Piraeus

The city of Piraeus has a history of many centuries and has, in fact, been inhabited since about 2,600 B.C. Many of its prehistoric inhabitants, such as the relatively advanced Minyens, have left their marks: the Cave of Arethusa, on the hill of Castella, and the the Syrangion, known as the "Cave of Paraskevas".' An insignificant settlement at first, one of the four known as the "Four lands of Heracleion", due to the activities of the great Themistocles - with the help of Cimon and Pericles who were to complete his work - Piraeus was to become the entrepot of Athens at about the begin- ning of the 5th century B.C. (493-483 B.C.) a safe naval port and an excellent commercial port, with excellent layout, organisation and exploitation, with beautifully constructed walls of which well-preserved traces can still be seen, public buildings, places of worship and theatres, and a well-planned lay-out.' in brief, it became a city teeming with life and was, indeed the "Commercial Heart of the Hellenes" where, in the words of Thucydides, "From all the lands, everything enters"."