New monuments were built and the city experienced its first jump in culture and arts. Athens was also the prime fighter during the war with Persia. This war aided by the existence of democratic governing helped Athens become Greece's leading city and the center of an allied state. The territory was not powerful enough to keep the Macedonian King Fillipe II (338 B.C.) from taking Attica and adding it to the Macedonian states. In 146 B.C. Athens was controlled, together with the rest of Greece, by the Romans, who although they were conquerors, they showed respect for the city and its personality. After the first years A.C., Gothic tribes destructed Athens. The integration with the Byzantine Empire was finalized with the shut down of Philosophic Schools, the changing of shrines to Christian temples and the general city of Athens. After year 1214, when the Franks occupied Constantinople, Athens was given to French dukes. Their successors were Catalans, Napolitans and finally in 1456 the Turks who were the first after all these years to turn the Acropolis into a Muslim Temple "Tzami", and the Erehthion to a harem. Until 1834, one year after its revolution from the Turks, when Athens was proclaimed capital of Greece, it was a miserable village with very few people and piles of ancient ruins and stones. Though it was accepted as a place with a very strong presence of memories of the past. Since it was made the capital, its rebirth from the ruins started. New buildings were built in a close architectural connection with the ancient Greek style, and Acropolis and the rest of the ancient monuments were restored. The Olympic games we know today were invented by the ancient Athenians. Dating back from 776 B.C. the Athenians held Olympics every four years. Even if Athens were in a current war with another city-state, they would sign a treaty before the Olympics started so the city-states could compete peacefully with each other. Though Olympics wer...
