Pireaus the antique Port of Athens

Piraeus' small natural harbours are among the busiest and most popular tourist areas: Mikrolimano, Passalimani, Zea, Freatida and Hatzikiriakio. Countless seaside tavernas provide delicious seafood washed down with the uniquely Greek drink, Ouzo. The fresh smell of the sea and the sounds of an assortment of caiques, yachts and sailing ships, which are moored next to the tables, complete the ambience and atmosphere.

Piraeus, a name which roughly means 'the place over the passage', has been inhabited since the 26th century BC. In prehistoric times, Piraeus was a rocky island consisted of the steep hill of Munichia, modern day Kastella, and was connected to the mainland by a low-lying stretch of land that was flooded with sea water most of the year and was used as a salt field whenever it dried up. Consequently it was called the Halipedon, meaning the 'salt field', and its muddy soil made it a tricky passage. Through the centuries, the area was increasingly silted and flooding ceased, thus by early classical times the land passage was made safe. In ancient Greece, Piraeus assumed its importance with its three deep water harbours, the main port of Cantharus and the two smaller of Zea and Munichia, and gradually replaced the older and shallow Phaleron harbour, which fell into disuse.

The Long Walls connecting the ancient city of Athens to its port of Piraeus.In the late 6th century BC, the area caught the attention due to its advantages. In 511 BC, the hill of Munichia was fortified by Hippias and four years later Piraeus became a deme of Attica by Cleisthenes. In 493 BC, Themistocles initiated the fortification works in Piraeus and later advised the Athenians to take advantage of its natural harbours' strategical potential instead of using the sandy bay of Phaleron. In 483 BC, the mighty Athenian fleet was transferred to Piraeus and was built in its shipyards, distinguishing itself at the battle of Salamis against the Persians in 480 BC. Since then Piraeus was permantly used as the navy base for the developed and powerful fleet of Athens. After the second Persian invasion of Greece, Themistocles fortified the three harbours of Piraeus and created the neosoikoi (ship houses); the Themistoclean Walls were completed in 471 BC, turning Piraeus into a great military and commercial harbour. The city's fortification was farther reinforced later by the construction of the Long Walls under Cimon and Pericles, with which Piraeus was connected to Athens. Meanwhile, Piraeus was rebuilt to the famous grid plan of architect Hippodamus of Miletus, called Hippodamian plan, thus the main agora of the city was named after him as an honour. As a result, Piraeus flourished and became a port of high security with a great commercial activity and a city throbbing with life.

During the Peloponnesian War, Piraeus suffered the first breakdown. In the second year of the war the first cases of the Athens plague were recorded in Piraeus. In 404 BC, the Spartan fleet under Lysander blockaded Piraeus and subsequently Athens surrenderred to the Spartans who put an end to the Delian League and the war itself. Piraeus would follow the fate of Athens and was to bear the brunt of the Spartan rage, as the city's walls and the Long Walls were torn down, the Athenian fleet surrendered to the winners and some of the triremes were burnt, while the neosoikoi were also pulled down. As a result the unfortified and tattered port city was not able to compete with prosperous Rhodes, which controlled the commerce. In 403 BC, Munichia was seized by Thrasybulus and the exiles from Phyle in the battle of Munichia where the Phyleans defeated the Thirty Tyrants of Athens, but in the following battle of Piraeus the exiles were defeated by the Spartan forces.

After the reinstatement of democracy, Conon rebuilt the walls in 393 BC, founded the temple of Aphrodite Euploia and the sanctuary of Zeus Sotiros and Athena, and built the famous Skevothiki of Philon, the ruins of which have been discovered at Zea harbour. The reconstruction of Piraeus went on during the period of Alexander the Great, but this revival of the town was quashed by Roman Lucius Cornelius Sulla, who captured and totally destroyed Piraeus in 86 BC. The destruction was completed in 395 AD by the Goths under Alaric I. Piraeus was led to a long period of decline which lasted for fifteen centuries. During the Byzantine period the harbour of Piraeus was occasionally used for the Byzantine fleet, but it was very far from the capital city of Constantinople. The city lost even its ancient and original name that was forgotten, named Porto Leone by the Venetians in 1317, meaning 'Lion's Port' from the Piraeus Lion standing at the harbour's entrance, and Porto Draco by the Franks.