Athenians

Athens "the strong-founded citadel" (Iliad 2.546)

In the Iliad the Athenians play no significant role. Their leader moreover is the obscure Menestheus, son of Peteos (2.552). Surprisingly, there are no surrounding cities to explain the formidable contingent of 50 ships (2.556): the same number as the Boeotians who were drawn from 29 localities. Why Athens alone? Scholars have queried why Eleusis, Aphidna, Marathon, or Thorikos in the region, all of which had significant Mycenaean settlements, were omitted. Were they left out during an "editing" of the text in the six century B.C., to the greater glory of Athens? And was the epithet "well-founded citadel" inserted to associate Athens with two other great cities similarly described, Mycenae (2.569) and Thebes (2.505)?

Since time immemorial the spectacular natural rock the acropolis of Athens has been a fortress, residence, refuge, and place of worship. It once housed a Mycenaean palace, though the evidence of architectural remains is little and scattered. The most remarkable feature (not visible to the visitor to the Parthenon) is a fountain or spring dug deep into the rock on the north in the Late Mycenaean Age when Athens like other Mycenaean centres was under seige by foreign invaders or lawless marauders. A secure source of water had to be found. At the end of the Mycenaean Age it was abandoned. The danger had passed. The surviving inhabitants turned it into a rubbish dump.

Location: 37°58'18.0"N 23°43'36.1"E(the Acropolis)

Athenian contingent

One locality, one leader, 50 ships, unspecified number of men.