For 3,400 years, the city of Athens has been in the world's limelight as a political, cultural, educational and entertainment center. Athens is the capital of Greece and has been so for quite some long time. Hopefully, this post will capture the most important historical events in the city.

1. 11th and 7th millennium BC - The Cave of Schist is the oldest presence of human habitation evident to scientists today.

2. 1400 BC - Athens had become an important settlement for Mycenaean civilization and the Acropolis was the site of a major Mycenaean fortress.

3. 1200 BC - Athens went into decline for a period of 150 years due to Dorian invasions.

4. 900BC to 404 BC - Athens went into war with Persians who defeated it in 490 BC. The ensuing period, Athens went into many wars, with the last one being with Sparta, who again defeated Athens. From then on, the city went into decline.

5. 9th to 10th centuries AD - It was not until the Middle Byzantine Period that the city rose from the ashes and started to thrive again. It especially benefited throughout the crusades through Italian trade.

6. 1458 - The city was again conquered by the Ottoman Turks and again, went into a long period of decline.

7. 1834 - following the Greek Independence war, the state of Greece was started under the leadership of Otto of Bavaria.

8. 1896 - Athens hosted the first modern Olympics.

9. 1919 -1922 - The Greco-Turkish war saw some Greeks being expelled from the Asia Minor and the number of people in Athens started swelling. By 1944 after the Second World War, the city experienced an influx of people and from then on, it has been exponentially growing.

10. 2004 - Athens hosted the Summer Olympics.

Today, Athens continues to be a major player in the world's cultural front. It is a city that is full of history and as somewhat an outsider to the European woes; you would get an insightful read from the library museums of Greece.