Tours: The Agora of Athens

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Walk through Athens' most popular meeting place, and discover its vibrant markets and monuments.

Opening RemarksThe Agora of AthensPainted StoaTradeApollo PatroosThe HephaisteionBouleuterionPrytaneionHeliaiaMarketJudicial CourtMintClosing Remarks

("Who are you?")

("What do you think of this place?")

("Let's begin the tour.")

View of the Agora with Akropolis in background / 2005

The agora was the civic center of Athens, but it wasn't only frequented by politicians and city officials.

The area housed a market where people could purchase food and other goods from merchants.

It was also frequented by philosophers, who used the public space to establish schools and pass on their teachings to students.

Religion had its place as well. Temples dedicated to Hephaistos and Apollo were located in the agora, along with Altar of the Twelve Gods and the Monument of the Eponymous Heroes.

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The Panathenaic Way is the Athenian agora's main street. It runs from the Dipylon gate up to the Akropolis.

Its name is derived from the Panathenaic Festival held every four years in honor of the city's patron goddess, Athena. At first, the festival was only religious, but over time it expanded to include athletic events and cultural competitions as well.

The Panathenaic Way hosted the climax of the festival: a procession that ran all the way up to the Temple of Athena on the Akropolis. However, the road was also uses for some of the festival's athletic events, including chariot races and footraces.

Porcelain statuette of Zeno of Kition, founder of the Stoic school / 1813 (Modern period)

The Painted Stoa, or Stoa Poikilè, derived its name from the panel paintings on its wall.

The paintings were created in the 5th century BCE by famous artists like Polygnotos, and depicted Greek military victories like the Battle of Marathon.

The stoa served as a public meeting place for citizens, but it was especially popular with philosophers, who used the space to pass on their teachings.

In 301 BCE, the philosopher Zeno of Kition chose the Stoa Poikilè as the location for his school of philosophy, the appropriately dubbed "Stoicism".

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Greek painting goes back to at least the Minoan civilization. Some astonishing examples of the art of that time have even survived, including several from Minos' palace in Knossos.

At first, wall paintings were mostly found in temples or public buildings, but they have started to appear in private buildings in the 5th century BCE.

Most painters were considered artisan, but some became very renowned. Polygnotos was the first of these famous painters. He painted large compositions of events such as the sack of Troy for the Stoa Poikilè, in addition to creating works for the Lesche of the Knidians in Delphi.

Polygnotos and his two contemporaries, Mikon and Panainos, began what is considered to be the great period of Greek painting.

Trade in the agora was supervised by magistrates. There were five Agoranomoi who kept order in the market, controlled the quality of goods, and collected market dues. This provided revenue to the city and helped pay the magistrates and those in charge of maintaining order. The market benefitted everyone. Customers brought what they needed, merchants made their living, and city officials received the money they needed to keep the wheels of democracy turning. Learn More: The agora offered a variety of products for purchase. Many merchants were grouped together by the category of their products into what was called circles, or guilds. Slaves, who made up an important section of Athen's population, were also available in the agora. However, trade was not limited to the agora. Several craftsmen and sculptors lived on the slopes of the Areopagos hill, potters and manufacturers worked in the Kerameikos neighborhood, and metalworkers were stationed around the Hephaisteion. Those selling products could be professional merchants (kapeloi), artisans selling their own products directly, or even peasants selling their surplus.

Marble statue of Apollo, Roman copy of a bronze Greek original from the 4th cent. BCE, attributed to Leochares

The original Temple of Apollo Patroos was built around 535 BCE by Peisistratos, but was destroyed by the Persians during their invasion a few decades later.

It long remained in ruins, except for the altar, which was left standing as a reminder of the Persians' sacrilege.

Eventually, a new temple was built in the 4th century BCE.

Inside was a statue made by Euphranor, the same artist who painted in the Stoa of Zeus.

The temple held special significance in Athens, as it was connected to the origin of the city's people.

The name "Patroos", meaning fatherly, referenced the belief that Apollo was the father of Ion, founder of the Ionian Greeks from whom all Athenians are descended.

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The Ionians were one of the four major Greek tribes, along with the Dorians, the Aeolians, and the Achaeans.

The Ionians spread from Ionian, a region on the east coast of the Aegean Sea. They also founded several colonies, mostly in Sicily and South Italy.

Athenians claimed that Attika was the motherland of all Ionians, and that Ion, the eponymous hero of the Ionians, was an Athenian by way of his mother. According to mythology, Ion was the son of Creusa, who herself was the daughter of Erechtheus - the mythical king of Athens.

Temple of Hephaistos / 2016

The Temple of Hephaistos overlooks the aogra from the Kolonos Agoraios hill.

Today it is one of the best preserved temples in Greece, owing to its conversion to a church in the Middle Ages.

But while this transformation preserved the structure, it also damaged the surrounding sculptures.

The temple was dedicated not only to Hephaistos, the god of metallurgy, but also to Athena Ergane, goddess of arts and crafts.

Nearly every part of the Hephaisteion was lavishly decorated with depictions of famous mythological events, like the labors of Theseus.

The Theseus scenes gave the temple the nickname "Theseion" – a name that lives on today as a city district in Athens.

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Because the Hephaisteion was dedicated to Hephaistos, the gods of metallurgy, and Athena Ergane, the goddess of crafts and weaving, it is no surprise that many metalworking shops were installed on the same hill as the temple, all of which contain evidence of the production of weapons and armor.

Similarly, as Athena was also the patron goddess of potters, the pottery quarter - known as the Kerameikos - was also just behind the Hephaisteion.

Conversation scene / 440-430 BCE (Classical Greece)

The Bouleuterion was another building in the agora that contributed to the democratic process.

It housed the Athenian council of citizens, the boule.

This council of 500 was composed of fifty members from each Greek tribe, all of whom served a one year term. They were chosen by lot from among citizens over thirty.

Every month, one group of fifty was chosen to lead the boule's executive committee, the prytaneis.

The prytaneis met every day of the month and called meetings of the full council in the Bouleuterion, where they sepnt their time discussing bills.

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Athens' democratic system ensured a rotation of the people who held key functions. For example, each tribe held the prytany for one month, and magistrates were elected for one-year terms. However, there was also a procedure that was put in place to banish citizens believed to be a threat to the state. This procedure was known as an ostracism, and was originally put in place to prevent the rise of possible tyrants.

Every year, in the sixth prytany, the assembly asked Athenians if they wished to hold an ostracism. If they voted yes, the ostracism would be held later on, during the eighth prytany.

The ostracism vote was held in an enclosure in the agora, and supervised by the archontes and the Boule. To vote, a citizen put the name of the candidate they wished to ostracize on a pottery fragment called an ostraka, then dropped the ostraka into an urn. The ostracism was considered valid if a minimun of 6,000 people voted, and the man with the largest number of votes was ostracized.

The otracized man was given ten days to leave the city, and had to remain in exile for ten years. However, he did not forfeit his citizenship and property, and could even be recalled by the assembly in the case of an emergency, which happened to Kimon in 461 BCE.

Famous politicians who were ostracized include Xanthippos, Themistokles, Alkibiades, and Thucydides, who used the time provided by his exile to write his "History of the Peloponnesian War".

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