Archaic Agora of Athens (480 BC)
The ancient sources have led researchers to conclude that the first Agora of Ancient Athens was located elsewhere in the city. It is most likely that it was located in the area east of the Acropolis, around the current square of Agia Aikaterini in Plaka. The area of today's Agora was probably shaped by Peisistratus, with the main road being the Panathenaea Street. In the following years, many civic functions were transferred to this new area, while the destruction of the city by the Persians in 480 BC contributed to the final transfer of the city's center to the place we now know as Agora.
Panoramic view of the Agora from the north.
The Agora of Athens before the Persian Wars
A reconstruction of the area before the Persian Wars is very difficult to portrait. Nevertheless, we know many facts about some of the buildings: on the south, there was a spring and the grounds of the Aiakeion sanctuary. On the west, there were the temples of Zeus, of Patroos Apollo, the Metroon, the Bouleuterion and the Prytanicon. On the north one could find the Altar of the 12 Gods and the Leokoreion sanctuary, constructed by the tyrant Peisistratus. At the Leokoreion the son of Peisistratus, Hipparchus, was murdered by Harmodius and Aristogeiton, the famous Tyrannicides. Finally, southeast of the Agora, there was the sanctuary of Demeter, the Eleusinion.
View from the north. In the foreground the Leokoreion where Hipparchos was murdered, and the altar of the 12 Gods (525 BC). In the background, the Acropolis.
The Bouleuterion (500 BC). A square building with an amphitheatre inside. It was the place where the Council of the 500 elected Deputies were discussing the city’s matters. Something like the modern parliament.
The Prytanikon. (550-525 BC) It is sometimes considered as a house of Peisistratus and his sons. During the Democracy times, however, it served as a dinning room for the elected Deputies. During the excavation, pottery was found with the inscription: “ΔΕ” (Δημόσιον-Demosion), meaning that it belongs to the State.
From the left to the right: The Metroon (temple dedicated to the Mother of the Gods), the temple of Patroos Apollo, the temple of Zeus (all buildings of the 6th century BC) and the Royal (or Basileios) Stoa, the earliest building of this type in Athens.
The so-called Southeast fountain was probably built by Peisistratus or his sons in around 530-520 BC. It was the first fountain house in the Agora that brought water to the city from afar, signifying the importance of the Agora as a public space that emerged at around that time.
The Basileios (or Royal) Stoa was the earliest of this building type in Athens. Its initial construction date is still not clear but it must have been standing in around 550-500 BC. In the following years it was restored several times.
The altar of the 12 Gods was founded by Peisistratus the Younger (grandson of the tyrant Peisistratus) in around 522/1 BC. It was an important landmark as all the distances from Athens to other places were measured from this spot.
