The Ancient Agora of Athens was the center of public life. The large open square fascinated the Athenians on various occasions: trade, elections, consultations, trials but also theatrical events, ceremonies, military gymnasiums or sports competitions, everything could take place in the Agora.
Administrative, judicial and commercial buildings (stoes), altars, temples and sanctuaries, fountains, conservatory, library, the Vima, monuments and votive offerings of donors, areas for walking and philosophical explorations framed the Dromo, the ancient road that led from the Dipylos to the Acropolis and which was followed by the magnificent procession of the Panathenaians.
On the hill of the Agora, Agoraio Colonos, dominates the temple of Hephaestus, patron of metalworkers, and of Athena Ergani, patron of potters, the best preserved temple of the 5th c. B.C.
At the foot of the hill, the public buildings that housed the institutions of the Athenian Republic were revealed (the Parliament, where bills were prepared, the Dome, the seat of the executive power, the State Archives). From the SW of the square, the ancient Athenians took the road to the place of popular assemblies on the hill of Pnyka, crossing densely populated districts of the city. All the great politicians of the 5th and 4th centuries acted in the Ancient Agora and Pnyka. BC, great philosophers, among them Socrates and above all the anonymous today but then all-powerful Athenian citizen participating in the institutions of the immediate Athenian Republic.
To the south of the Agora rises Areios Pagos, the seat of the primary court and sacred place of the mythical Erinyes.
odysseus.culture/Ancient Agora of Athens- Areios Pagos
