History
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Ancient and medieval times[edit]
Further information: Classical Athens
Funerary relief for a girl, flanked by her parents (330/320 BC); Archaeological Museum of Piraeus.
Piraeus has been inhabited since at least the 26th century BC. Piraeus is a rocky outcropping on the Greek coast that features the steep hill of Munichia and modern-day Kastella. Although long connected to the mainland by a land bridge that is consistently above water, Piraeus in prehistoric times was an island connected to the mainland only by a low-lying stretch of land that was flooded by sea water most of the year. Whenever the land bridge dried up, it was used as a salt field (its ancient name, the Halipedon, means the 'salt field'), and its muddy soil made for a tricky passage. Over time, however, the area became increasingly silted, high, and dry—and flooding ceased—so that, by early classical times, the land passage could be safely crossed at all times. Thus in ancient Greece, Piraeus assumed increased importance because of its three deep-water harbours: the main port of Cantharus and the two smaller ports, Zea and Munichia. The Piraeus harbours gradually replaced the older and shallower Phaleron harbour, which fell into disuse.
In the late 6th and early 5th centuries BC, the area became the focus of strategic and political improvements due to its natural advantages. For example, in 511 BC, the hill of Munichia was fortified by Hippias, and four years later Piraeus was made a deme of Athens by Cleisthenes. According to the ancient Greek historian Thucydides, in 493 BC, Themistocles initiated fortification works in Piraeus, and later advised the Athenians to take advantage of its natural harbours' strategic potential instead of using the sandy bay of Phaleron. A duty of 2 percent was levied on goods passing through the port. These were very effective at raising funds for the city of Athens. In the year 399 after the Peloponnesian War, for example, the city had collected 1,800 talents in harbour dues despite economic effects of the war.
In 483 BC, a new silver vein was discovered in the Laurion mines, and the profit from mining that silver was utilized to fund the construction of 200 triremes; the Athenian fleet was transferred to Piraeus, and the triremes were built in its shipyards. The Athenian fleet played a crucial role in the battle of Salamis against the Persians in 480 BC. From then on, Piraeus was permanently used as the navy's base. After the second Persian invasion of Greece, Themistocles fortified the three harbours of Piraeus and created the neosoikoi (ship houses); the Themistoclean Walls were completed in 471 BC, transforming Piraeus into a great military and commercial harbour. The city's fortifications were later further improved by the construction of the Long Walls under Cimon and Pericles, which secured the route from Piraeus and its ports to the main city of Athens. Meanwhile, Piraeus was rebuilt, based on the famous grid plan of architect Hippodamus of Miletus, known as the Hippodamian plan. (The main agora of the city was named after him in honour of this achievement.) As a result, Piraeus flourished, becoming a highly secure port with booming commercial activity, and a city bustling with life.
The Long Walls connecting the ancient city of Athens to its port of Piraeus.
In the second year of the Peloponnesian War, Piraeus suffered its first setback when the Athens plague spread to it. In 429, the Spartans ravaged Salamis as part of an abortive attack on the Piraeus. But when the Athenians responded by sending a fleet to investigate, the Spartan alliance forces fled. In 404 BC, the Spartan fleet under Lysander blockaded Piraeus, and subsequently Athens surrendered to the Spartans, putting an end to the Delian League and the war itself. Piraeus was to suffer the same fate as Athens and bear the brunt of the Spartans' rage, as the city's walls and the Long Walls were torn down; the Athenian fleet surrendered to the victors, some of the triremes were burnt, and the neosoikoi were pulled down. As a result, the tattered and unfortified port city was not able to compete with prosperous Rhodes, which became the dominant commercial force in the region. In 403 BC, Munichia was seized by Thrasybulus and the exiles from Phyle, in the battle of Munichia, where the Phyleans defeated the Thirty Tyrants of Athens, but in the following battle of Piraeus the exiles were defeated by Spartan forces.
Colossal statue of Hadrian of Piraeus.
After the reinstatement of democracy, General Conon rebuilt the walls in 393 BC, founded the temple of Aphrodite Euploia and the sanctuary of Zeus Sotiros and Athena, and built the famous Skeuotheke (arsenal) of Philon, the ruins of which have been discovered at Zea harbour. The reconstruction of Piraeus went on during the period of Alexander the Great, but this revival of the town was quashed by Roman Lucius Cornelius Sulla, who captured and totally destroyed Piraeus in 86 BC. The destruction was completed in 395 AD by the Goths under Alaric I. Piraeus was led to a long period of decline which lasted for fifteen centuries. During the Byzantine period the harbour of Piraeus was occasionally used for the Byzantine fleet, but it was very far from the capital city of Constantinople.
In the Middle Ages, the port was usually called by the Venetians the "port of Sithines" (that is, of Athens) and in the 14th century, the name "Lion" is first attested, after the colossal ancient sculpture of a lion, the Piraeus Lion, which stood at the harbour's entrance. This later become Porto Leone (Πόρτο Λεόνε). It was also called Porto Drako (Πόρτο Δράκο) by Greeks, drako meaning not just "dragon", but any monster.
Ottoman period[edit]
Further information: Ottoman Greece
When Piraeus was taken by the Ottoman Empire in 1456, it became known as Aslan Liman ("Lion Harbour"), a translation of the existing Venetian name.
The Piraeus Lion itself was looted in 1687 by Francesco Morosini during his expedition against Athens (part of the Morean War) and was carried to the Venetian Arsenal, where it still stands today. A copy of the lion statue is on display at the Archaeological Museum of Piraeus.
Under Ottoman rule, especially before the beginning of the Greek War of Independence, Piraeus was mostly deserted, except for the monastery of Saint Spyridon (1590) and a customs house, and it was only used occasionally as a commercial port. Although there were numerous land owners, Athenians did not live in the area.
The customs office of the port of Piraeus in 1837. Watercolor by the Bavarian captain Ludwig Köllnberger.
There were at least two failed attempts to create a new town, the first in 1792 by bringing a population from Hydra and the second during the Greek War of Independence in 1825 by the installation of people from Psara, but it was not until 1829 that permanent habitation of the area was restarted. Piraeus at first developed into a small town with few dwellings, far from its glorious past as a prosperous city, with its population consisting largely of fishermen.
Modern era[edit]
The city of Piraeus and the church of Saint Spyridon; postcard of 1887.
With the creation of the modern Greek state and the proclamation of Athens as its capital in 1832, the port, still named Πόρτο Λεόνε "Porto Leone" or Πόρτο Δράκο "Porto Draco", again acquired a reason for growth, and began to develop into a commercial and industrial centre. Migrants, mainly from the Aegean Islands, continued to arrive. A town plan was also drawn up and approved by King Otto, but not completely fulfilled, as it was revolutionary for its time.
The municipality was established in 1835, reviving the ancient name "Piraeus". Following petitions from the new and emerging prosperous bourgeoisie, municipal elections were held to elect a mayor for the city, Kyriakos Serfiotis of Hydra. Piraeus had around 300 inhabitants at this time.
Piraeus, from a deserted small town, quickly became the leading port and the second largest city in Greece, with its prime geographical location and closeness to the Greek capital helping it continually to grow, attracting people from across the country. A number of events contributed to the development of the city; among these were its ultimate declaration as the leading port of Greece, the completion of the Athens-Piraeus Railway in 1869, the industrial development of the area in the 1860s, and the creation of the Corinth Canal in 1893, all of which left Piraeus more strategically important than ever. New buildings were constructed to cover the necessities of this growth, such as educational institutions, churches, the Stock Exchange Building, the Town Hall, the Central Market, the Post Office Building and charity institutions; the port was also supplemented and modernised, with dredging operations, the construction of the Royal Landing, the Troumba Pier and the quay-ways up to the Customs House area, the commencement of construction work on the Outer Moles and the completion of permanent dry-docks. At the end of the 19th century, Piraeus had a population of 51,020 people.
The establishment of the Port Committee in 1911, which controlled the works of construction and maintenance of the port, and the Piraeus Port Authority in 1930, which made a more efficient job of managing a port slowly increasing in traffic, played a catalytic role in the city's development. The town flourished and neo-classical buildings were erected; one of them, which continues to ornament the present town, is the Piraeus Municipal Theatre, an excellent example of the area's once wider neoclassical architecture. After the decisive period for Greece of 1912–1922, Piraeus experienced a major demographic explosion, with its population almost doubling to reach 251,659 in 1928 from 133,482 in 1920, an increase owed to the arrival of Greek refugees from Asia Minor after the 1919–1922 Greco-Turkish War and the Greek genocide in Anatolia and finally the subsequent population exchange between Greece and Turkey. Although there was an increase in the labour force, a variety of social problems also emerged with the concentration of new populations in the suburbs of the city, such as Nikaia, Keratsini, Perama, Drapetsona and Korydallos.
The involvement of Greece in World War II came as a major setback to the city's progress. After the war, the city began its development once more, as damage to the port and the city were repaired and new additions took shape after 1955. Piraeus is now the fifth largest municipality in Greece; the city proper with its suburbs form the Piraeus urban area, which is incorporated in the Athens urban area, thus making Piraeus an integral part of the Greek capital. The port of Piraeus is now an important international port, and the largest in the country.
