Today the Greek capital, Europe's 8th largest conurbation, is rapidly becoming a leading business center in the European Union. A bustling and cosmopolitan metropolis with an urban population of 3.3 million and total population of about 3.8 million, Athens is central to economic, financial, industrial, political and cultural life in Greece. The city proper has a land area of 39 km² (15 sq mi), while the urban agglomeration of Athens spans 412 km² (159 sq mi).
Ancient Athens was a powerful city-state. A center for the arts, learning and philosophy, home of Plato's Akademia and Aristotle's Lyceum, Athens was also the birthplace of Socrates, Pericles, Sophocles, and its many other prominent philosophers, writers and politicians of the ancient world. It is widely referred to as the cradle of Western Civilization, and the birthplace of democracy, largely due to the impact of its cultural and political achievements during the 5th and 4th centuries BC on the rest of the then known European continent.
The heritage of the classical era is still evident in the city, represented by a number of ancient monuments and works of art, the most famous of all the Parthenon on the Acropolis, widely considered an important landmark of early Western civilization. The city also retains a vast variety of Roman and Byzantine monuments, as well as a small number of remaining Ottoman monuments projecting the city's long history across the centuries. Landmarks of the modern era are also present, dating back to 1830 (the establishment of the independent Greek state), and taking in the Greek Parliament (19th century) and the Athens Trilogy (Library, University, and Academy).
Athens was the host city of the first modern-day Olympic Games in 1896, and 108 years later it welcomed home the Summer Olympics, with great success.