Acharnes, also known as Menidi is a municipality in the

East Attica East Attica () is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Attica. The regional unit covers the eastern part of the urban agglomeration of Athens, and also the rural area to its east. Administration The regional unit East ...

regional unit in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. With 108,169 inhabitants (2021 census), it is the ninth most populous municipality in Greece. It lies just north of the

Athens urban area Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

Geography

The northern part of the municipality is covered by the forested

Parnitha Mount Parnitha (, , Katharevousa and ''Parnis''/''Parnes''; sometimes Parnetha) is a lightly forested mountain range north of Athens, the highest on the peninsula of Attica, with an elevation of 1,413 m, and a summit known as Karavola (Καρα� ...

mountain. The southern part is in the plain of Athens, and is densely populated. The built-up area of Acharnes, in this southern part of the municipality, is continuous with that of the adjacent suburbs to the west, east and south. The centre of Acharnes is due north of Athens city centre. The two other settlements in the municipality,

Thrakomakedones Thrakomakedones (Greek: Θρακομακεδόνες from Thrace and Macedonia), is a town in the regional unit East Attica, in Attica region, Greece. It is a northern suburb of Athens. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the munic ...

and Varympompi, are situated further north, in the foothills of Parnitha. Acharnes is crossed by several important roads and railways, including the A6 motorway, the Piraeus–Platy railway and the

Athens Airport–Patras railway The railway from Athens Airport to Patras is a double-track railway, double-track, standard-gauge railway line in Greece that, when completed, will connect Athens International Airport with Patras, the country's third-largest city. One of the la ...

. The Acharnes Railway Center is the main railway junction of Attica; two other stations in the municipality are Acharnes railway station and Kato Acharnes railway station, both on the Piraeus–Platy railway. Acharnes is home to the Folk Art Museum of Acharnes.

History

Acharnes has historically been an

Arvanite Arvanites (; Arvanitika: , or , ; Greek: , ) are a population group in Greece of Albanian origin. They are bilingual, traditionally speaking Arvanitika, an Albanian language variety, along with Greek. Their ancestors were first recorded ...

settlement. Acharnes was named after the ''

deme In Ancient Greece, a deme or (, plural: ''demoi'', δήμοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Classical Athens, Athens and other city-states. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside existed in the 6th century BC and earlier, bu ...

Acharnae Acharnae or Acharnai (; ) was a ''deme'' of ancient Athens. It was part of the phyle Oineis. Acharnae, according to Thucydides, was the largest deme in Attica. In the fourth century BCE, 22 of the 500 members of the Athenian council came ...

(), a subdivision of

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

classical antiquity Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural History of Europe, European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the inter ...

. The Athenian playwright

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

characterised the inhabitants of Acharnae as peasants in his play ''

The Acharnians ''The Acharnians'' or ''Acharnians'' (Ancient Greek: ''Akharneîs''; Attic: ) is the third play — and the earliest of the eleven surviving plays — by the Athenian playwright Aristophanes. It was produced in 425 BC on behalf of the young dram ...

''. Acharnes suffered significant damage from the 1999 Athens earthquake, being very close to the

epicenter The epicenter (), epicentre, or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the Earth's surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or an underground explosion originates. Determination The primary purpose of a ...

Municipality

The municipality Acharnes was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 2 former municipalities, that became municipal units: *Acharnes (incl. Varympompi and Parnis) *

The municipality has an area of 149.956 km², the municipal unit 146.406 km².

Historical population

Crime

Acharnes is considered by some to be an unsafe place to live since it has an alleged high crime rate, usually involving drugs, theft and gang activity. There is also a small population of marginalized people such as

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnic groups * Romani people, or Roma, an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin ** Romani language, an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities ** Romanichal, Romani subgroup in the United Kingdom * Romanians (Romanian ...

living in ghettos in Acharnes (approximately 4.800 people, about 4.5% of the population), that tend to be delinquents and offenders from an early age.

Museums

The Folk Art Museum of Acharnes is a

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

in Acharnes, a northern suburb of

. It was founded in 1977 by the local Greek Mountaineering Society, which also formed the Historical and Folklore Association in 1981, to which it bequeathed the museum in 1982. The archaeological part of the collection was then separated from the historical and folklore material and was given to the Hellenic Ministry of Culture. Former Minister

Melina Mercouri Maria Amalia "Melina" Mercouri (, 18 October 1920 – 6 March 1994) was a Greek actress, singer, activist, and politician. She came from a prominent political family for multiple generations. She received an Academy Award nomination and won a F ...

founded for it the Archaeological Museum of Acharnes in a neoclassical building in the central square of Acharnes, which had formerly housed the local Town Hall. The same building houses the Historical and Folklore Society and its Folk Art Museum to the present time.

Sporting teams

* Acharnaikos F.C. - second division

References

External links

{{Authority control Municipalities of Attica Populated places in East Attica Arvanite settlements