Editing Piraeus (section)

===Ancient and medieval times===
{{Further|Classical Athens}}
[[File:7669 - Piraeus Arch. Museum, Athens - 330s BC stele for a girl - Photo by Giovanni Dall'Orto, Nov 14 200.jpg|thumb|left|upright|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]].<ref name=Hadjimanolakis>{{cite web|url=http://www.greece.org/poseidon/work/sea-ports/piraeus.html|title=The Port of Piraeus Through The Ages|publisher=greece.org|access-date=2009-09-27}}</ref> Piraeus is a rocky outcropping on the Greek coast that features the steep hill of [[Munichia]] and modern-day [[Kastella, Greece|Kastella]]. Although long connected to the mainland by a land bridge that is consistently above water, Piraeus in [[Prehistoric Greece|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 antiquity|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, [[Bay of Zea|Zea]] and Munichia. The Piraeus harbours gradually replaced the older and shallower [[Phaleron Bay|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 (tyrant)|Hippias]], and four years later Piraeus was made a [[deme]] of [[Athens]] by [[Cleisthenes]]. According to the ancient Greek historian [[Thucydides]],<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Piraeus. The Port of Triremes|publisher=Hellenic Maritime Museum, Zea Harbour Project|year=2016}}</ref> 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.<ref name=EB1911>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Peiraeus |volume=21 |page=58}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eie.gr/archaeologia/gr/02_DELTIA/Fortification_Walls.aspx|script-title=el:Τα τείχη των Αθηνών|publisher=National Hellenic Research Foundation|language=el|access-date=2009-09-27}}</ref> A [[Tariff|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.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wilson|first=Nigel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_TzjAQAAQBAJ&q=piraeus+ancient+greece&pg=PA573|title=Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece|date=2013-10-31|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-78799-7|language=en}}</ref>

In 483 BC, a new silver vein was discovered in the [[Mines of Laurion|Laurion mines]], and the profit from mining that silver was utilized to fund the construction of 200 triremes;<ref name=":0" /> the Athenian fleet was transferred to Piraeus, and the triremes were built in its shipyards. The [[Athenian navy|Athenian fleet]] played a crucial role in the [[battle of Salamis]] against the [[Achaemenid Empire|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.

[[File:AtheneOudheid.JPG|thumb|250px|The [[Long Walls]] connecting the ancient city of [[Classical Athens|Athens]] to its port of Piraeus.]]

In the second year of the [[Peloponnesian War]], Piraeus suffered its first setback when the [[Plague of Athens|Athens plague]] spread to it.<ref>{{harvnb|Warner|Finley|1972|p=152}}</ref> In 429, the [[Sparta]]ns ravaged [[Salamina, Attica|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.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kagan|first1=Donald|title=The Peloponnesian War|date=2005|publisher=Harper Perennial|location=London|isbn=0-00-711506-7|page=96}}</ref> In 404 BC, the [[Sparta]]n 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 [[trireme]]s were burnt, and the ''neosoikoi'' were pulled down.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Port of Piraeus in Athens Greece {{!}} Greeka|url=https://www.greeka.com/attica/athens/transportations/ports/piraeus/|access-date=2022-01-04|website=Greekacom|language=en}}</ref> 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 [[Fyli|Phyle]],<ref name=EB1911/> 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 [[Sparta]]n forces.

[[File:7123_-_Piraeus_Arch._Museum,_Athens_-_Bust_of_Hadrian_-_Photo_by_Giovanni_Dall'Orto,_Nov_14_2009.jpg|thumb|left|[[Bust of Hadrian (Piraeus)|Colossal statue of Hadrian]] of Piraeus.]]

After the reinstatement of [[Athenian democracy|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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.zeaharbourproject.dk/ |title=Zea Harbour Project |access-date=2016-04-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180915161525/http://www.zeaharbourproject.dk/ |archive-date=2018-09-15 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The reconstruction of Piraeus went on during the period of [[Alexander the Great]], but this revival of the town was quashed by [[Ancient Rome|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 Empire|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 [[Republic of Venice|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).<ref>William Miller, ''The Latins in the Levant: A History of Frankish Greece'', 1908, [https://books.google.com/books?id=3KUPAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA245 p. 245]</ref> It was also called ''Porto Drako'' (Πόρτο Δράκο) by Greeks, ''drako'' meaning not just "dragon", but any monster.<ref>Henry Ellis, ''The British Museum. Elgin and Phigaleian marbles'', 1833, [https://books.google.com/books?id=gQhCAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA36 p. 36]</ref>