Attica's history is connected with the fate of Athens which always governed all the adjacent towns and villages. To appreciate Athens, it's important to be aware of the city's traumatic history. Unlike most capital cities, Athens' history is not one of continuous expansion; it is one characterized by
glory, followed by decline and near annihilation, and then resurgence in the 19th century, when it became capital of independent Greece.   Accounts of Athens' early days are inextricably woven with mythology, making it difficult to be sure what really happened. We do know, though, that the hilltop site of the Acropolis, endowed with two copious springs, drew some of Greece's early Neolithic settlers. Later, with the rise of city-states, the Acropolis provided an ideal defensive position, and by 1400 BC, it had become a powerful Mycenaean city. Around 1200 BC Greece fell into a long dark age, of which very little is known, but in the 8th-century BC a peaceful Athens became the artistic centre of Greece. Next came a period of social reform, followed by unrest and subsequent tyranny. Athens didn't shake off oppression until 510 BC, when Sparta stepped in to help. Following the defeat of the Persian Empire, Athens' power grew enormously.
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