In 480 BC Athens was sacked and nearly destroyed by the Persians. The Athenian leader Themistocles, having defeated the Persian invaders at Salamís, began the restoration of the city, building circuit walls around both Athens and Piraeus. He also began construction of walls connecting Athens with the port. His work was continued by Pericles in the 450s BC. Pericles, more than any other democratic leader, made Athens a great city. Public funds were used to build the Parthenon, the temple of Nike, the Erechtheum, and other great monuments. He developed the agora, which began to display imports from around the world. As head of the Delian League of Greek city-states, Athens was now an imperial power; its courts tried cases from all over the Aegean. The culture of the city was magnificent. Great tragedies and comedies were produced in the theater of Dionysus, below the Acropolis, and Pericles' circle included leading intellectuals. The city, with its democratic constitution and brilliant way of life, became the “school of Hellas.” At its height, the population was perhaps 200,000 people, of whom 50,000 males were full citizens; the rest—women, foreigners, and slaves—were not citizens.
After its defeat by Sparta in the destructive Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC), the city began to decline. Socrates was forced to take his own life when he questioned traditional ideas, and an attitude of pessimism prevailed. Nevertheless, philosophy continued to flourish. In the 4th century BC Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum were founded as philosophical schools, and Demosthenes, Isocrates, and others made rhetoric a fine art.Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001
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