Ancient Agora
· Landmarks · 4 min
Walk the Ancient Agora, once the heart of Athens' civic life.
The Ancient Agora was once the heart of Athens' civic life. Walk among the ruins of temples and stoas to the rebuilt Stoa of Attalos. This was the city's marketplace, and daily life here is still easy to picture.
The Agora was the everyday centre of Athenian democracy: Socrates taught here, and citizens met to argue the city's affairs. (The Assembly itself met on the Pnyx, the hill to the south-west.) Today you can walk the same paths as the philosophers and politicians who shaped Western civilisation.
The reconstructed Stoa of Attalos now houses the Agora Museum, with artefacts that bring the ancient marketplace to life. The Temple of Hephaestus, on the low hill above, is one of the most complete ancient Greek temples still standing.