Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world´s oldest cities, with it´s recorder history spanning over 3,400 years, and it´s earliest human presence starting somewhere between the 11th and 7th millennia BC. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state that emerged in conjunction with the seagoing development of the port of Piraeus, which had been a distinct city prior to it´s 5th centure BC incorporation with Athens. A centre for the arts, learning and philosophi, home od Plato´s Academy and Aristotle´s Lyceum, it is widely referred to as the crable of Western civilization and the birthplace of democracy, largely because of its cultural and political impact on the European continent, and in particular the Romans. In modern times, Athens is a large cosmopolitan metropolis, and central to economic, financial, industrial, maritime, political and cultural life in Greece. In 2015, Athens was ranked the world's 29th