Piraeus is a port city in the Attica region of Greece. It lies within the Athens urban area, about 8 kilometres southwest of the city centre (the municipality of Athens), along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf.
According to the 2011 census, Piraeus had a population of 163,688 within its administrative boundaries, making it the fifth-largest municipality in Greece and the second-largest within the wider Athens urban area, after the municipality of Athens.
The municipality of Piraeus and four neighbouring suburban municipalities make up the regional unit of Piraeus, sometimes referred to as Greater Piraeus, with a total population of 448,997. This regional unit forms part of the Athens urban area.
Piraeus has a long recorded history, dating back to ancient Greece. The city was founded in the early 5th century BC, when the area was chosen to become the new port of classical Athens and was developed as a model harbour, concentrating all of Athens’ import and transit trade.
During the Golden Age of Athens, the Long Walls were built to fortify both Athens and its port at Piraeus. As a result, Piraeus became the principal harbour of ancient Greece, but it gradually declined after the 3rd century BC, before expanding again in the 19th century, following the declaration of Athens as the capital of Greece. Today, Piraeus is a large, busy city and an integral part of Athens, home to the country’s biggest harbour and displaying all the hallmarks of a major maritime and commercial–industrial centre.
The port of Piraeus is the main port in Greece, the largest passenger port in Europe, and the second-largest in the world, handling around 20 million passengers each year.
With a throughput of about 1.4 million TEUs, Piraeus ranks among the top ten European ports for container traffic and is the leading container port in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The municipality hosted events during both the 1896 and 2004 Summer Olympic Games held in Athens.
The University of Piraeus is one of the largest universities in Greece and includes the country’s second-oldest business school, as well as the oldest academic department specialising in finance.