The Agora

Winners Monument for Equestrian Games in 360 BC

If the Acropolis was the fancy cupcake of Athens, the Agora was its souvlaki and gyros.  

It was the primary hub for cultural, social, political and commercial engagements.

Entry to Odeion of Agrippa, 15 BC

The Agora of Athens was more accessible in every sense but especially in terms of physical exertion to get there.

It didn't require the long uphill climb all the way to the top of the fortress mesa, though the terrain does slant upward approaching the Acropolis.

Theatrical and athletic performances were held in the Agora during Greek times, making it the hip place to go in your coolest toga.

After the Romans supplanted the Greeks and just before the time of Jesus in 15 BC, they built a magnificent concert hall, the Odeon of Agrippa, and the entryway statues still (for the most part) remain.

The Agora is where the Council of 500, the Boule, met to conduct government administration, but the Ekklesia, with 5000 men attending an average session, would have created too much of a traffic jam if they met in the city hub regularly (make a note, San Fernando Valley residents).

When the punishment of ostracism, which could be up to ten years and was a tough sentence for convicted criminals within the purview of the Ekkelsia's horde of citizen representatives, they held hearings in the city center rather than the Pnyx, probably to be sure that any citizen with an opinion on the matter weighed in, since the outcome would be based on simple majority rule.

The Agora would have been a natural place to gather for discussing trade and conducting business.

"All we are is dust in the wind, dude."

Being Greece, of course, there would have been discussions of philosophy.

Socrates taught children outside of the Agora, because only adults only were allowed inside, but he undoubtedly must have ruffled a few feathers in town with his religious theories, because he was eventually executed for his philosophy.

The Hephastion

Around the real time of Socrates, in about 500 BC, magnificent stoas, with large open porticos surrounded by columns, surrounded the Agora, much like the place where Bill and Ted found Socrates during their Excellent Adventure.

Two stoa remain.

Julie at Stoa of Atallos (Agora Archaelogical Museum)

One is the Temple of Hephastos, also known as the Hephastion.

The other is the Stoa of Atallos, which was re-constructed from the ground up in the 1950s to house a museum of antiquities.

Roman Emperor Hadrian, 130 AD

Admission to the Agora Archaeological Museum of Athens is included with a ticket to the Agora, and while the collection is not large, it is well worth seeing.  It includes wonderful artifacts and statues from several amazing eras.

As silly as it now sounds, Julie and I hesitated to buy admission because we really didn't have time to give justice to the Acropolis by the time we saw other places in Athens on this trip, but eventually we decided 12 Euro each wasn't such a bad deal to see ancient sites where western civilization developed as long as we were already halfway around the world from our home.



It turned out our assumption was wrong, and we could buy tickets to just the Agora for 4 Euro each. 

Greece recently decided to raise prices on admission to historic sites and museums, so expect to pay more.  With the Greek financial crisis, it is logical for them to tap these tourist attractions to raise hard currency, because tourism is their major industry.

Wes at Our Hotel's Rooftop Bar with Acropolis in Distance

Acropolis View from Hotel Elevator Area