Athens, the home of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, is the world's most flirtatious city, followed by Moscow, while New York only just makes the top 100, a new study of online flirting showed.

Meanwhile, Rome ranked 8th, Paris 38th, London 57th, while New York ranked 89th, according to the study by Badoo.com that analyzed 12 million online flirtations in 180 countries.

The average Badoo user in Athens initiates 25.7 online flirtations per month - twice as many as in Rio (12.4) or Prague (12.6) and far more than in Paris (20.7), London (19.0) or New York (16.1), the study showed.

Tunis, birthplace of the Jasmine Revolution, is among three Arab cities (Kuwait, Tunis, Beirut) to make the world's top 10, with three former Soviet ones (Moscow, Kiev, Baku) and three Italian (Turin, Rome, Bari).

Athens was the birthplace of Socrates, Aristotle, Plato and Western philosophy itself, says Lloyd Price, Badoo's Director of Marketing. Once again, it leads the world.

Simon Hardy, author of The Greeks, Eroticism and Ourselves, comments: It's probably fair to say that the Athenians perfected the art of flirtation in ancient times, especially at the time of symposia [flirtatious drinking parties] described by Plato.

Modern Athenians have continued the tradition, says Victoria Kyriakopoulous, author of The Lonely Planet Guide to Athens: Athens is a seductive city, with a hedonistic lifestyle. Flirting and sexual banter are part of social interaction.

Old Athenians flirt. Married ones flirt. Now, young Athenians are simply using technology to do what Athenians have always done.

Following are the world's top ten flirtatious cities:

RANK CITY SCORE*

1 Athens 25.7

2 Moscow 25.5

3 Kuwait City 25.4

4 Baku 24.9

5 Tunis 24.7

6 Kiev 24.5

7 Beirut 24.0

8 Turin 23.7

8 Rome 23.7

10 Bari 23.6