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 Information for the modern city of Piraeus The Peiraeus was a parish from early times, though it was not a port before Themistocles became an archon of the Athenians. Their port was Phalerum, for at this place the sea comes nearest to Athens, and from here men say that Menestheus set sail with his fleet for Troy, and before him Theseus, when he went to give satisfaction to Minos for the death of Androgeos. But when Themistocles became archon, since he thought that the Peiraeus was more conveniently situated for mariners, and had three harbors as against one at Phalerum, he made it the Athenian port. Even up to my time there were docks there, and near the largest harbor is the grave of Themistocles. For it is said that the Athenians repented of their treatment of Themistocles, and that his relations took up his bones and brought them from Magnesia. And the children of Themistocles certainly returned and set up in the Parthenon a painting, on which is a portrait of Themistocles. The most noteworthy sight in the Peiraeus is a precinct of Athena and Zeus. Both their images are of bronze; Zeus holds a staff and a Victory, Athena a spear. Here is a portrait of Leosthenes and of his sons, painted by Arcesilaus. This Leosthenes at the head of the Athenians and the united Greeks defeated the Macedonians in Boeotia and again outside Thermopylae forced them into Lamia over against Oeta, and shut them up there. The portrait is in the long portico, where stands a market-place for those living near the sea--those farther away from the harbor have another--but behind the portico near the sea stand a Zeus and a Demos, the work of Leochares. And by the sea Conon built a sanctuary of Aphrodite, after he had crushed the Lacedaemonian warships off Cnidus in the Carian peninsula. For the Cnidians hold Aphrodite in very great honor, and they have sanctuaries of the goddess; the oldest is to her as Doritis , the next in age as Acraea , while the newest is to the Aphrodite called Cnidian by men generally, but Euploia by the Cnidians themselves. The Athenians have also another harbor, at Munychia, with a temple of Artemis of Munychia, and yet another at Phalerum, as I have already stated, and near it is a sanctuary of Demeter. Pausanias Piraeus, or Peiraeus (Modern Greek: Πειραιά(ς) Pireá(s), Ancient Greek / Katharevousa: Πειραιεύς Pireéfs) is a city in the prefecture of Attica, Greece, located south of Athens. It was the port of the ancient city of Athens (see History of Athens), and was chosen to serve as the modern port when Athens was re-founded in 1834. Piraeus remains a major shipping and industrial centre. History The name Piraeus roughly means "the place over the passage". In very early antiquity Piraeus was a rocky island connected to the mainland by a low-lying stretch of land that was flooded with sea water most of the year and was used as a salt field whenever it dried up. Consequently it was called the "Halipedon" (salt field) and its muddy soil made it a tricky passage. The area was increasingly silted and flooding ceased, and by early classical times the land passage was made safe. It was then that Piraeus assumed its importance as a deep water harbor, and the older, shallow Phaleron harbor fell into gradual disuse. Themistocles was the first to urge the Athenians to take advantage of these harbours, instead of using the sandy bay of Phaleron. The fortification of Piraeus was begun in 493 BC. In 460 BC it was connected with Athens by the Long Walls. The original town of Piraeus was planned by the architect Hippodamus of Miletus in the famous grid system that he devised, probably in the time of Pericles. The promontory itself consisted of two parts, the hill of Munychia and the projection of Acte. On the opposite side of the harbour was the outwork of Eetioneia. In 404 BC Munychia was seized by Thrasybulus and the exiles from Phyle, who then defeated the Thirty Tyrants in Athens. The three chief arsenals of Peiraeus were Munychia, Zea and Cantharus, which could contain 82, 196 and 94 ships respectively in the 4th century BC. Large parts of the Themistoclean Walls around the shoreline survive in very good condition to this day, and are incorporated in seaside promenades. Remnants of the neosoikoi ("ships' houses"), where the triremes were kept in wintertime, were also excavated and valuable information about ancient shipbuilding and sailing was obtained by their study. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Piraeus is also a figure in Greek mythology, appearing in The Odyssey. Links PIRAEUS: Cantharus, Zea, Munichia Strabo about Peiraeus and the region Retrieved parts from "http://en.wikipedia.org"
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