Attica
- This article is about Attica in Greece. For other Atticas, see Attica (disambiguation)
Attica (in Greek: Αττική, Attikí) is a nomos (prefecture) in Greece, containing Athens, the capital of Greece.
Attica is located in what is today southern Greece, and covers about 3,800 square kilometers. In addition to Athens, it contains within its area the cities of Peiraeus, Eleusis, Megara, Laurium, and Marathon, as well as the islands of Salamis, Aegina, Poros, Hydra, Spetses, Kythira, and Antikythera. About 3,700,000 people live in the nomos, of which more than 95% are habitants of the Athens metropolitan area.
Athens was originally the capital of Central Greece.
Geography
Attica is a peninsula jutting into the Aegean Sea. Mountains divide the peninsula into the plains of Pedia, Mesogeia, and Thriasia. To the north it is bordered by the Boeotian plain and to the west it is bordered by Corinth. The Saronic Gulf lies to the south and the island of Euboea lies off the north coast.
The Cephisus River is the longest river, and Parnetha or Parnitha is the tallest mountain in Attica.
History
The process of how Attica was united by Athens is not entirely clear, but it concluded at some point in the first half of the 7th century BC when Eleusis and the surrounding plains were joined to the Athenian state, and its inhabitants became citizens. Even then, the boundaries were not fixed, as Athens struggled with Megara for control of Salamis, and with Boeotia over border towns like Oropus for centuries. See History of Athens.
Attica later became part of (successively) the Roman and Byzantine Empires, the crusader Duchy of Athens, and at last the Ottoman Empire.
Area
Municipalities
Districts
- District of Attica - Athens
- District of Kythera
- District of Megara (Megaris) - Megara
- District of Salamis - Salamis
Communities and Sections
- See Communities of Attica
