Athens - Agora

(Local Name: Agorá) In the north of the Acropolis there are three large open areas - the Agora, the principal market-place of ancient Athens, the Roman Agora and the Library of Hadrian.

A good general impression of the Agora can be obtained from four viewpoints: the north wall of the Acropolis, the Areopagos, the road which runs east from the Areopagos along the north side of the Acropolis, and the road along the north side of the Areopagos.

The detailed layout of the Agora can best be appreciated by entering the site at the north gate, off Adrianoú Street (near the church of St Philip), and consulting the plan displayed just inside the entrance. The Agora was excavated by American archeologists in 1931-41 and 1946-60 after the demolition of a whole district of the city composed of some 400 buildings which had grown up since the 11th century, and the remains have been incorporated in an attractive park. Since 1970 further excavations have been carried out north of the Piraeus railroad, which previously formed the boundary of the excavation site, and to the east of the Agora, where, under a modern road, excavation has brought to light the ancient road linking the Agora with the Roman market, together with the buildings flanking the road.

A few years ago U.S. archeologists succeeded in unearthing parts of the "Stoá Poikile" or "Painted Hall".

From the Mycenaean period until the end of the seventh century B.C. this was a cemetery area. It began to be used as an agora during the early sixth century, in the time of Solon, and the oldest buildings were erected at the west end of the site, under the Agora Hill. Thereafter it remained for many centuries the center of the city's public life, each century erecting new buildings, frequently at the expense of earlier ones.

In A.D. 267 numerous buildings were destroyed and century A.D. 400 a new Gymnasion was built, which served as Athen's University until 529. Temple of Apollo Patroos at the west end of the Agora, between the Metroon and the Stoa of Zeus at the foot of the Agora Hill, are the foundations of the temple of Apollo Patroos, built in the fourth century B.C. over the remains of buildings destroyed in the Persian Wars and dedicated to Apollo as the father of Ion and thus the forefather of the Ionians.

The cult image of Apollo and Euphranor from the temple is now in the Stoas of Attalos. In an annex to the temple the earliest register of the population of Athens was kept. Immediately north are the foundations of a small sanctuary of Zeus Phratrios and Athena Phratria, also dating from the fourth century B.C.