Ancient Agora of Athens

Ancient Agora of Athens (Polignotou Street, Athens) – the Greek word for “gathering place” is “agora”. This open field, located just northwest of the Acropolis, was a public space during the Ancient Greek periods (dating back to the 7th century BC). This became the center of Athenian government and Ancient Greek democracy, since this space also accommodated buildings of various governmental functions (including law courts), as well as temples. It was also the place where philosophers such as Socrates and Plato taught their ideas to the public. The Agora was abandoned after the Second Persian invasion of Greece (480-479 BC), and went through subsequent periods of reconstruction (during the Age of Pericles and Reign of Augustus Caesar) and destruction (Peloponnesian Wars, Seige of Athens by Roman general Sulla, invasion of Athens by Herulians). The Ancient Agora was gradually abandoned from the Byzantine period onward, with archaeological excavation efforts being conducted on and off from the mid-19th century onward.

Hours: 8:00 am – 3:00 pm (daily). Admission: €4 (general). €2 (reduced: seniors, non-EU students). Free admission for EU students and children up to 17 years.

Note: Museum of Ancient Agora – this museum is housed in the reconstructed Stoa of Attalos, originally erected during the 2nd century BC as a gift of the king of Pergamon, Attalos II, to Athens. The exhibition in the Museum gallery holds archaeological finds coming from the systematic excavations of the American School of Classical Studies in the area and dated from the Neolithic to the Post-byzantine and Ottoman periods. The Museum exhibition is organized in chronological and thematic units that reveal aspects of the public and private life in ancient Athens. The earliest antiquities, potsherds, vases, terracotta figurines and weapons, dating from the Neolothic, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Geometric period, come from wells and tombs excavated in the area of the Athenian Agora and its environs.

The most important exhibits are the objects associated with the various departments of civic life and the institutions of the Athenian Democracy and are dated from the Classical and Late Classical periods. Among them are exhibited official clay measures, bronze official weights, a fragment of a marble allotment machine, official jurors identification tags, a clay water-clock, official bronze ballots, and potsherds inscribed with names of illustrious political personalities of the 5th century BC Athens which were used as ballots in the process of ostracism. Of special interest is a marble stele adorned with a relief showing the People (Demos) of Athens being crowned by Democracy and inscribed with a law against tyranny passed by the people of Athens in 336 BC. Also exhibited are fine specimens of black-figured and red-figured pottery – some attributed to renowned vase painters, as well as kitchen and table ware, lamps, terracotta figurines, coins and jewelry.

Hours: 8:00 am – 3:00 pm (daily). Admission: €4 (general). €2 (reduced: seniors, non-EU students). Free admission for EU students and children up to 17 years.