Skip to content
Virtue & Power

Map

Athens Map

A reference map of Athens and Attica — the city, its port at the Piraeus, the Long Walls that joined them, and the territory of the Athenian democracy.

A historical map of Attica, the territory of Athens, showing the city, the Piraeus, the demes and the surrounding region.
Attica and Athens · Shepherd's Historical Atlas (1911)W. R. Shepherd · Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

Attica, the territory of Athens, was a large peninsula whose unification under a single city was the foundation of Athenian power. The city itself, crowned by the Acropolis, lay a few miles inland; its lifeline was the Piraeus, the great harbour from which the fleet and the grain trade operated.

The Long Walls, built under Pericles, joined the city to the Piraeus in a single fortified system, making Athens effectively an island that could be supplied by sea even while its land was ravaged — the basis of Periclean grand strategy in the Peloponnesian War. Their demolition in 404 BCE marked the symbolic end of Athenian power.

Key locations

  • The Acropolis — The sacred citadel, crowned by the Parthenon.
  • The Agora — The civic and commercial heart of the city.
  • The Pnyx — The hill where the citizen assembly met and voted.
  • The Piraeus — The port of Athens and base of its fleet.
  • The Long Walls — The fortifications joining the city to its port.