Ancient and medieval times . 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; 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, 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 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. 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 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. 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. ==Geography==