The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-10-20
Athens

Liberation of Athens by Greek patriots re-
moves from Nazi control spot which has
been the almost continuous site of a city for
5000 years. But the Athens which fell into
Nazi hands in 1941 was a modern Greek city,
that had been only hundred years in build
ing. It had developed after Greece gained her
following the 1929 war with
Turkey, and had since become fast growing
especially in the present century.
Athens is situated on the Attica plain which
slopes $50 feet upward from the Aegean sea
to the city fairly fertile farming area. On
the other three sides the city is surrounded
by hills which are partly responsible for the
temperate climate. Its port Piraeus lies about
eight miles from the center Of the city on
the Gulf of Aegina.
In the long period that followed after the
glory of the classic days of ancient Athens,
its remains became covered with 10 to Is feet
of debris and soil The, population Of this
ancient city has been estimated from 100000
to half million.
Before and during Turkish possession this
chief center of ancient Greek culture had lost
its prestige, gradually dwindling to wood
built town of less than 5000 inhabitants, tied
to the north and east slopes of the Acropolis
by narrow crooked alleys Piraeus was just
a fishing village, It's ancient name lost in that
Of Porto Leone.
After Athens became the capital of the new
and independent kingdom of Greece, little
more than century ago, old mosques were
to house the earliest arrivals. Later
numerous marble and succeed stone buildings
were erected with material from nearby quar-
ries. Its estimated population was $4,000 by
1897; at that time the reborn port had $4,000
residents total of 775,O0O or $50 times that
Of century before.
In pre-war Athens little Turkish flavor re-
NAMED: the Lane Of the Little Red Shoes,
with its bazaars and cobblers' homes and
noisy Hephaistos street OF the coppersmiths
retained an oriental coast.
With its broad streets, open squares and
public gardens, Athens was not unlike other
European cities in many respects. There were
ancient theaters and ruined temples, notably
the Parthenon which dominated the city atop
the Acropolis, rising 1870 feet above the city.
1t was there St. Paul preached.
The Temple OF Theseus was the best pre-
served; it had been used as Christian church
and also as Turkish palace. The Parthenon
was more Christian than pagan in duration
Of service as a temple. The ancient stadium
was restored in marble before the Olympic
games in 1906. The royal palace on Constitu-
ton square had become the legislative cham
Der. The first hotel of the rebuilt city, Hotel
Europe was succeeded by score Of modern
hostelries.
Street cars connected Athens with the port
and taxi-cabs, introduced in 1919, added to
the street congestion. Modern shops with their
window displays lined the main thoroughfares
streets named for gods, poets, and heroes
The many apartment houses varied in their
conveniences. There were restaurants and cot
fee houses score OF newspapers and motion
picture houses.
On summer evenings the picture palaces
and cabarets- were open to the sky. Athens
before the war enjoyed gay night life in its
cafes. The popular bathing beach was at Phal-
eron not far from the port
The architecture of ancient Greece predom-
mated in the government and other mvnu-
mental buildings of the rebuilt city: the Acad-
envy of Science with its Ionic colonnade was
as classic in style as marble could make it.
The theaters were still producing works of
the ancient dramatists