Agora Cyber Charter School

The agora (; grc, ἀγορά, romanized: ', meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Greek city-states. It is the best representation of a city-state's response to accommodate the social and political order of the polis. The literal meaning of the word "agora" is "gathering place" or "assembly". The agora was the center of the athletic, artistic, business, social, spiritual and political life in the city. The Ancient Agora of Athens is the best-known example.

Origins

Early in Greek history (13th–4th centuries BC), free-born citizens would gather in the agora for military duty or to hear statements of the ruling king or council. Later, the agora also served as a marketplace, where merchants kept stalls or shops to sell their goods amid colonnades. This attracted artisans who built workshops nearby.

From these twin functions of the agora as a political and a commercial spot came the two Greek verbs , ''agorázō'', "I shop", and , ''agoreúō'', "I speak in public".

Ancient Agora of Athens

The Ancient Agora of Athens was situated beneath the northern slope of the Acropolis. The Ancient Agora was the primary meeting ground for Athenians, where members of democracy congregated affairs of the state, where business was conducted, a place to hang out, and watch performers and listen to famous philosophers. The importance of the Athenian agora revolved around religion. The agora was a very sacred place, in which holiness is laid out in the architecture of the ground in which it lay upon. The layout of the agora was centered around the Panathenaic Way, a road that ran through the middle of Athens and to the main gate of the city, Dipylon. This road was considered tremendously sacred, serving as a travel route for the Panathenaic festival, which was held in the honor of the goddess Athena every four years. The agora was also famously known for housing the Temple of Hephaestus, the Greek god of metalworking and craftsmen. This temple is still in great condition to this day. Other temples priorly standing in the agora include honor for Zeus, Athena, Apollo, and Ares.

Location and constituents

The agora was usually located in the middle of a city or near the harbor. Agoras were built of colonnades, or rows of long columns, and contained stoae, also known as a long open walk way below the colonnades. They were beautifully decorated with fountains, trees, and statues. When the Athenian agora was rebuilt after the Greco-Persian Wars, colonnades and stoae were not incorporated.

Phobia

The term agoraphobia denotes a phobic condition in which the sufferer becomes anxious in environments that are unfamiliar – for instance, places where they perceive that they have little control. Such anxiety may be triggered by wide-open spaces, by crowds, or by some public situations, and the psychological term derives from the agora as a large and open gathering place.

Gallery

File:Side State Agora 4287.jpg, The Side State Agora in Side, Turkey
File:The Commercial Agora (13975446283).jpg, The Agora of Ephesus
File:Tlos Agora shops and storage 4149.jpg, Tlos Agora, southern Turkey
File:GR-delos-agora-compitaliasten.jpg, The Agora of the Competaliasts on Delos, Greece
File:Tower of the Winds - panoramio - Robert Freeman (1).jpg, Remains of the Roman Agora built in Athens during the Roman period
File:TR Pamukkale Hierapolis asv2020-02 img10.jpg, The Agora of Hierapolis, Turkey
File:Roman agora-Delphi.jpg, The Roman Agora (Delphi), Greece
File:Aphrodisias South agora and pool 056.jpg, South agora and pool in Aphrodisias, Turkey

See also

* Forum (Roman)
* Agorism
* Platonic Academy
* Egora (electronic agora)

References

* https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/68303

External links

*

Official Athenian agora excavations



{{Ancient Greece topics

Society of ancient Greece
Archaeological terminology
Economy of ancient Greece
Ancient Greek buildings and structures
Public space