The Athenian Agora

Layout of the Agora

The Agora was the center of the ancient city of Athens. It is a large, open square where the citizens could assemble for a wide variety of purposes. It is where all the administrative, political, judicial, commercial, social, cultural, and religious activities of the city-state took place. On any given day it could be used as a market, for an election, for a dramatic performance, for a religious procession, for a military drill, or for an athletic competition. It is where all the public buildings necessary to run the Athenian government were located. It is here that the concept of democracy was first developed and practiced.

Agora Achives

Archaeological evidence shows that the area was first laid out as a public space in the 6th century B.C. Administrative buildings and small sanctuaries where built and there is evidence of an early aqueduct. After Athens was destroyed by the Persians in 480 B.C., the city was rebuilt and public buildings were added to the Agora throughout the 5th and 4th centuries. During the Classical Period, the Agora and its buildings were frequented by all the great Greeks - statesmen such as Themistocles, Pericles, and Demosthenes; poets such as Aeschylos, Spohocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes; writers such as Thucydides and Herodotus; artists such as Pheidias; and the great philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

Today the Agora is home to the Archives where many of the finds from the Agora are cleaned, restored, cataloged, studied, and stored. Check out the following website for more information on the Agora and the work that is being done there: Athenian Agora Excavations.