As a city state, the coastal capital of Athens reached its
heyday in the fifth century BC. Under Pericles, from 461BC until
his death in 429BC, an unprecedented spate of construction
resulted in many of the great classical buildings (the
Parthenon, Erechtheion and Hephaisteion in Athens and the Temple
of Poseidon at Sounion), now regarded as icons of Ancient
Greece. Physical evidence of the city's success was matched by
achievements in the intellectual arts. Democracy was born, drama
flourished and Socrates conceived the foundations of Western
philosophy. Remarkably, although the cultural legacy of this
period has influenced Western civilisation ever since, the
classical age in Athens only lasted for five decades. Under the
Macedonians and Romans, the city retained a privileged cultural
and political position but became a prestigious backwater of the
Empire rather than a major player. Five centuries of Roman rule
preceded the Byzantine period, which in turn was followed by
four centuries of Ottoman Turkish do