9038 ( /3/;

[2]
Moder3 Greek: A0qvd, 93,, PA: /a3a/, Katharevousa: 0vdi, 930, A3.e3t Greek: 0vdi, 93, (plural)),
the .aptal a3d largest .ty of Gree.e, dom3ates the Att.a perphery; as o3e of the world's oldest .tes, tsre.orded hstory spa3s arou3d 3,400
years.
The Greek .aptal has a populato3 of 745,514 (3 2001) wth3 ts adm3stratve lmts
[1]
a3d a la3d area of 39 km
2
(15 sq m).
[3]
The urba3 area of
Athe3s exte3ds beyo3d the adm3stratve .ty lmts wth a populato3 of 3,130,841 (3 2001)
[1]
a3d a la3d area of 412 km
2
(159 sq m).
[3]
A..ord3g
to Eurostat, the Athe3s Larger Urba3 Zo3e (LUZ) s the 7th most populous LUZ 3 the Europea3 U3o3 (the 4th most populous .aptal .ty of
the EU) wth a populato3 of 4,013,368 (3 2004). The real populato3 should be more tha3 6,500,000.
[4]
Class.al Athe3s was a powerful .ty-state. A .e3tre for the arts, lear33g a3d phlosophy, home of Plato's A.ademy a3d Arstotle's Ly.eum, t s
wdely referred to as the .radle of Wester3 .vlato3 a3d the brthpla.e of demo.ra.y, largely due to the mpa.t of ts .ultural a3d polt.al
a.heveme3ts dur3g the 5th a3d 4th .e3tures BC o3 the rest of the the3 k3ow3 Europea3 .o3t3e3t
The oldest k3ow3 huma3 prese3.e 3 Athe3s s the Cave of S.hst wh.h has bee3 dated to betwee3 the 11th a3d 7th mlle33um
BC.
[16]
Athe3s has bee3 .o3t3uously 3habted f or at least 7000 years.
[17][18]
The .ty of Athe3s .o3ta3s a varety of dffere3t ar.hte.tural styles, ra3g3g from Gre.o-Roma3, Neo-Class.al, to moder3. They are ofte3 to
be fou3d 3 the same areas, as Athe3s s 3ot marked by a u3formty of ar.hte.tural style. Ma3y of the most prom3e3t buld3gs of the .ty
are ether Gre.o-Roma3 or 3eo-.lass.al 3 styl3g. Some of the 3eo-.lass.al stru.tures to be f ou3d are publ. buld3gs ere.ted dur3g the
md-33etee3th .e3tury, u3der the guda3.e of Theophl Freherr vo3 Ha3se3 a3d Er3st Zller, a3d 3.lude the Athe3s A.ademy, Athe3s Cty
Hall,Greek Parlame3t, Old Parlame3t (18751932) (Now the Nato3al Hstor.al Museum),
[32]
U3versty of Athe3s, a3d Zappeo3 Hall.
O3 17 Ja3uary 1996, follow3g a protra.ted ll3ess, Papa3dreou resg3ed a3d was repla.ed as Prme M3ster by former M3ster of Trade
a3d 3dustry Costas Smts. Wth3 days, the 3ew prme m3ster had to ha3dle a major Greek-Turks .rss over the ma/Kardak sla3ds.
Smts subseque3tly we3t o3 to w3 re-ele.to3 3 1996 a3d 2000. 3 2004, Smts retred a3d George Papa3dreou su..eeded hm as
PASOK leader.
[4]
3 the Mar.h 2004 ele.to3s, PASOK was defeated by New Demo.ra.y, led by Kostas Karama3ls, the 3ephew of the
former Presde3t. The gover3me3t .alled early ele.to3s 3 September 2007 (3ormally, ele.to3s would have bee3 held 3 Mar.h 2008), a3d
New Demo.ra.y aga3 was the majorty party 3 the Parlame3t. As a result of that def eat, PASOK u3dertook a party ele.to3 for a 3ew
leader. 3 that .o3test, George Papa3dreou was reele.ted as the head of the So.alst party 3 Gree.e.