antiquity up through the Middle Ages until it was established as the Crusader State of the Duchy of Athens (1205-1458) after the Fourth Crusade (1202-1204). Athens did well during this period until it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1458. The Ottoman Turks had no respect for the ancient city, and it steadily declined under their control.

这座城市在中世纪晚期被许多所谓的“野蛮部落”洗劫，直到第四次十字军东征（1202-1204）后，它被确立为雅典公国的十字军国（1205-1458） . 雅典在这一时期表现良好，直到 1458 年被奥斯曼帝国征服。奥斯曼土耳其人对这座古城没有尊重，在他们的控制下逐渐衰落。

After Greece won its independence from the Turks in 1821, Athens again revived just as it had done many times in the past. Restoration and preservation efforts became a priority of the new government, and the city was restored to some semblance of its ancient grandeur. In the present day, the name of Athens still conjures to the mind images of the classical world and the heights of intellectual and poetic creativity, while the Parthenon on the Acropolis continues to symbolize the golden age of ancient Greece and the best of what it stood for.

1821 年希腊从土耳其人手中赢得独立后，雅典再次像过去多次那样复兴。 修复和保护工作成为新政府的优先事项，这座城市恢复了其古老的宏伟外观。 在今天，雅典的名字依旧让人联想到古典世界的意象以及知识和诗意创造力的高度，而雅典卫城上的帕台农神庙继续象征着古希腊的黄金时代和它所代表的最好的事物 。

原文章：

https://www.worldhistory.org/Athens/

无授权翻译，转，侵删