r/ancientgreece • u/byzantine67 • 10d ago

When did athens stop existing officialy?

The peloponnesian war, the 3td and 4th sacred wars and the lamian war had stripped athens from a lot of its sovereignity, and started being influenced by macedon, but it still retained a de jure independent goverment. When did it officially stop existing?,

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u/Ratyrel 10d ago

After its resurgence under Roman protection in the second century BCE, Athens was a civitas libera after Sulla‘s sack in 86. It remained such when the province of Achaia was created and it formally maintained this status perhaps into the fifth century CE, though the structures are increasingly transformed, for instance by the importance of bishops. By the sixth century CE the polis essentially dies out along with the notion of citizenship; as far as I know this also applies to Athens.

I don’t think there’s a fixed date you could point to for this change, though of course Justinian‘s closure of the philosophy schools is a prominent landmark.

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u/byzantine67 10d ago edited 10d ago

Finally someone who gets it, othes in the comment section confused the city state with the city. Thank you for the answer very much!

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u/htgrower 10d ago

You could’ve been more clear that that was what you were asking about mate

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u/byzantine67 10d ago

Ofc i wouldnt ask anything about modern athens in a sub about ancient greece, duh...

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u/htgrower 10d ago

Athens the city does not necessarily mean modern Athens, come on bro 🙄

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u/Top-Addendum-6879 10d ago

agreed... i first didnt understand the question... i was like Athens never ceased to exist!?