Today:
Ancient Agora is today one of the most touristic areas of the historic center of Athens and extends to the modern regions of Kerameikos, Monastiraki and Thisio.
Name:
In ancient Greek the meaning of the word agora means "place of assembly", and in fact constituted a space point of the city where it was a meeting point for the ancient Greeks to discuss, communicate to study and create and of course was the center of trade in the city of Athens, hence the modern name of the word agora which nowadays means market in modern greek.
History:
From prehistoric times it was a place of habitation and burial, while since the 6th century B.C., gained its importance as a place of concentration to use as a public space, reaching to take its final form in the 2nd century A.D.
The ancient Agora of Athens, was built in the area northwest of the Sacred Rock of the Acropolis and was founded in the mid-6th century B.C. For the next four centuries, during the Classical and Hellenistic periods it was the administrative, philosophical, cultural, educational, spiritual and financial center of Athens.
The story spans from the time of prehistoric and Mycenaean era with the first signs of human presence in Geometric and Archaic era. During the Geometric period the region falls into a small inertia and is called Kerameikos. However around the 600 BC period, Solon transferred the administrative center of the "Theseus Agora", located west of the Acropolis, at the area of Kerameikos and later the space was divided by Peisistratos, with a wall which defined the city in Inside and Outside of Kerameikos, by creating on the Inside Kerameikos the political center of Agora and on the Outside Kerameikos the cemetery. At the same time Peisistratos outlined the "Panathenaic Street" - which oddly enough until today is the only one that has remained unchanged despite the changes and disasters the place suffered since then. Indeed, in 479 BC the city and its buildings were destroyed during the Persian invasion of Athens led by General Mardonius.
During the classical period Athens reconstructed quickly and in the Golden Age of Pericles many famous and well-known buildings were built, from which many have survived until today. During the Hellenistic and Roman periods the market is changing radically, many new buildings are built but after each invasion and looting they are destroyed and replaced by new.
The market gets its most impressive form with the help of several Roman emperors and officials, after the destruction caused by Sylla. However, during the late Roman era comes a new wave of disasters, when the Market is almost completely destroyed by the invasion of the Heruli in 267. During the Byzantine era a new wall is built leaving the Market outside. Only the Temple of Hephaestus remains intact. In 384 comes a radical change in the area by Theodosius I, who orders the closure of the philosophical schools and ancient convents, and therefore changed the operation of many temples. A typical example was the conversion of the Temple of Hephaestus in the church of St. George and in 1000 AD the construction of the church of the Holy Apostles. In 1204 the Agora suffers another destruction from the invasion of Leo Sgouros.
In 1456 with the Ottoman conquest of Athens by Omar, Agora surprisingly continued to grow and expand. Indeed, in the same year at the northern end of the former Roman market there is the construction of a mosque known as "Fethiye Mosque" which was built on middle-Byzantine era ruins, part of which are still visible on the north side of the mosque.
The last disaster was to come with the Revolution of 1821. With the establishment of the new state and the arrival of King Otto, Agora was buried beneath the already crowded modern Athens. The first excavations to uncover the site of the ancient market began in the 19th century by the Archaeological Society in cooperation with German archaeologists. Since 1931, however, began a systematic excavation of the site by the American School of Classical Studies, which progressed with dotted rhythms due to WWII and the Greek civil war and continued between 1946 and 1960. Τhe excavation works continued in 1969 for some time and started again in 1980 continuing until today, supervised since 1957 by the Greek Archaeological Service which is under the Ministry of Culture.
