Athens, Greece Click Image to Enlarge  (JPG) (326,614 bytes) ( 1,362 x 852 )

The 2004 Olympic Games will open on August 13 in Athens. Athens, in southeastern Greece, is the capital and largest city in the country. Situated on the Attic plain, it is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and is served by the port of Piraeus 8 km to the southwest. The Acropolis of Athens has been inhabited since Neolithic times. In the 9th century BC, it was incorporated into the city-state of Athens. Athens reached its golden age in the 5th century BC under Pericles, with a population of perhaps 200,000. In 1997 the International Olympic Committee chose Athens, the site of the first Olympic Games in 1896, as the host of the 2004 Summer Olympics. The country of Greece has invested billions of dollars to improve the city’s infrastructure and construct Olympic venues. This perspective view was made from an image acquired April 29, 2004, draped over a DEM created from the same ASTER scene. It is located at 38 degrees north latitude, 23.7 degrees east longitude.