Athens

Athens is the capital of Greece. It developed as one of the leading city-states several thousand years ago, as a more liberal, commerce-oriented rival to Sparta. Athens had a powerful navy and used it to colonize several of the Aegean islands.

The Pelopponesian War wrecked Athenian power as well as a failed war with Syracuse, on Sicily. It was conquered by Alexander the Great and then later on by the Romans.