The Ancient Agora of Athens

 


After our trip to the seaside we thought we should examine more of the ancient sites of Athens. So we walked to the district of Monasteriki, the very busy touristic area, where behind iron railings lies the Greek Agora. This occupies a large area and was originally a place where the Athenians senate met, as well as holding the market, places for socialising, temples and craftsmen's workshops. We started by walking up the hill to the Temple of Hephaestus which overlooks the Agora. This temple was completed around 430BC and as Hephaestus was the patron god of metal work and craftsmanship it was built on a very fitting site, although it was used as church from the 7th century AD to 1833. We passed workmen tidying as we walked.







From the top we got very good views over Athens. Directly under the temple lies the site of the ancient Bouleuterion which was the senate house where political discussion took place and the Metroon where the state archives were kept. The boule was a sort of parliament comprising 500 Athenians, chosen by lot who served for one year and were responsible for the budget and other governmental affairs.





There are the remains of other temples as well as the ancient road, the Panathenaic Way, which ran from the centre of Athens to the main gate of the city, the Dipylon. This was also the route taken by travellers to the Panathenaic Festival held on the Acropolis every 4 years. Part of the boundary wall of the road is still in existence. There are also the foundations of the houses of the craftsmen.






There is a small church on the site, the Church of the Ancient Apostles, dating from the 10th century AD.


Finally, the largest building of all is the market itself. A huge colonnaded building known as the Stoa of Attalos, built between 159 BC and 138 BC and being 115 m long. The building is a reconstruction on the original foundations which was finished in 1956 and houses a museum holding artefacts found on the site.





See this site for more details. https://www.ancient-greece.org/archaeology/agora.html




















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