E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
City of the Violet Crown.
Athens is so called by Aristophans (oεo—see Equites, 1323 and 1329; and Acharnians, 637). Macaulay refers to Athens as the “violet-crowned city.” Ion (a violet) was a representative king of Athens, whose four sons gave names to the four Athenian classes; and Greece, in Asia Minor, was called Ionia. Athens was the city of “Ion crowned its king” or “of the Violet crowned.” Similarly Paris is the “city of lilies”—i.e. fleursde-luce or Louis-flowers.
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I do not think that Athens was called oεo from “the purple hue which Hymettus assumed in the evening sky.”
s (
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—see Equites, 1323 and 1329; and Acharnians, 637). Macaulay refers to Athens as the “violet-crowned city.” Ion (a violet) was a representative king of Athens, whose four sons gave names to the four Athenian classes; and Greece, in Asia Minor, was called Ionia. Athens was the city of “Ion crowned its king” or “of the Violet crowned.” Similarly Paris is the “city of lilies”—i.e. fleursde-luce or Louis-flowers.
I do not think that Athens was called 
