the following important issues, concerning the Athens, Greece earthquake of 07/09/1999, are addressed in this article: (a) the principal direction of ground shaking, (b) the accuracy of pure seismological methods for site characterization, (c) the effect of local soil conditions on peak ground accelerations and elastic response spectra, and (d) the seismic motion characteristics at the epicentral area which suffered the most severe damages and the heaviest casualties.