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PEIRAEUS, or PIRAEUS (Gr. Hetpaceur)

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 58 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PEIRAEUS, or PIRAEUS (Gr. Hetpaceur)  , the See also:port See also:town of See also:Athens, with which its See also:history is inseparably connected . Pop . (1907), 67,982 . It consists of a rocky promontory, containing three natural harbours, a large one on the See also:north-See also:west which is still one of the See also:chief commercial harbours of the See also:Levant, and two smaller ones on the See also:east, which were used chiefly for See also:naval purposes . See also:Themistocles was the first to urge the Athenians to take See also:advantage of these harbours, instead of using the sandy See also:bay of Phaleron; and the fortification of the See also:Peiraeus was begun in 493 B.C . Later on it was connected with Athens by the See also:Long Walls in 46o B.c . The town of Peiraeus was laid out by the architect See also:Hippodamus of See also:Miletus, probably in the See also:time of See also:Pericles . The promontory itself consisted of two parts—the See also:hill of Munychia, and the See also:projection of Acte; on the opposite See also:side of the See also:great See also:harbour was the outwork of Eetioneia . The most stirring See also:episode in the history of the Peiraeus is the seizure of Munychia by See also:Thrasybulus and the exiles from See also:Phyle, and the consequent destruction of the " 30 tyrants " in 404 B.C . The three chief arsenals of the Peiraeus were named Munychia, Zea and Cantharus, and they contained See also:galley slips for 82, 196 and 94 See also:ships respectively in the 4th See also:century B.C . 1 See under AT11Exs . Also Angelopoulos, H€pl IIetpau"us a al ) rwv Uµevwv a roi (Athens, 1898) .

End of Article: PEIRAEUS, or PIRAEUS (Gr. Hetpaceur)
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