The Ancient Agora from the Areopagus on May 12, 2020

The agora (; grc, ἀγορά, romanized: ', meaning "market" in

Modern Greek Modern Greek (, , or , ''Kiní Neoellinikí Glóssa''), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the ...

) was a central

public space A public space is a place that is open and accessible to the general public. Roads (including the pavement), public squares, parks, and beaches are typically considered public space. To a limited extent, government buildings which are open to ...

in ancient

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

city-states A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...

. 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 The ancient Agora of Athens (also called the Classical Agora) is the best-known example of an ancient Greek agora, 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 kn ...

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 A marketplace or market place is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a '' souk'' (from the Arabic), ' ...

, where merchants kept stalls or shops to sell their goods amid

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or cur ...

s. This attracted

artisan An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art ...

s 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

was situated beneath the northern slope of the

Acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens, ...

. The Ancient Agora was the primary meeting ground for Athenians, where members of

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose g ...

congregated affairs of the state, where business was conducted, a place to hang out, and watch performers and listen to famous

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

s. 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 Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...

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 Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

and to the main gate of the city,

Dipylon The Dipylon ( gr, Δίπυλον, "Two-Gated") was the main gate in the city wall of Classical Athens. Located in the modern suburb of Kerameikos, it led to the namesake ancient cemetery, and to the roads connecting Athens with the rest of Greece. ...

. 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 Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of v ...

every four years. The agora was also famously known for housing the

Temple of Hephaestus The Temple of Hephaestus or ''Hephaisteion'' (also "Hephesteum" or "Hephaesteum"; grc, Ἡφαιστεῖον, ell, Ναός Ηφαίστου, and formerly called in error the Theseion or "Theseum"; grc, Θησεῖον, ell, Θησείο), ...

, 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 Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek relig ...

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

, and

Ares Ares (; grc, Ἄρης, ''Árēs'' ) is the Greek god of war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for success in war ...

Location and constituents

The agora was usually located in the middle of a city or near the harbor. Agoras were built of

s, or rows of long columns, and contained

stoa A stoa (; plural, stoas,"stoa", ''Oxford English Dictionary'', 2nd Ed., 1989 stoai, or stoae ), in ancient Greek architecture, is a covered walkway or portico, commonly for public use. Early stoas were open at the entrance with columns, usuall ...

e, 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 The Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the Persian Wars) were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire and Greek city-states that started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC. The collision between the fractious political world of th ...

, colonnades and stoae were not incorporated.

Phobia

The term

agoraphobia Agoraphobia is a mental and behavioral disorder, specifically an anxiety disorder characterized by symptoms of anxiety in situations where the person perceives their environment to be unsafe with no easy way to escape. These situations can i ...

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 Side is a city on the southern Mediterranean coast of Turkey. It includes the modern resort town and the ruins of the ancient city of Side, one of the best-known classical sites in the country. It lies near Manavgat and the village of Selimi ...

File:The Commercial Agora (13975446283).jpg, The Agora of

Ephesus Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἔφεσος, Éphesos; tr, Efes; may ultimately derive from hit, 𒀀𒉺𒊭, Apaša) was a city in ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia, southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built i ...

File:Tlos Agora shops and storage 4149.jpg, Tlos Agora, southern Turkey File:GR-delos-agora-compitaliasten.jpg, The

Agora of the Competaliasts The Agora of the Competaliasts is one of the main markets on the island of Delos, Greece, which dates to the last quarter of the 2nd century BC. This market is directly adjacent to the Sacred Harbour. The bases of a square and a round marble mo ...

Delos The island of Delos (; el, Δήλος ; Attic: , Doric: ), near Mykonos, near the centre of the Cyclades archipelago, is one of the most important mythological, historical, and archaeological sites in Greece. The excavations in the island ar ...

, Greece File:Tower of the Winds - panoramio - Robert Freeman (1).jpg, Remains of the Roman Agora built in Athens during the

Roman period The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

File:TR Pamukkale Hierapolis asv2020-02 img10.jpg, The Agora of

Hierapolis Hierapolis (; grc, Ἱεράπολις, lit. "Holy City") was originally a Phrygian cult centre of the Anatolian mother goddess of Cybele and later a Greek city. Its location was centred upon the remarkable and copious hot springs in clas ...

, Turkey File:Roman agora-Delphi.jpg, The

Roman Agora (Delphi) The Roman Agora is the first building that one encounters nowadays upon entering the archaeological site of the sanctuary of Apollo in Delphi. Description The first building remains that the visitor sees upon entering the precinct of the sanctuar ...

, Greece File:Aphrodisias South agora and pool 056.jpg, South agora and pool in

Aphrodisias Aphrodisias (; grc, Ἀφροδισιάς, Aphrodisiás) was a small ancient Greek Hellenistic city in the historic Caria cultural region of western Anatolia, Turkey. It is located near the modern village of Geyre, about east/inland from t ...

, Turkey

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