The once mighty city was the capital of the Duchy of Athens, headed by the young Florentine Francesco Acciaiuoli, who was tutored by his ambitious mother Chiara Zorzi.
With Sultanial approval, Giorgie usurped power until 1455, when Mohammed II ordered her removal from Athens with her Venetian husband Bartolomeo Contarini. Franco returned to power, imprisoned his mother in Megara and later murdered her.
His heinous act gave Muhammad the pretext to abolish the Duchy of Athens, which roughly encompassed present-day Attica. Turahanoglu Omer Bey, on the orders of Porthitis, moved against Athens and on 4 June 1456 captured it, except for the Acropolis, which was desperately defended by the young Atzagiolis. However, in July 1458 he was forced to surrender and take refuge in Thebes.
The inhabitants of Athens, who had suffered for two centuries from the political, economic and religious oppression of the Franks, were relieved at first to accept the new oppressor, who promised political and ecclesiastical privileges to the Greek Orthodox population of the city.
In August 1458, returning from the Peloponnese, Muhammad visited Athens for four days. He first received the keys to the city from the abbot of the monastery of Caesarianis and then, according to the historian Kritobulus, the archaic sultan ascended the Acropolis, where he admired the ancient monuments and gave orders for it to become a mosque.
Muhammad, influenced by the old splendour of Athens, treated its inhabitants with favour, granted them many privileges and accepted many of their requests. One of the first measures taken by the Ottoman administration was the removal of the Latin Archbishop Nicholas Prothymos and the progressive expulsion of the Frankish families of Athens.
With the fall of the Acropolis in July 1458, Athens entered the dark age of Turkish rule. It was liberated on 31 May 1833 and on 18 September 1834 it was declared the capital of free Greece.
Source.gr
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs Cyprus Times
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or Cyprus Times
Source
