Ancient Agora of Athens

The ancient Agora of Athens (also called the Classical Agora) is the best-known example of an ancient Greek agora, located to the northwest of the Acropolis and bounded on the south by the hill of the Areopagus and on the west by the hill known as the Agoraios Kolonos, also called Market Hill.[1] The Agora's initial use was for a commercial, assembly, or residential gathering place.[2]

Not to be confused with the Roman Agora, the later Roman era Athenian market.

Ancient Agora of Athens
Αρχαία Αγορά της Αθήνας
Central Athens
Alternative nameClassical Agora
LocationGreece
RegionAttica
Coordinates37°58′30″N 23°43′21″E
History
MaterialMarble  
Founded6th century BC  
PeriodsClassical era
CulturesAncient Greece
Site notes
Excavation dates1931 until today
ArchaeologistsAmerican School of Classical Studies at Athens
ConditionRuined
OwnershipPublic property
ManagementMinister for Culture
Public accessYes
View of the ancient agora. The temple of Hephaestus is to the left and the Stoa of Attalos to the right.

Buildings and structures of the classical agora
Plan of the Agora in the 2nd century A.D.

North side of the agora

East side of the agora
  • The Stoa of Attalos, a stoa lined with shops built in the 2nd century B.C. which has since been reconstructed for use as the Museum of The Ancient Agora.[5]
  • The Peristyle Court was a law court originally located under the northern end of the Stoa of Attalos.
  • A collection of buildings were added to the south-east corner: the East stoa, the Library of Pantainos, the Nymphaeum and a temple.
  • The Library of Pantainos was more than just a library, the west and north wings were series of rooms that were used for other purposes other than storing books. With the construction of the Library of Pantainos, the official entrance into the agora was now between the Library and the Stoa of Attalos.[6]
  • The Mint, a building which was used for the minting of bronze coinage in the 2nd and 3rd centuries B.C. but there is no evidence for it being used for the minting of Athenian silver coinage.[7]
  • The Monopteros was located south of the Basilica and also dated to the mid 100s CE It had no walls, was a dome supported by columns and was about 8 meters in diameter.[8]
  • The Bema was a speakers platform and was located near the Stoa of Attalos.[9]

South side of the agora
  • The Middle stoa which was the most extensive monument built during the 2nd century B.C.[10]
  • A small Roman temple was added in front of the Middle stoa.
  • South-east Fountain House
  • South Stoa I
  • Aiakeion

West side of the agora

Other notable monuments
The entrance to the Odeon of Agrippa

A number of other notable monuments were added to the agora. Some of these included:

Excavations

The ancient Athenian agora has been excavated by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA) since 1931 under the direction of Thomas Leslie Shear, Sr.[17] His wife Josephine Platner Shear who supervised the digging and led the study and conservation of numismatics from the site, as well as making the discovery of a new 2nd-century C.E. Athenian coin.[18][19] The excavation was negotiated and directed by the ASCSA's chair of the agora excavation committee, Edward Capps, who the school would honor with a memorial overlooking the project.[20][21][22] They continue to the present day, now under the direction of John McK Camp.

After the initial phase of excavation, in the 1950s the Hellenistic Stoa of Attalos was reconstructed on the east side of the agora, and today it serves as a museum and as storage and office space for the excavation team.[23]

A virtual reconstruction of the Ancient Agora of Athens has been produced through a collaboration of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and the Foundation of the Hellenic World, which had various output (3d video, VR real-time dom performance, Google Earth 3d models).[24]

Flora

Evidence of planting was discovered during the excavations and on January 4, 1954, the first oak and laurel trees were planted around the Altar of Zeus by Queen Frederika and King Paul as part of the efforts to restore the site with plants that would have been found there in antiquity.[25]

Museum of the Ancient Agora

The museum is housed in the Stoa of Attalos, and its exhibits are connected with the Athenian democracy. The collection of the museum includes clay, bronze and glass objects, sculptures, coins and inscriptions from the 7th to the 5th century BC, as well as pottery of the Byzantine period and the Turkish occupation. The exhibition within the museum contains work of art which describes the private and public life in ancient Athens. In 2012, new sculpture exhibition was added to the museum which includes portraits from Athenian Agora excavation. The new exhibition revolves around portraits of idealized gods, officially honored people of the city, wealthy Roman citizens of the 1st and 2nd century AD, 3rd-century citizens and finally on work of art from private art schools of late antiquity.[26]

See also

References
  1. R.E. Wycherley, Literary and Epigraphical Testimonia (Athenian Agora) (American School of Classical Studies, 1957), p. 27.
  2. Sakoulas, Thomas. "The Agora of Athens". ancient-greece.org. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  3. "Agora Monument Stoa Poikile - ASCSA.net". agora.ascsa.net. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  4. Camp, The Athenian Agora: Site Guide, p. 93.
  5. Camp, The Athenian Agora: Site Guide, p. 123.
  6. A., Thompson, Homer (1972). The Agora of Athens : the history, shape, and uses of an ancient city center. Wycherley, R.E. (Richard Ernest). Princeton, NJ: American School of Classical Studies at Athens. ISBN 978-0876612149. OCLC 554992.
  7. "Agora Monument Mint - ASCSA.net". agora.ascsa.net. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  8. Camp, The Athenian Agora: Site Guide, p. 118.
  9. Camp, The Athenian Agora: Site Guide, p. 122.
  10. Camp, The Athenian Agora: Site Guide, p. 168.
  11. "Agora Monument Eponymous Heroes - ASCSA.net". agora.ascsa.net. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  12. Camp, The Athenian Agora: Site Guide, p. 73.
  13. Camp, The Athenian Agora: Site Guide, p. 63.
  14. Camp, The Athenian Agora: Site Guide, p. 65.
  15. Camp, The Athenian Agora: Site Guide, p. 110.
  16. Camp, The Athenian Agora: Site Guide, p. 114.
  17. "Archived copy". www.ascsa.edu.gr. Archived from the original on 16 June 2006. Retrieved 13 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  18. Armstrong *14, April C. (6 November 2019). "Faculty Wives and the Push for Coeducation at Princeton University". Mudd Manuscript Library Blog. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  19. Walbank, Mary E. Hoskins; Walbank, Michael B. (2015). "A Roman Corinthian Family Tomb and Its Afterlife". Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. 84 (1): 149–206. doi:10.2972/hesperia.84.1.0149. ISSN 0018-098X. JSTOR 10.2972/hesperia.84.1.0149. S2CID 164451358.
  20. "About Edward Capps | American School of Classical Studies at Athens". www.ascsa.edu.gr. 19 July 2011. Retrieved 6 May 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  21. David W. Rupp (2013). "Mutually Antagonistic Philhellenes: Edward Capps and Bert Hodge Hill at the American School of Classical Studies and Athens College". Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. 82 (1): 67. doi:10.2972/hesperia.82.1.0067. ISSN 0018-098X. S2CID 164414874.
  22. Times, Special to The New York (1 March 1928). "EXCAVATION AT ATHENS SEEN NEAR BY CAPPS; Director of Agora Project Says Negotiations Will Be Completed in a Few Months". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  23. "Overview: The Archaeological Site".
  24. Sideris A., "A Virtual Cradle for Democracy: Reconstructing the Ancient Agora of Athens", Proceedings of the International SEEArchWeb Conference, Thessaloniki, September 2006.
  25. Garden Lore of Ancient Athens. American School of Classical Studies. p. 4.
  26. "Ministry of Culture and Sports | Museum of the Ancient Agora". odysseus.culture.gr. Retrieved 29 September 2017.

Further reading
  • Camp, J. (2010). The Athenian Agora Site Guide. 5th ed. Princeton, NJ: American School of Classical Studies.
  • Dickenson, Christopher P. (2015). "Pausanias and the "Archaic Agora" at Athens." Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 84.4: 723–770.
  • Dickenson, Christopher P. and Onno M. van Nijf ed. (2013).  Public Space in the Post-Classical City: Proceedings of a One Day Colloquium held at Fransum, 23rd July 2007. Caeculus, 7.   Leuven: Peeters.
  • Gawlinski, L. (2007). "The Athenian Calendar of Sacrifices: A New Fragment from the Athenian Agora." Hesperia 76:37–55.
  • Harris, Edward Monroe (2014). "Wife, Household, and Marketplace." In Women Who Count in Greek History. Edited by Umberto Bultrighini, Elisabetta Dimauro. Lanciano: Carabba.
  • Lang, M. (1994). Life, Death, and Litigation in the Athenian Agora. Agora Picturebook 23. Princeton, NJ: American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
  • Lang, M. (2004). The Athenian Citizen: Democracy in the Athenian Agora. Rev. ed. Agora Picturebook 4. Princeton, NJ: American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
  • MacKinnon, Michael (2014). "Animals, Economics, and Culture in the Athenian Agora: Comparative Zooarchaeological Investigations." Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 83.2: 189–255.
  • Thompson, D.B. (1971). The Athenian Agora: An Ancient Shopping Center. Agora Picturebook 12. Princeton, NJ: American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
  • Wycherley, R.E. (1973). The Athenian Agora. Vol. 3, Literary and Epigraphical Testimonia. Princeton, NJ: American School of Classical Studies.
Library resources about
Athenian Agora

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