In Ancient Greek, the name of the city was  (''Athênai'',  in Classical Attic) a plural. In earlier Greek, such as Homeric Greek, the name had been current in the singular form though, as  (''Athḗnē''). It was possibly rendered in the plural later on, like those of  (''Thêbai'') and  (''Μukênai''). The root of the word is probably not of Greek or Indo-European origin, and is possibly a remnant of the Pre-Greek substrate of Attica. In antiquity, it was debated whether Athens took its name from its patron goddess Athena (Attic , ''Athēnâ'', Ionic , ''Athḗnē'', and Doric , ''Athā́nā'') or Athena took her name from the city. Modern scholars now generally agree that the goddess takes her name from the city, because the ending -''ene'' is common in names of locations, but rare for personal names.