Athens - Roman Agora

The Roman Agora or market was laid out at the beginning of the Christian era immediately west of the Tower of the Winds, built some decades earlier. It was connected with the older Greek Agora to the west by a road which was discovered some years ago. While the Greek Agora grew and developed over the centuries, this later market was laid out on a unified plan within a rectangular area measuring 112 by 96m/365 by 315ft.

It has two gates: at the west end a Doric propylon built between 12 and 2 B.C. with an inscription recording that the market was dedicated to Athena Archegetes, and at the east end an Ionic propylon probably dating from the reign of Hadrian (A.D. 117-138), when the adjoining Library of Hadrian was also built. Probably dating from the same period are the double-aisled colonnades of slender unfluted Ionic columns which surround the market, as well as the shops and offices which open off thecolonnades. On the south side is a fountain.