Αρχαία Αγορά της Αθήνας | |
 | |
  Ancient Agora of Athens Central Athens | |
| Alternative name | Classical Agora |
|---|---|
| Location | Greece |
| Region | Attica |
| Coordinates | 37°58′30″N23°43′21″E / 37.97500°N 23.72250°E /37.97500; 23.72250 |
| History | |
| Material | Marble |
| Founded | 6th century BC |
| Periods | Classical era |
| Cultures | Ancient Greece |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates | 1931–present |
| Archaeologists | American School of Classical Studies at Athens |
| Condition | Ruined |
| Ownership | Public property |
| Management | Minister for Culture |
| Public access | Yes |
Theancient Agora of Athens (also called theClassical Agora) is an ancient Greekagora. It is located to the northwest of theAcropolis, and bounded on the south by the hill of theAreopagus and on the west by the hill known as theAgoraios Kolonos, also called Market Hill.[1] The Agora's initial use was for a commercial, assembly, or residential gathering place.[2]
A number of other notable monuments were added to the agora. Some of these included:
In the 4th and 5th centuries, there was significant evidence of women being innkeepers and merchants selling their products in the market of the Athenian agora. Some of the products they sold included fruits, clothes,pottery, religious and luxury goods, perfume,incense,purple dye, wreaths, and ribbons.
TheAthenian calendar boasted several religious festivals that were held in the Athenian agora. These festivals were significant as they provided Ancient Athenian women with the opportunity to socialize outside of the home. Additionally, some of these festivals were performed by women; these duties included officiating the worship ofgoddess Athena, patron goddess of the city. Performing these rituals forgoddesses was a prerequisite for the daughters ofaristocratic families. Women of all ranks and classes could be seen making offerings at the small shrines in the agora. Some women also set up substantial memorials to theirpiety within the agora. Religious festivals were a significant opportunity for the women of Athens to participate in their social culture.[17]
As of the early5th century, the Ancient Agora of Athens was known as glorious and richly decorated, set with famous works of art, many of them sculpted frommarble. The buildings of the Athenian Agora had marble decoration and housed dedications in the form ofmarble statues. Finds from the agora excavations identified that generations of marble-workers made the agora of Athens an important center for the production of marble sculptures. Marble-workers made sculptures, marble weights,sundials, furniture parts, and an assortment of kitchen utensils. Excavations of the Athenian agora revealed the remains of many marble-working establishments, various unfinished statues, reliefs, and utilitarian objects.
Excavations of the Athenian agora have proved that marble-workers were very active, the earliest workshops being established in the early5th century. The earliest areas used by marble workers were the residential and industrial districts southwest of the agora. Another area where marble-workers set up shop was in the South Square, after thesack of Athens by the Roman generalSulla in 86 BC. As the South Square was in ruins, marble-workers were attracted to the remains of the marble temples. A workshop from the southern corner of the agora was also important, the Library of Pantainos rented out rooms to marble-workers.
Literacy and evidence from excavations give a sense of statues and famous marble sculptors in the Athenian agora. These famous marble-workers of the Agora include, the 5th-century masterPhidias and his associateAlkamenes, and the 4th-century sculptorsPraxiteles,Bryaxis, andEuphranor.
Phidias was the most well known marble-worker to have worked in the agora. He was famous for his gold and ivory cult statue ofZeus at Olympia, and for his three lost sculptures ofAthena.
A well-known associate ofPhidias wasAlcamenes, whose most important works in the agora were the bronze cult statues ofHephaestus andAthena in theTemple of Hephaestus.
These famous sculptors are attested in the agora by the discovery of signed pieces of work that could no longer be preserved. A marble statue signed and possibly carved byBryaxis was found in the agora behind the Royal Stoa.
The 4th century marble-worker known for his sculptures, made a colossal statue ofApollo for theTemple of Apollo Patroos on the west side of the agora.[18]
Between 1851 and 1852, theArchaeological Society of Athens (alearned society with a prominent role in the excavation and conservation of ancient monuments) undertook excavations in the neighbourhood of Vrysaki (later discovered to be the area of the Agora), in the courtyard of a house (known as the "Psoma House") owned by Louisa Psoma.[19] The excavation was intended to uncover the remains of theBouleuterion (the ancient city's assembly building) and the temples known as theMetroon and theTholos, and required the Archaeological Society to sell shares in theNational Bank of Greece worth 12,000 drachmas[a] to buy the plot. Pittakis led the excavation, assisted by the society's archaeologistsPanagiotis Efstratiadis and D. Charamis. Although the excavation furnished several ancient inscriptions, published by Efstratiadis in three volumes, it failed to uncover the promised ancient monuments;[20] the archaeologistKonstantinos Kouroniotis [Wikidata] found in 1910 that the antiquities discovered at the house were associated with the late Romanwalls of the city.[21] Further excavations were undertaken byWilhelm Dörpfeld, the director of theGerman Archaeological Institute at Athens (DAI), in 1882–1888, to locate the ancient Agora on the western slope of theAcropolis and on theAreopagus hill; the DAI undertook further excavations in the Agora area in 1895–1896, while the Archaeological Society of Athens made more explorations in 1907–1908 with the same goal.[22]
In 1924, a bill was presented to theHellenic Parliament for the expropriation of properties in Vrysaki to allow the excavation of the Agora, but it was defeated. The government attempted to persuade theGreek Archaeological Service to find the necessary funds, but it became clear that only theforeign archaeological institutes would be able to raise sufficient capital, and of these only theAmerican School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA) took interest in the project.[23] The ASCSA's control of the excavation was negotiated by theEdward Capps, whom the school would honor with a memorial overlooking the project.[24][25][26] In 1930, the ASCSA appointedT. Leslie Shear, then director of its work atCorinth, to lead the excavation.[27] Although the initial plan was for Shear to serve as the project's field director, underRhys Carpenter as general director, Carpenter was never appointed, and Shear had total control over the excavations.[28] Shear arranged for the photographic documentation of Vrysaki, which was to be demolished in the course of the project, under the excavation's photographer,Hermann Wagner [de], and a Greek photographer named Messinesi.[29]
The Agora excavations became one of the largest archaeological projects in Greece.[30] They were largely funded by the financierJohn D. Rockefeller Jr.,[31] and secured through American loans to Greece.[32] Staff on the project includedHomer A. Thompson,Eugene Vanderpool,Benjamin Meritt,Dorothy Burr,Virginia Grace,Lucy Talcott,Alison Frantz,Piet de Jong andJohn Travlos, all of whom were or became noted figures in Greek archaeology.[33] Shaer's wife,Josephine Platner Shear, supervised the digging and led the study and conservation of numismatics from the site, as well as making the discovery of a new 2nd-century CE Athenian coin.[34][35]
The first season, in 1931, consisted only of minor exploratory work.[36] The 1932 season was more substantial; excavation was conducted for a period of six months. The work uncovered theStoa Basileios, the Agora'sGreat Drain, and theStoa of Zeus Eleutherios, as well as a statue of the Roman emperorHadrian believed to be that described by Pausanias as standing in front of the latter building.[37] During the 1933 season, which ran from February to July, parts of theBouleuterion were uncovered, as well as inscriptions placing theMetroon in the area south and east of the Stoa Basileios, and parts of the late RomanValerian Wall.[38] In the excavation season between January 22 and May 12, 1934, the project uncovered theTholos, secured the location of the Bouleuterion and the Metroon, and discovered theTemple of Apollo Patroos and theAltar of the Twelve Gods.[39] The 1935 season closed on June 29: by this point, around half of the site had been cleared, and the total discoveries included almost 600 items of sculpture, over 6,000 pieces of pottery, and over 41,000 coins.[40]
_-_Photo_by_Giovanni_Dall%2527Orto%2c_Nov_9_2009.jpg)
By the 1936 season, which ran between January 27 and June 13, the excavations were conducted over eight different locations. This campaign uncovered theOdeon of Agrippa and a fountain-house identified as the Enneakrounos,[41] as well as parts of theMonument to the Tyrannicides and a shield taken as plunder after theBattle of Pylos in 425 BCE.[42] Between January 25 and June 1937, the ASCSA excavated around theTemple of Hephaestus, determining the date of the Valerian Wall and uncovering the location and footprint of theTemple of Ares, as well as several items of Early and Middle Helladic pottery.[43] In the 1938 season, between January 24 and June 18, the course of thePanathenaic Way was plotted, allowing the full boundaries of the Agora to be established.[44]
Shear expected the 1939 season to be the last major campaign of digging required, and during it 56,000 tons of earth were cleared, more than in any other year. The excavations largely concentrated on the lower slope of theAreopagus hill, where aMycenaean chamber tomb believed by to have been built by one of theKings of Athens was uncovered.[45] Ground was also cleared for the construction of a new museum, under the direction ofRodney Young, but was delayed by Young's discovery of ancient tombs in the area. These tombs were further investigated during a five-week campaign in 1940. During that season, preparations were made for the excavations to be halted for theSecond World War: artefacts were handed over to the Greek government,[46] and records were photographed and then placed in a bomb-proof shelter.[47]
John McK Camp served as Director of the excavations since 1994, until his retirement in 2022.John K. Papadopoulos is now in the position of Director following Camp's retirement.
After the initial phase of excavation, in the 1950s the HellenisticStoa of Attalos was reconstructed on the east side of the agora, and today it serves as a museum and as storage and office space for the excavation team.[48]
A virtual reconstruction of the Ancient Agora of Athens has been produced through a collaboration of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and theFoundation of the Hellenic World, which had various output (3d video, VR real-time dom performance, and Google Earth 3d models).[49]
During a 1974 excavation, a lead tablet was discovered. The tablet was a letter written byLesis, a slave. It was one of the few recorded instances of slave literacy.[50]
Evidence of planting was discovered during the excavations and on 4 January 1954, the firstoak andlaurel trees were planted around the Altar of Zeus byQueen Frederika andKing Paul as part of the efforts to restore the site with plants that would have been found there in antiquity.[51]
The museum is housed in theStoa of Attalos, and its exhibits are connected withAthenian democracy. The collection of the museum includes clay, bronze and glass objects, sculptures, coins and inscriptions from the 7th to the 5th century B.C., as well as pottery of the Byzantine and Ottoman periods. The exhibition within the museum contains works of art which describe the private and public life in ancient Athens. In 2012, a new sculpture exhibition was added to the museum which includes portraits from Athenian Agora excavations. The new exhibition revolves around portraits of idealized gods, officially honored people of the city, wealthy Roman citizens during the Roman occupation (1st and 2nd century A.D.), 3rd-century citizens and finally on works of art from private art schools of late antiquity.[52]
Media related toMuseum of the Ancient Agora at Wikimedia Commons{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)| North Side |  | |
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37°58′30″N23°43′21″E / 37.97500°N 23.72250°E /37.97500; 23.72250
