Athens is the capital of Greece , but it is also the capital of the Attica Periphery and the Athens Prefecture . The city has been the capital of Greece since 1834, succeeding Nafplion, the city that was provisional capital during the Greek War of Independence ending in 1832.

The 7 districts of the Athens Municipality

Attica Periphery

Athens is located within the Attica Periphery, which encompasses the most populated region of Greece , with around 3.7 million people. The Attica Periphery itself is split into four prefectures; they include the Athens Prefecture , Piraeus Prefecture , West Attica Prefecture , and the East Attica Prefecture . It is, however, one of the smaller peripheries in Greece , with an area of 3,808 km² (1,470 sq mi).

Athens Prefecture

The Athens Prefecture is the most populous of all the Greek Prefectures, accounting for well over 2.6 million of the 3.7 million in the Attica Periphery. Athens can refer either to the entire metropolitan area, or to the Municipality of Athens . The next largest municipalities of Athens metropolitan area are the Municipality of Piraeus , the Municipality of Peristeri , and the Municipality of Kallithea . Each of these municipalities has an elected district council and a directly elected mayor.

Athens Municipality

Further information: List of Mayors of Athens

The 7 districts of the Athens Municipality

The 7 districts of the Athens Municipality

The modern city of Athens consists of what was once a conglomeration of distinct towns and villages that gradually expanded and merged into a single large metropolis; most of this expansion occurred during the second half of the 20th century. The Greater Athens area is now divided into 55 municipalities, the largest of which is the Municipality of Athens or Dimos Athinaion, with a population of 745,514 people.

Dora Bakoyanni, of the conservative New Democracy party, was Mayor of Athens from 1 January 2003 until 15 February 2006 , when she joined the Greek cabinet as Minister of Foreign Affairs. During her tenure, she had been the 76th Mayor of Athens, and the first female ever to hold that post in the city's history; later replaced by Theodoros Behrakis. The next municipal elections took place in October 2006, at which point Nikitas Kaklamanis took over as the city's mayor.

The Municipality of Athens is divided into seven municipal districts , or demotika diamerismata. The 7-district division, is mainly used for administrative purposes. For Athenians the most popular way of dividing the city proper is through its neighbourhoods (usually referred to as areas in English), each with its own distinct history and characteristics. Those include Pangrati, Ambelokipi, Exarcheia, Ano Patissia, Kato Patissia, Ilissia, Ano and Kato Petralona, Mets, Koukaki and Kypseli, the world's second most densely populated urban area. For a traveller unfamiliar with Athens , familiarity with the contours of these neighbourhoods can often be particularly useful in both exploring and understanding the city.