Ancient Agora of Athens

Ancient Agora of Athens

Αρχαία Αγορά της Αθήνας
Central Athens
Alternative name	Classical Agora
Location	Greece
Region	Attica
Coordinates	37°58′30″N 23°43′21″E / 37.97500°N 23.72250°E / 37.97500; 23.72250
History
Material	Marble
Founded	6th century BC
Periods	Minister for Culture
Public access	Yes

The ancient Agora of Athens (also called the Classical Agora) is an ancient Greek agora. It is 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]

• Stoa Poikile (Painted stoa), a building built in the 5th century B.C. used purely for socialising unlike many other buildings in the agora.^[3]
• Altar of the Twelve Gods
• Stoa Basileios (Royal stoa)
• Temple of Aphrodite Urania
• The south end of what is believed to be a Basilica has been uncovered near Hadrian Street and is dated to the mid 100s C.E.^[4]

• 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 Square Peristyle 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 C.E. 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]

• The
  Middle stoa which was the most extensive monument built during the 2nd century B.C.^[10]
• The Southwest Temple, built with material from Thorikos in the early first century AD.
• South-east Fountain House
• South Stoa I
• Aiakeion

• Strategeion
• Agoraios Kolonos
• Tholos
• Boundary stone
• Monument of the Eponymous Heroes, a monument for the ten heroes of the tribes of Athens which was also used as a notice board for new legislation, public events and military conscription.^[11]
• Metroon (Old Bouleuterion)
• Bouleuterion
• Temple of Hephaestus (Hephaestion)
• Temple of Apollo Patroos
• Stoa of Zeus
• The Temple of Zeus Phratrios and Athena Phratria dated to the 300s B.C. and is located near the Temple of Apollo Patroos.^[12]
• A statue of the Roman emperor Hadrian was located near the metroon.^[13]

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

• An Altar of Zeus Agoraios was added just to the east of the Monument to the Eponymous Heroes.^[14]
• The Temple of Ares, dedicated to Ares, the god of war, was added in the north half agora, just south of the Altar of the Twelve Gods.^[15]
• The Odeon of Agrippa and accompanying gymnasium were added in the centre of the agora.^[16]
• There is evidence of a Synagogue in the Agora of Athens in the 3rd century.

In the 4th and 5th centuries, there was significant evidence of women being innkeepers and merchants selling their products in the market of the Athenian agora. Some of the products they sold included fruits, clothes,

The

As of the early 5th century, the Ancient Agora of Athens was known as glorious and richly decorated, set with famous works of art, many of them sculpted from marble. The buildings of the Athenian Agora had marble decoration and housed dedications in the form of marble statues. Finds from the agora excavations identified that generations of marble-workers made the agora of Athens an important center for the production of marble sculptures. Marble-workers made sculptures, marble weights, sundials, furniture parts, and an assortment of kitchen utensils. Excavations of the Athenian agora revealed the remains of many marble-working establishments, various unfinished statues, reliefs, and utilitarian objects.

Excavations of the Athenian agora have proved that marble-workers were very active, the earliest workshops being established in the early 5th century. The earliest areas used by marble workers were the residential and industrial districts southwest of the agora. Another area where marble-workers set up shop was in the South Square, after the sack of Athens by the Roman general Sulla in 86 BC. As the South Square was in ruins, marble-workers were attracted to the remains of the marble temples. A workshop from the southern corner of the agora was also important, the Library of Pantainos rented out rooms to marble-workers.

Literacy and evidence from excavations give a sense of statues and famous marble sculptors in the Athenian agora. These famous marble-workers of the Agora include, the 5th-century master Phidias and his associate Alkamenes, and the 4th-century sculptors Praxiteles, Bryaxis, and Euphranor.

Phidias was the most well known marble-worker to have worked in the agora. He was famous for his gold and ivory cult statue of Zeus at Olympia, and for his three lost sculptures of Athena.

A well-known associate of Phidias was Alcamenes, whose most important works in the agora were the bronze cult statues of Hephaestus and Athena in the Temple of Hephaestus.

These famous sculptors are attested in the agora by the discovery of signed pieces of work that could no longer be preserved. A marble statue signed and possibly carved by Bryaxis was found in the agora behind the Royal Stoa.

The 4th century marble-worker known for his sculptures, made a colossal statue of Apollo for the Temple of Apollo Patroos on the west side of the agora.^[18]

Between 1851 and 1852, the

In 1924, a bill was presented to the Hellenic Parliament for the expropriation of properties in Vrysaki to allow the excavation of the Agora, but it was defeated. The government attempted to persuade the Greek Archaeological Service to find the necessary funds, but it became clear that only the foreign archaeological institutes would be able to raise sufficient capital, and of these only the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA) took interest in the project.^[23] The ASCSA's control of the excavation was negotiated by the Edward Capps, whom the school would honor with a memorial overlooking the project.^[24][25][26] In 1930, the ASCSA appointed T. Leslie Shear, then director of its work at Corinth, to lead the excavation.^[27] Although the initial plan was for Shear to serve as the project's field director, under Rhys Carpenter as general director, Carpenter was never appointed, and Shear had total control over the excavations.^[28] Shear arranged for the photographic documentation of Vrysaki, which was to be demolished in the course of the project, under the excavation's photographer, Hermann Wagner [de], and a Greek photographer named Messinesi.^[29]

The Agora excavations became one of the largest archaeological projects in Greece.^[30] They were largely funded by the financier John D. Rockefeller Jr.,^[31] and secured through American loans to Greece.^[32] Staff on the project included Homer A. Thompson, Eugene Vanderpool, Benjamin Meritt, Dorothy Burr, Virginia Grace, Lucy Talcott, Alison Frantz, Piet de Jong and John Travlos, all of whom were or became noted figures in Greek archaeology.^[33] Shaer's wife, Josephine Platner Shear, 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 CE Athenian coin.^[34][35]

The first season, in 1931, consisted only of minor exploratory work.

Tholos, secured the location of the Bouleuterion and the Metroon, and discovered the Temple of Apollo Patroos and the Altar of the Twelve Gods.^[39] The 1935 season closed on June 29: by this point, around half of the site had been cleared, and the total discoveries included almost 600 items of sculpture, over 6,000 pieces of pottery, and over 41,000 coins.^[40]

John McK Camp served as Director of the excavations since 1994, until his retirement in 2022. John K. Papadopoulos is now in the position of Director following Camp's retirement.

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.^[48]

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, and Google Earth 3d models).^[49]

During a 1974 excavation, a lead tablet was discovered. The tablet was a letter written by Lesis, a slave. It was one of the few recorded instances of slave literacy.^[50]

Evidence of planting was discovered during the excavations and on 4 January 1954, the first

The museum is housed in the Stoa of Attalos, and its exhibits are connected with Athenian democracy. The collection of the museum includes clay, bronze and glass objects, sculptures, coins and inscriptions from the 7th to the 5th century B.C., as well as pottery of the Byzantine and Ottoman periods. The exhibition within the museum contains works of art which describe the private and public life in ancient Athens. In 2012, a new sculpture exhibition was added to the museum which includes portraits from Athenian Agora excavations. The new exhibition revolves around portraits of idealized gods, officially honored people of the city, wealthy Roman citizens during the Roman occupation (1st and 2nd century A.D.), 3rd-century citizens and finally on works of art from private art schools of late antiquity.^[52]

• Media related to Museum of the Ancient Agora at Wikimedia Commons

• Ecclesia
• Church of the Holy Apostles

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. OCLC 554992.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
   )
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. OCLC 60668217.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link
    )
18. OCLC 61478156
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19. ISBN 978-0-87661-969-8
    .
20. ^ Archaeological Society of Athens (2020). Γραμματειες Σκαρλατου Βυζαντιου (1851–1852) και Κυριακου Πιττακη (1852–1859) [Secretariat of Skarlatos Byzantios (1851–1852) and Kyriakos Pittakis (1852–1859)] (PDF) (in Greek). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 July 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
21. S2CID 243691800
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22. ISBN 978-0-87661-969-8
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23. JSTOR 10.2972/hesperia.82.1.0153
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24. ^ "About Edward Capps | American School of Classical Studies at Athens". www.ascsa.edu.gr. 19 July 2011. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
25. S2CID 164414874
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26. ISSN 0362-4331
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27. JSTOR 10.2972/hesperia.84.1.0149
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28. OCLC 648555
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29. ISBN 978-0-87661-969-8
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30. ISBN 978-3-11-060158-9
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31. ISBN 1-884964 80 X
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32. ISBN 978-3-11-060158-9
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33. ISBN 978-0-87661-910-0
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34. ^ 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.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
35. S2CID 164451358
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36. OCLC 648555
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37. OCLC 648555
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38. OCLC 648555
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39. OCLC 648555
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40. OCLC 648555
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41. OCLC 648555
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42. OCLC 648555
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47. OCLC 648555
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48. ^ "Overview: The Archaeological Site".
49. ^ Sideris, Athanasios. "A Virtual Cradle for Democracy: Reconstructing the Ancient Agora of Athens". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
50. ISSN 0073-0688
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51. ^ Garden Lore of Ancient Athens. American School of Classical Studies. p. 4.
52. ^ "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, New Jersey: American School of Classical Studies.
  ISBN 978-0-87661-657-4
• 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.
• OL 23845464M
• Lang, M. (2004). The Athenian Citizen: Democracy in the Athenian Agora. Rev. ed. Agora Picturebook 4. Princeton, New Jersey: American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
  ISBN 9780876616420
  (John McK. Camp's revision of 1987 1st edition)
• 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.
• ISBN 978-0-87661-635-2
  .
• Wycherley, R. E. (1973). The Athenian Agora. Vol. 3, Literary and Epigraphical Testimonia. Princeton, New Jersey: American School of Classical Studies.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ancient Agora of Athens.

Library resources about
Athenian Agora

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• Online books
• Resources in your library
• Resources in other libraries

• Hellenic Ministry of Culture: The Ancient Agora of Athens – official site with a schedule of its opening hours, tickets and contact information.
• Agora Excavations – American School of Classical Studies Agora excavation project.
• Map of the Agora of Athens in Socrates and Plato's time
• Agora of Athens in 421 BC
• The Athenian Agora: A Short Guide in Color
• The Athenian Agora. A Guide to the Excavation and Museum
• Reconstruction of the Athenian Agora in Google Earth
• Ministry of Culture: The Museum
• www.athensinfoguide.com The Museum
• Agora of Athens photos

37°58′30″N 23°43′21″E / 37.97500°N 23.72250°E / 37.97500; 23.72250