Ath`ens, the capital of Attica, and the chief city of ancient
Greece, at once the brain and the heart of it; the resort in ancient
times of all the able and wise men, particularly in the domain of
literature and art, from all parts of the country and lands beyond; while
the monuments of temple and statue that still adorn it give evidence of a
culture among the citizens such as the inhabitants of no other city of
the world have had the genius to surpass, though the name Athens has been
adopted by or applied to several cities, Edinburgh in particular, that
have been considered to rival it in this respect, and is the name of over
twenty places in the United States. The two chief monuments of the
architecture of ancient Athens, both erected on the Acropolis, are the
Parthenon (
q. v.), dedicated to Athena, the finest building on
the finest site in the world, and the Erechtheum, a temple dedicated to
Poseidon close by; is the capital (100) of modern Greece, the seat of the
government, and the residence of the king.