sign in sign up
<<
Home , Altar of the Twelve Gods, Bouleuterion, Kerameikos, Pnyx, Prytaneis, Stoa Basileios

Arrangement

 Classical Greek cities – either result of continuous growth, or created at a single moment.

 Former – had streets –lines of communication, curving, bending- ease gradients.

Later- had grid plans – straight streets crossing at right angles- ignoring obstacles became stairways where gradients were too steep.

 Despite these differences, certain features and principles of arrangement are common to both. Greek towns

Towns had fixed boundaries. In 6th century BC some were surrounded by fortifications, later became more frequent., but even where there were no walls - demarcation of interior and exterior was clear.

 In most Greek towns availability of area- devoted to public use rather than private use.

- important gathering place – conveniently placed for communication and easily accessible from all directions. The Agora Of

• Agora originally meant "gathering place" but came to mean the market place and public square in an city. It was the political, civic, and commercial center of the city, near which were stoas, temples, administrative & public buildings, market places, monuments, shrines etc.

• The agora in Athens had private housing, until it was reorganized by Peisistratus in the 6th century BC. • Although he may have lived on the agora himself, he removed the other houses, closed wells, and made it the centre of Athenian government. • He also built a drainage system, fountains and a temple to the Olympian gods. • later improved the agora by constructing new buildings and planting trees. • In the 5th century BC there were temples constructed to , and .

• The and the assembly of all citizens met elsewhere in Athens, but some public meetings, such as those to discuss , were held in the agora. • Beginning in the period of the radical (after 509 BC), the , or city council, the Prytaneis, or presidents of the council, and the , or magistrates, all met in the agora. • The law courts were located there, and any citizen who happened to be in the agora when a case was being heard, could be forced to serve as a juror. • The , a kind of mercenary police force, often wandered the agora specifically looking for jurors. The agora in Athens again became a residential area during Roman and Byzantine times.

Socrates spent most of his time at the agora in Athens discussing the serious issues of the day with anyone who was willing.

Court house

To the and Gate

This is the leading first to the Kerameikos (Potters' Quarter)and then through the Dipylon Gate to the holy city of .

The "Sacred Way" is now the main route out of Athens to the west. The Panathenaic Way

This is where the Panathenaic Way left the Agora to begin its ascent to the .

This road got its name because the great procession of t he Panathenaea took this route on its way to the Acropolis.

The Panathenaic Way cut diagonally across the Agora from its northwest corner to its southeast corner.

To the Piraeus

• The way to the Piraeus Gate, leading to the port. To the • To the Pnyx : a six-minute walk up the hill to the hillside where the EKKLESIA met. • In earlier days, the people would have assembled in the Agora - but from about 460 B.C. the meetings of the assembly were in the Pnyx. • Officials ensured attendance by means of the "Red Rope" - a rope dipped in red powder. If you were caught with the red on you, you could be fined. The Altar of Urania

• Found in 1981: restored view of an elegant altar of c.500 B.C. - it uses marble from the islands (Paros or ), rather than local Pentelic, which only started to be used in 490 BC. There may be a temple somewhere nearby - a statue of Aphrodite by Pheidias is mentioned by . The Painted Stoa • The "Painted Stoa" (Stoa Poikile) Built about 475-450 BC.

• A south facing stoa about 36m long decorated with painted wooden panels by outstanding 5th century painters.

• The stoa was a general place for shelter and meeting - the written sources mention sword-swallowers, jugglers, beggars and fishmongers –

• And it was the birthplace of Stoicism around 300 BC, when Zeno used it as a base for his lectures on philosophy.

The Painted Stoa or Stoa Poikile was located at a crossroads just across the Panathenaic Way from the Royal Stoa (Stoa Basileios) on the northern boundary of the Agora.

It received its name from the paintings depicting great victories (like the Battle of Marathon) attached to its wall. These paintings were the work of famous Athenian artists.

Battle trophies were also displayed on the wall of the Painted Stoa, like the Spartan shields taken as spoils by the Athenians at Pylos in 425 and 424 BC.

The Stoa Basileios (Royal Stoa)

• Built towards end of 6th century and rebuilt after damage in Persian sack of 480 BC.

• Office of Basileus (King Archon), who was responsible for administering the laws on religious matters, including homicide as well as impiety and religious disputes. He also organized the Mysteries and the dramatic festival of at the Lenaia.

• King Archon set up a stone to commemorate his term of office, which records winners in Comedy and Tragedy.

In front of the stoa was a large block of unworked limestone, on which officials of the democracy took their oath before taking up office.

Socrates stood on it to hear the charges against him in 399 BC.

Inside the building, lining the walls, were inscribed the laws of Athens.

Thus any citizen could come here to consult the offical version of the constitution. "The Herms" Crossroads • This cross-roads was known as "the Herms" because of the large number of herms dedicated here. • Herms were square pillars topped with a head of with a phallus halfway up. • As Hermes was god of travel, luck (and thieves!) the entrance to the Agora was an appropriate place for them. • In 415 BC nearly all the herms in Athens were damaged or mutilated on one night - before the fleet was due to sail to .

• The small shrine here may be the very ancient Leokoreion - set up to commemorate three girls who were sacrificed to save the city from plague. • This was the spot where the was murdered in 514 BC by Harmodius and Aristogeiton. They became heroes of the democracy, although the killing was probably the result of a lover's quarrel.

painter sculpting a herm

a herm The Altar of the Twelve Gods An altar surrounded by a low stone wall.

All distances to Athens were measured from here, and it was obviously thought of as the actual centre of Athens.

The place was sacred to the twelve gods (presumably the ), and was famous as a place of .  Altar of the twelve gods, maybe used -the brink of a well or an Zodiac altar.  The object represents the twelve gods of the Roman pantheon, each identified by an attribute: Venus and Mars linked by Cupid, Jupiter and a lightning bolt, Minerva wearing a helmet, Apollo, Juno and her sceptre, Neptune and his trident, Vulcan and his sceptre, Mercury and his caduceus, Vesta, Diana and her quiver and Ceres.  Marble, found in Gabii (Italy), 1st century CE.

The Stoa of Zeus Eleutherios.

• Stoa of Zeus Eleutherios (Freedom) - dedicated to a god, but not a temple. • The stoa was erected at the end of the 5th century B.C. in honor of those who fought for the freedom and security of the city. • The cult of Freedom began in 479 BC after the defeat of the Persians at the battle of , when was freed from the threat of Persian dominance. • The Stoa dates from about 430-420 BC: it is a handsome building in Pentelic marble in the Doric order. • It was decorated with shields of men who'd died in battle, and paintings of battles. It was an informal meeting place. • Socrates met his friends and pupils here. • The roof, like those of temples, was decorated with statues (acroteria), at least one of which was a statue of Winged Nikê

• In the fourth century a number of paintings depicting Athenian victories were displayed. • mentions this stoa as a favorite resting place where one could sit and talk with friends. The Temple of Hephaistos

• The temple, known as the "Theseion", is Doric, peripteral, with a pronaos and opisthodomos. It crowns the hill of Agoraios and is the most prominent and better preserved monument of the Agora. • Dedicated to two gods, Hephaistos and , whose bronze cult statues stood in the interior. • Built 460 - 420 BC (delays- because of building programme on the Acropolis, and the ) of Pentelic marble, and is the best-preserved Greek temple.

The sculptural decoration showed labours of Heracles, labours of Theseus, and battle of Lapiths and Centaurs, and inside were statues of Athena and Hephaistos.

The sanctuary was landscaped to provide

shelter from the sun.

The Temple of Hephaistos (Hephaestus) is a Doric peripteral temple that has 6 columns along the front and 13 along the side. It measures 3.71m x 38.24m and was built around 449 BCE. The Synhedrion

A set of wide steps on the slope of the low hill. They were used as a meeting place, and possibly also an open-air court. The Old Bouleuterion or Metroön

Replaced as meeting place for the boule (reasons unknown) about 410, but remained the official "public records office" where archives were kept, and became known as Metroön

Laws, accounts, records of lawsuits, lists of ephebes etc were kept here: none have been preserved as they would have been on papyrus - copies on stone were often set up in a public place.

Bouleuterion means 'place for planning'.

At which time the old Bouleuterion was converted into a sanctuary for the Mother goddess (Mêtrôon), which was also used to house an archive for public records. The New Bouleuterion

• The New Bouleuterion replaced the Old Bouleuterion about 415-406 BC as the daily meeting place of the boule (council of 500). • Normally only the 50 members of the monthly presiding tribe (prytaneis) would be required, but the bouleuterion had seating for the full 500, on wooden benches arranged in a semi-circle.

The Great Drain

• The impressive "great drain" ran under the road here. The Tholos

• At the southwest side of the agora in Athens, and part of the Bouleuterion complex stood the Tholos ,a round temple (tholos is the Greek word for "circle") or Skias (the sun-hat), eighteen metres in diameter, which served as seat of the Prytaneis of Athens and so was their Prytaneion.

• Here the 50 prytaneis ate their meals during their month-long tour of duty (35/36 days) - one third was expected to be "on call" at any time, and would have also slept in the building to deal with an emergency.

• This was thus the control centre of the .

Some of the crockery has been found - simple black-glazed ware with DE scratched on it – the first two letters of DEMOSION (public property) - presumably to prevent the prytaneis walking off with it.

It was built soon after 480 BC.

The Tholos at Athens was the building which housed the Prytaneion, or seat of government, in ancient Athens.

It functioned as a kind of all purpose venue, with both a dining hall and sleeping quarters for some of the officials.

This accommodation was necessary as, after the reforms under , one third of the senate had to be present in the complex at all times. It was built around 470 BCE by Cimon, to serve as a dining hall for the boule (members of the senate).

The site had previously been occupied by an earlier civic building, the Prytanikon The Strategeion

• This building was probably the headquarters of the ten generals (strategoi).

• The strategoi were among the few officials elected (as opposed to being selected by lot) and were the real positions of power.

• All citizens were liable for military sevice

Simon the Cobbler's Shop

Objects found here include nails eyelets and best of all the base of a cup inscribed ΣΙΜΩΝΟΣ

• Almost certainly here, just outside the Agora, was the workshop of Simon, the philosophical cobbler. • A discarded cup with his name was found in the street outside, and inside were innumerable hobnails and eyelets for laces. • According to the literary evidence () Socrates used to chat here with the boys who were too young to enter the Agora. • According to , was also a frequent visitor. The Prison

Small earthenware pots which could have been used to hold a measured dose of pounded hemlock

• This building was probably the state prison - it contains 8 square rooms which could have been cells, 4 rooms for guards, a courtyard, and only one entrance. • There are provisions for bathing. • Imprisonment was not a common sentence in Athens (fines, exile or death were preferred) but it was here that Socrates was held in 399 BC pending execution. • A large number of small medicine bottles which could have contained have been found, and also a small statuette of Socrates.

A boundary stone

• The Agora was formally defined with a series of boundary stones around 500 BC, placed wherever a street entered the open square. These two are still in situ, and are inscribed "I am the boundary of the Agora".

• As well as women and males under 18, certain types of offender were banned from the open space: cowards, traitors, those who mistreat their parents, and "those who do not have clean hands" (). Basins for purification at the entrances emphasised that the Agora was a religious centre as well as a commercial one. The Monument of the Eponymous Heroes

This monument, a marble podium with ten bronze statues flanked on both sides by tripods, was located directly across from the Metroôn, which was adjacent to the Bouleuterion and the Tholos.

It was an important information center for the Athenians, to which were attached whitened boards with proposed legislation, charges in public prosecutions, agendas for the Assembly, and military conscription lists. Here were statues of the ten heroes whose names were given to the ten new tribes founded by Cleisthenes in 508/507 BC.

These tribes were the basis of the democracy, and provided 10 regiments, elected a (general) to lead each one, and provided 50 members annually for the boule, and feasted together at tribal sacrifices.

• Members of a tribe came from the three geographical regions - the city, the coast, inland - and, by fighting, feasting and serving as citzens together, bonds of loyalty were forged which were a crucial feature of the democracy. • The monument to the ten heroes after which the tribes were named was also a notice-board: under each statue relevant notices for each tribe would be hung.

General information was also posted here – “motions for discussion in the ekklesia.” (for example.)

Citizens would have to visit the monument every day, and it provided an essential focal point.

The Clepsydra - the town clock

• The large central tank would be filled, and as the water drained away through the outlet hole at the bottom, its falling level indicated the passing hours. • The full tank took about 17 hours to empty (more than enough for the longest day. The Greeks divided daylight into twelve equal hours. • A winter hour would be 45 minutes and a summer one 75). • It was built between 350 and 300 B.C. and held about 1000 litres.

The Heliaea ( Law Court)

• The Heliaea or the „dikasteria‟ as it generally became known when it was subdivided into smaller panels, was considered to be as vital as the Ecclesia for the maintenance of democracy.

Building dating from end of 5th century BC in which six bronze ballots were found in a terracotta "ballot box". The ballots were designed to be held between thumb and forefinger by the juror (so that his vote was secret) - there were two types: the solid axle for acquittal and the hollow axle for condemnation. The identification of the building as a coutroom rests on these finds.

• had created the Heliaea as a court of appeal, staffed by the people, which offered redress from the legal decisions of the archons and the Areopagus. • Ephialtes’ reforms in 462 bc marked a dramatic change in the demos’ control of legal system by establishing the Heliaea as a court of primary jurisdiction, dealing with the vast majority of private and public cases. The South Stoa

• The South Stoa was a two story structure which had a row of seventy- one Doric columns across the front and thirty-four Ionic columns to form the portico. • Before the South Stoa was constructed, the site was occupied by various structures. A stele shrine was located at the southwest end of the South Stoa, while various commercial structures were located under the westernmost shops and part of the portico. The early race course concluded near the western end of the South Stoa. • There are multiple phases in the construction of the South Stoa. • The Greek Stoa was 164.38m long and 25.15m deep and had a series of thirty-three shops and workrooms behind the portico. When it was constructed, the South Stoa was the largest public building in Greece. • Commencing during the reign of Augustus (31 B.C. to A.D. 14), shops were removed to make administrative spaces. Later, a fountain house, entrance court for the South Basilica, an elliptical room, a bath complex and latrine were added to the urban ensemble. Several spaces remained shops throughout the Roman period. The major period of construction within the South Stoa by the Romans was from ca. A.D. 50 to A.D. 150. • The exact functions of all of the Roman spaces within the South Stoa are not known. It has been suggested that the duovirs, the aediles, the Senate, and an official for the all had office space within the South Stoa. The precise location of the curia is unknown, but several spaces within the South Stoa have been proposed.

The Southeast Fountain House • Fountain-House The facade consists of poros Doric half-columns faced with plaster and supporting an entablature. Panels closed the intermediate spaces. Inside it was an open tank from which the water was drawn (mid-4th c. BC). At a later period (3rd c. BC) the tank was replaced by a well and the columns were carved with the names of the damiourgoi (eponymous priests of ancient Kameiros). Behind the fountain-house the remains of a stoa can be see. A revetment wall on three sides retained the earth fill of the upper terrace.

• One of the oldest buildings in the Agora, built by about 530-520 BC. A fountainhouse contained a water-tank so that jars could be filled with clean, fresh water from a spout - a popular improvement on drawing from a well. It would also have been something of a social centre for women, as can be seen from pictures on contemporary water-jars (hydria). • The Southeast Fountain House was built of Kara limestone by the Pisistratides around 530 BC. It was badly damaged by the Persians when they occupied the city. However, the Athenians managed to repair it and it continued to be in use throughout the Classical Period.

• The fountain measured 18 m wide and faced north. At its west end, a 6 m wide by 3 m deep reservoir floored with marble slabs allowed to dip jugs. At its east end a similar space was used for water spouts in the shape of animal heads. • During our period of reference, the Fountain House stood on the south side of the Agora between the South Stoa on the west and the Mint on the east. It was separated form the Mint by a narrow alley. The Mint

Dated to around 400 BC, and identified by furnaces, slag and unstruck coin- blanks. Athens did not use bronze for coinage in the 5th century, but no trace of metals other than bronze or lead have been found here.

Possibly it would have made bronze jurors' tickets (pinakia) and lamps before going over to coinage in the 4th century.

About 100.000 coins have been found in the Agora - mostly bronze: people took time to look for silver or gold. It is not known where the famous silver "owls" were minted.

A silver 4-drachma piece (tetradrachm) of about 435 BC. It has Athena on the obverse, and on the reverse a Little Owl - her symbol, together with an olive twig and the first three letters of Athens in Greek. The Greek goddess Athena was considered the child of Zeus alone for Zeus had swallowed her mother, Metis, and gave birth to Athena himself through his head and fully grown. She a goddess of civilization and war, reason and violence.

The Mint was an important part of any Greek city since each city-state had its own coinage. Stoa Of Attalos It was first build about the year 150 BC by Attalos II, king of and reproduced in later years, 1953-1956,to house the Agora Museum. • The Stoa of Attalos (also spelled Attalus) is recognised as one of the most impressive stoa in the Athenian Agora. It was built by and named after King Attalos II of Pergamon who ruled between 159 BC and 138 BC. • Typical of the Hellenistic age, the stoa was more elaborate and larger than the earlier buildings of ancient Athens. The stoa's dimensions are 115 by 20 metres wide and it is made of Pentelic marble and limestone. The building skillfully makes use of different architectural orders. The Doric order was used for the exterior colonnade on the ground floor with Ionic for the interior colonnade. • The building is similar in its basic design to the Stoa that Attalos' brother, and predecessor as king, Eumenes II had erected on the south slope of the Acropolis next to the . The main difference is that Attalos' stoa had a row of rooms at the rear on the ground floor that have been interpretted as shops. The Middle Stoa

Middle Stoa was present during the second and first centuries B.C.

It was located in the Sanctuary of Apollo Thermios.

It ran north-south between the Temple of Apollo and the South Stoa.

Middle Stoa is approximately in the middle of the Agora and dividing it into north and south areas.

It was built between 175 and 150 B.C.

It is 146 m by 480 ft long.

Open on all sides, with Doric columnsaround the perimeter suppoting the roof, this was divided into two aisles by ionic columns THANK YOU