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{{Short description|Historical region of Greece, including the city of Athens}}
{{About|the historical region of Greece|the modern administrative region|Attica (region)|the Athenian neighbourhood|Attiki, Athens}}
{{Other uses|Attica (disambiguation)}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name               = Attica
| native_name        = Αττική
| native_name_lang   = grc
| settlement_type    = [[Historical region|Region]]
| image_skyline      = Attica 06-13 Hills of Hymettus 10 view.jpg
| image_alt          = 
| image_caption      = View from [[Kaisariani]] Hill looking towards Athens agglomeration, with Salamis visible in the background
| image_map          = Greece (ancient) Attica Demos II-el.svg
| map_alt            = 
| map_caption        = Map of municipalities ([[Deme|demoi]]) of Ancient Athens in ancient Attica
| blank_name         = Location
| blank_info         = [[Regions of ancient Greece#Central Greece|Central Greece]]
| blank1_name        = Major cities
| blank1_info        = [[Athens]]
| blank2_name        = Dialects
| blank2_info        = [[Attic Greek|Attic]]
| blank3_name        = Key periods
| blank3_info        = {{ubl| [[Delian League|Athenian Empire]] (477–404 BC) | [[Second Athenian League]] (378–338 BC)}}
}}

'''Attica''' ({{langx|el|Αττική|Attikí}}, {{IPA|el|atiˈci}}; {{langx|grc|Ἀττική|Attikḗ}}, {{IPA|grc|atːikɛ̌ː}}), or the '''Attic Peninsula''', is a [[historical region]] that encompasses the entire [[Athens metropolitan area]], which consists of the city of [[Athens]], the [[capital city|capital]] of [[Greece]] and the core city of the metropolitan area, as well as its surrounding suburban cities and towns. It is a [[peninsula]] projecting into the [[Aegean Sea]], bordering on [[Boeotia]] to the north and [[Megaris]] to the west. The [[mines of Laurion]] were an important mining region located at [[Lavrio]], on the southern tip of the peninsula.

The history of Attica is closely linked with that of Athens. In ancient times, Attica corresponded with the [[classical Athens]] city{{nbh}}state. It was the most prominent region in Ancient Greece, specifically during the [[Golden Age of Athens]] in the [[Classical Greece|classical period]]. [[Ancient Attica]] was divided into [[deme|demoi]], or municipalities, from the reform of [[Cleisthenes]] in 508/7 BC, grouped into three zones: urban ({{lang|grc-Latn|astu}}) in the region of [[Ancient Athens|Athens]] main town, and [[Piraeus]] (the port), coastal ({{lang|grc-Latn|paralia}}) along the coastline, and inland ({{lang|grc-Latn|[[mesogeia]]}}) in the interior.

The modern [[administrative regions of Greece|administrative region]] of [[Attica (region)|Attica]] is more extensive than the historical region, and includes Megaris as part of the regional unit of [[West Attica]], the [[Saronic Islands]] and [[Cythera (island)|Cythera]], as well as the municipality of [[Troizinia]] on the [[Peloponnese|Peloponnesian]] mainland.

==Eponymous name==
According to the Roman  geographer [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], the place was originally named [[Actaea (mythology)|Actaea]], but was later renamed in the honour of [[Atthis (mythology)|Atthis]], daughter of king [[Cranaus]] of [[Athens]].<ref>Pausanias, Description of Greece, 1.2.7.</ref>

==Geography==
[[File:Aliki Anavyssou.JPG|thumb|View from [[Anavyssos]], looking south-east towards [[Palaia Fokaia]].]]
[[File:Marathon-See - Staumauer 2011.jpg|thumb|[[Lake Marathon]]]]

Attica is a triangular [[peninsula]] jutting into the [[Aegean Sea]]. It is naturally divided to the north from [[Boeotia]] by the {{convert|10|mi|km|0|abbr=on}} long [[Cithaeron]] and [[Parnitha|Parnes]] mountain ranges.

To the west of [[Eleusis]], the Greek mainland narrows into [[Megaris]], connecting to the [[Peloponnese]] at the [[Isthmus of Corinth]]. The southwestern coast of Attica, also known as the [[Athens Riviera]], forms the eastern coastline of the [[Saronic Gulf]]. Mountains separate the peninsula into the plains of Pedias, [[Mesogeia]], and the [[Thriasian Plain]]. The mountains of Attica are the [[Hymettus]], the eastern portion of the [[Geraneia]], [[Parnitha]] (the highest mountain of Attica), [[Aigaleo]] and [[Penteli]]. Four mountains — Aigaleo, Parnitha, Penteli and Hymettus (clockwise from the southwest) — delineate the hilly plain on which the Athens urban area now spreads. The plain is pockmarked by a plethora of semi-continuous hills, the most notable ones being the [[Tourkovounia]], [[Lykavittos]], the [[Acropolis of Athens]] itself and [[Philopappou]]. Mesogeia lies to the east of Mount Hymettus and is bound to the north by the foothills of Mount Penteli, to the east by the [[Euboean Gulf]] and Mount Myrrhinous, and to the south by the mountains of [[Lavrio]] (modern [[Lavreotiki]]), Paneio (Πάνειον Όρος), and [[Laureotic Olympus]] ({{lang|el|Λαυρεωτικός Όλυμπος}}). The Lavrio region terminates in [[Cape Sounion]], forming the southeastern tip of the Attic peninsula.

Athens' water reservoir, [[Lake Marathon]], is artificial and was created by damming in&nbsp;1920. Pine and fir forests cover the area around Parnitha. Hymettus, Penteli, Myrrhinous and Lavrio are forested with pine trees, whereas the rest are covered by shrubbery. Parts of the sprawling forests of mount Penteli and Parnitha have been lost to forest fires, while the Synngrou Estate on the foothills of the former (intersecting the border between the suburban towns of [[Kifisia]], [[Melissia]] and [[Marousi]] is home to the sole remaining natural forest in the Athenian plain.

The [[Cephissus (Athenian plain)|Kifisos]] is the longest river in Attica, which starts from the foothills of mount Parnitha near Varibobi, crosses the Athenian plain and empties into the delta of [[Faliro]] east of the port of Piraeus.

According to [[Plato]], Attica's ancient boundaries were fixed by the [[Isthmus of Corinth|Isthmus]], and, toward the continent, they extended as far as the [[mountain|heights]] of [[Cithaeron]] and [[Parnitha|Parnes]]. The boundary line came down toward the sea, bounded by the district of [[Oropus]] on the right and by the river [[Asopus]] on the left.

==History==
===Ancient history===
{{Further|Classical Athens}}

[[File:Greece Cape Sounion BW 2017-10-09 10-12-43.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Sounion#Temple of Poseidon|Temple of Poseidon]] ({{Circa|440&nbsp;BC}}) at [[Cape Sounion]], the southernmost point of Attica.]]
[[File:Map athenian empire 431 BC-en.svg|thumb|right|[[Delian League]], under the leadership of Athens before the [[Peloponnesian War]] in {{nowrap|431 BC}}. Attica is shown in red.]]

During antiquity, the Athenians boasted about being [[Autochthon (ancient Greece)#Athenian autochthony concept|Autochthon]]es", the original inhabitants of the area (that is, an [[indigenous people]], arising locally, not settlers or colonisers). The traditions current in the classical period recounted that, during the [[Greek Dark Ages]], Attica had become the refuge of the [[Ionians]], who belonged to a tribe from the northern Peloponnese. Supposedly, the Ionians had been forced out of their homeland by the [[Achaea (ancient region)|Achaeans]], who in turn had been forced out of their homeland by the [[Dorian invasion]].<ref>Pausanias VIII, 1</ref>{{full short|date=November 2025}} Supposedly, the Ionians integrated with the ancient Atticans, who, afterward, considered themselves part of the Ionian tribe and spoke the Ionian dialect of Ancient Greek. Many Ionians later left Attica to colonize the Aegean coast of [[Asia Minor]] and to create the twelve cities of [[Ionia]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mac Sweeney |first1=Naoíse |title=Regional Identities in the Greek World: Myth and Koinon in Ionia |journal=Historia |date=2021 |volume=70 |issue=3 |pages=268–314 |doi=10.25162/historia-2021-0011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bury |first1=J. B. |author-link1=J. B. Bury |date=1900 | title=A History of Greece To the Death of Alexander the Great |publisher=Macmillan |location= London |pages=7–85 |chapter=I. The Beginnings of Greece and the Heroic Age |chapter-url= https://archive.org/details/AHistoryOfGreeceToTheDeathOfAlexanderTheGreat/page/41/mode/2up }}</ref>{{rp|42–52}}

[[File:Brauron - Π-shaped stoa and Classical Bridge.jpg|thumb|Ancient site of [[Vravrona]]]]
[[File:A Chalkidian Amphora, Museo Nazionale Etrusco.jpg|thumb|A Chalkidian Amphora, ca. 550 BC, showing a [[satyr]] startling a [[maenad]]. Museo Nazionale Etrusco, Rome.]]

During the [[Mycenaean period]], the inhabitants of Attica lived in autonomous [[Agrarian society|agricultural societies]]. The main places where [[prehistoric]] remains were found are [[Marathon, Greece|Marathon]], [[Rafina]], [[Nea Makri]], [[Brauron]], [[Thorikos]], Agios Kosmas, [[Elefsina]], Menidi ([[Acharnes]]), [[Markopoulo Mesogaias|Markopoulo]], [[Spata]], [[Aphidnae]] and [[Athens]] main city. All of these settlements flourished during the Mycenaean period.<ref name="DUT">{{citation |mode=cs1 |url=http://diocles.civil.duth.gr/links/home/database/periferiaprotevousis/pr05hi.pdf |script-title=el:Περιφερειακή πρωτεύουσα |title= Perifereiakí Protévousa |trans-title=Prefecture capital |language=el |publisher= School of Civil Engineering, [[Democritus University of Thrace]] |access-date=13 January 2013|archive-date=3 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303075108/http://diocles.civil.duth.gr/links/home/database/periferiaprotevousis/pr05hi.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

According to tradition, Attica comprised twelve small communities during the reign of [[Cecrops II|Cecrops]], the legendary Ionian king of Athens. [[Strabo]] assigns these the names of [[Acropolis of Athens|Cecropia]], [[Tetrapolis (Attica)|Tetrapolis]], [[Epacria]], [[Decelea]], [[Eleusis]], [[Aphidna]], [[Thoricus]], [[Brauron]], [[Cytherus]], [[Sphettus]], [[Cephisia]], and possibly Phaleron. These were said to have been later incorporated in an Athenian state during the reign of [[Theseus]], the mythical king of Athens.<ref>Strabo 9.1.20</ref>{{full short|date=November 2025}} Modern historians consider it more likely that the communities were progressively incorporated into an Athenian state during the 8th and the 7th centuries BC.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tsaktsiras |first1=Lambros |last2=Tiverios |first2=Michalis A. |author-link2=Michalis Tiverios |script-title=el:Ιστορία των αρχαίων χρόνων ως το 30 π. Χ. : για την Αʹ τάξη του Γυμνασίου |date=1994 |publisher=ΟΕΔΒ |location=Athens |page=115 |edition=13th |language=el |trans-title=History of ancient times up to 30 BC: For the 1st grade of the Gymnasium}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bury |first1=J. B. |author-link1=J. B. Bury |date=1900 | title=A History of Greece To the Death of Alexander the Great |publisher=Macmillan |location= London |pages=163–189 |chapter=IV. The Union of Attica and the Foundation of the Athenian Democracy |chapter-url= https://archive.org/details/AHistoryOfGreeceToTheDeathOfAlexanderTheGreat/page/163/mode/2up }}</ref>{{rp|pp=166, 170}}

Until the 6th century BC, [[aristocratic]] families lived independent lives in the suburbs of Athens, such as [[Kolonos Hippios]]. Only after [[Peisistratos]]'s tyranny and the reforms implemented by [[Cleisthenes]] did the local communities lose their independence and succumb to the central government in [[Athens]]. As a result of these reforms, Attica was divided into approximately a hundred municipalities, the [[deme]]s ({{lang|grc|δῆμοι}}, {{lang|grc-Latn|dēmoi}}), and also into three large sectors: the city ({{lang|grc|ἄστυ}}), which comprised the areas of central Athens, [[Ymittos]], [[Aegaleo]] and the foot of Mount Parnes ([[Parnitha]]), the coast ({{lang|grc|παράλια}}), that included the area between [[Eleusis]] and Cape [[Sounion]] and the area around the city ({{lang|grc|ἐσωτερικό-μεσογαία}}), inhabited by people living on the north of Mount [[Parnitha]], [[Penteliko Mountain|Penteliko]] and the area east of the mountain of [[Hymettus]] on the plain of [[Mesogeia]]. Principally, each civic unit would include equal parts of townspeople, seamen, and farmers. A {{lang|grc-Latn|trittýs}} ('third') of each sector constituted a tribe. Consequently, Attica comprised ten tribes.

During the Peloponnesian war, Attica was invaded and raided several times by the [[Lacedaemonians]], while in the war's third phase the fortress of Decelea was captured and fortified by Lacedaemon.

====Fortresses====
[[File:Rhamnous-1.jpg|thumb|View of [[Rhamnous]]]]

During the [[classical antiquity|classical period]], Athens was fortified to the north by the fortress of [[Eleutherae]], which is preserved well. Other fortresses are those of [[Oenoe (Attica)|Oenoe]], [[Decelea]], [[Phyle]] and [[Aphidnae]]. To protect the mines at [[Laurium]], on the coast, Athens was protected by the walls at [[Rhamnus (Greek archaeological site)|Rhamnus]], [[Thoricus]], [[Sounion]], [[Anavyssos]], [[Piraeus]], and [[Elefsina]].{{r|DUT}} Although these forts and walls had been constructed, Attica did not establish a fortification system until later, in the 4th century BC.{{r|OREC}} Attica's warfare is displayed by piles of rubble from fortresses from the Chremonidean war.<ref name="OREC">{{Cite encyclopedia|last=Osborne|first=Robin|encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Classics|date=22 December 2015|title=Attica|chapter-url=https://oxfordre.com/classics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-952|language=en|doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.952|isbn=9780199381135}}</ref>

====Places of worship====
[[File:Spata airview.jpg|thumb|[[Spata]] airview]]

Even though [[archaeological]] ruins of religious importance are found in nearly the whole area of Attica, the most important are those found in [[Eleusis]]. The worship of the goddesses [[Demeter]] and [[Persephone|Cora]], beginning in the [[Helladic period|Mycenaean]] period, continued until the late years of antiquity.

Many other types of worship can be traced to the [[Prehistoric|prehistory]]. For example, the worship of [[Pan (mythology)|Pan]] and the [[Nymphs]] was common in many areas of Attica such as [[Marathon, Greece|Marathon]], [[Parnitha|Parnes]] and [[Ymittos]]. The god of wine, [[Dionysus]], was worshipped mainly in the area of [[Icaria]], now  the suburb of [[Dionysus]]. [[Iphigeneia]] and [[Artemis]] were worshipped in [[Brauron]], [[Artemis]] in [[Rafina]], [[Athena]] on [[Sounion]], [[Aphrodite]] on Iera Odos, and [[Apollo]] in [[Dafni, Attica|Daphne]].{{r|DUT}}

The festival of [[Chalceia]] was celebrated every autumn in Attica. The festival honored the gods [[Hephaestus]] and [[Athena|Athena Ergane]]. In the deme of [[Athmonon]], in modern-day [[Marousi]], the Athmoneia games were also celebrated.

===Medieval period===
{{Main|Byzantine Greece|Duchy of Athens|Ottoman Greece}}

[[File:Eleusis.JPG|thumb|View over the excavation site towards [[Eleusis]].]]

After the period of antiquity, Attica came under [[Ancient Rome|Roman]], [[Byzantine]], [[Republic of Venice|Venetian]], and [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] rule. In the Roman period, the Scandinavian [[Heruli]] tribe raided Athens and Attica in 267 AD, destroying most of the city and laying waste to the countryside. During the [[Byzantine]] period Athens was an important mid-sized city. In 396 Attica was invaded by the [[Goths]] under the command of [[Alaric I|Alaric]]. Attica's population diminished in comparison to the neighboring area of [[Boeotia]].

The sites of historical interest date to the 11th and 12th centuries, when Attica was under the rule of the [[Franks]]. The great monastery of Dafni, that was built under [[Justinian I]]'s rule, is an isolated case that does not signify a widespread development of Attica during the Byzantine period. On the other hand, the buildings built during the 11th and 12th centuries show a greater development that continued during the rule of the Franks, who did not impose strict rule.{{Citation needed|date=October 2019}}

From the 14th century onwards, the [[Arvanites]] came to Attica from what is today [[southern Albania]]. They were mostly invited as mercenaries by the local Greek lords.

During the Ottoman rule, Athens enjoyed some rights. However, that was not the case for the villages of Attica. Great areas were possessed by the [[Ottoman Empire|Turks]], who terrorized the population with the help of [[sipahi]]s. The monasteries of Attica played a crucial role in preserving the Greek element of the villages.

In spite of its conquerors, Attica managed to maintain its traditions. This fact is proved by the preservation of ancient [[toponym]]s such as [[Oropos]], [[Dionysus]], [[Eleusis]], and [[Marathon, Greece|Marathon]]. During the [[Greek War of Independence]] in the 1820s, the peasants of Attica were the first to revolt (April 1821), occupying [[Athens]] and seizing the [[Acropolis]] that was handed over to the Greek revolutionaries in June 1822.{{r|DUT}}

===Attica after 1829===
[[File:View on Saronida.jpg|thumb|left|[[Saronida]]]]
[[File:Aerial view of Rafina Harbour 20.02.2009 12-20-04.JPG|thumb|Aerial view of [[Rafina]].]]
[[File:Λαύριο 1946.JPG|thumb|The port of [[Laurium|Lavrio]]]]

Attica belonged to the newly-founded Greek state from its founding. From 1834, [[Athens]] was made the new Greek capital (moved from [[Nafplio]] in [[Argolis]]), which caused the gradual repopulation of Attica by other people around Greece. The most dramatic surge came with Greek refugees from [[Anatolia]] following the [[Greek genocide]] and later the population exchanges between Greece and [[Turkey]] under the [[Treaty of Lausanne]]. Today, much of Attica is occupied by urban Athens, encompassing the entirety of the Athenian plain.<ref>{{cite book|url= http://dlib.statistics.gr/Book/GRESYE_01_0002_00054.pdf |script-title=el:Στατιστική Επετηρίδα της Ελλάδος 2002 |trans-title=Statistical Yearbook of Greece 2002 |publisher=[[National Statistical Service of Greece]]|language=el, en|date=2003|page=54}} [The table includes the urban areas of Greece, officially defined by the [[National Statistical Service of Greece]], powered by the Ministry of Finance of Greece. The municipality of Piraeus and its greater area belong to the Athens urban area or Greater Athens ({{lang|el|Πολεοδομικό Συγκρότημα Αθηνών}}, 'Athens Urban Complex').]</ref> The modern Greek region of Attica includes classical Attica as well as the [[Saronic Islands]], a small part of the [[Peloponnese]] around [[Troezen]], and the [[Ionian Island]] of [[Kythira]].

==Notable people==
<!--- Only add a person to this list if they already have their own article on the English Wikipedia ---> 
<!--- Please keep the list in alphabetical order by LAST NAME --->
* [[Socrate Sidiropoulos]] (born 1947), Greek painter and sculptor

==See also==
*[[Ascolia]]
*[[Attic Greek]]
*[[Attic orators]]
*[[Attic talent]]
*[[Atticism]]
*[[Neo-Attic]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal |last1=Mela |first1=Athina |last2=Tousi |first2=Evgenia |last3=Melas |first3=Emmanouil |last4=Varelidis |first4=George |title=Spatial Distribution and Quality of Urban Public Spaces in the Attica Region (Greece) during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey-Based Analysis |journal=Urban Science |date= December 2023 |volume=8 |issue=1 |page=2 |doi=10.3390/urbansci8010002 |doi-access=free |ref=none}}
* {{cite EB9 |wstitle= Attica |volume= III |last= Tozer |first= Henry F. |page=57 |short=1 |ref=none}}

{{Landmarks of Attica}}
{{Geographic regions of Greece}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Attica| ]]
[[Category:Historical regions in Greece]]
[[Category:Historical regions]]
[[Category:Peninsulas of Greece]]