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Classical Athens
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<p>The city of Athens during the <a href="/facts/Classical_Greece/WoUfexFx">classical period</a> of <a href="/facts/Ancient_Greece/PTVBrWXq">ancient Greece</a> (480–323 BC) was the major urban centre of the notable <i><a href="/facts/Polis/U4qS9yqU">polis</a></i> (<a href="/facts/City-state/aj1EjbYy">city-state</a>) of the same name, located in <a href="/facts/Attica/NmJausKA">Attica</a>, <a href="/facts/Greece/lqHw8bTB">Greece</a>, leading the <a href="/facts/Delian_League/7VglF4A1">Delian League</a> in the <a href="/facts/Peloponnesian_War/Dgbc4cCE">Peloponnesian War</a> against <a href="/facts/Sparta/6V9o1DSz">Sparta</a> and the <a href="/facts/Peloponnesian_League/xIENpyRT">Peloponnesian League</a>. <a href="/facts/Athenian_democracy/NJArPzdT">Athenian democracy</a> was established in 508 BC under <a href="/facts/Cleisthenes/mW0cgACj">Cleisthenes</a> following the <a href="/facts/Athenian_tyranny/qwj5yS0w">tyranny</a> of <a href="/facts/Isagoras/3phz3CKG">Isagoras</a>. This system remained remarkably stable, and with a few brief interruptions, it remained in place for 180 years, until 322 BC (aftermath of <a href="/facts/Lamian_War/mNMK9z64">Lamian War</a>). The peak of Athenian <a href="/facts/Hegemony/I2SBWNgu">hegemony</a> was achieved in the 440s to 430s BC, known as the <a href="/facts/Age_of_Pericles/PENvLDuQ">Age of Pericles</a>. </p><p>In the <a href="/facts/Classical_Greece/WoUfexFx">classical period</a>, <a href="/facts/Athens/mBxlp8X1">Athens</a> was a centre for the arts, learning, and <a href="/facts/Philosophy/zAH5PVD6">philosophy</a>, the home of <a href="/facts/Plato/sPedMo74">Plato</a>'s <a href="/facts/Platonic_Academy/toUTGq3Y">Academy</a> and <a href="/facts/Aristotle/U2bDlBFW">Aristotle</a>'s <a href="/facts/Lyceum_(classical)/ftdgszdz">Lyceum</a>, Athens was also the birthplace of <a href="/facts/Socrates/djIKjImv">Socrates</a>, Plato, <a href="/facts/Pericles/3htznDIx">Pericles</a>, <a href="/facts/Aristophanes/xbpAcg6F">Aristophanes</a>, <a href="/facts/Sophocles/5C4zjFU8">Sophocles</a>, and many other prominent philosophers, writers, and politicians of the ancient world. It is widely referred to as the <a href="/facts/Cradle_of_civilization/slYINUco">cradle</a> of <a href="/facts/Western_culture/rPbgAhzI">Western Civilization</a>, and the birthplace of <a href="/facts/Democracy/3tLdVS1C">democracy</a>, largely due to the impact of its cultural and political achievements during the 5th and 4th centuries BC on the rest of the then-known European continent. </p>