The Athenian Agora | ||
The term agora (pronounced ah-go-RAH) is Greek for 'open place of assembly' and, early | Párr. 1 | |
in the history of Greece, designated the area in a city where free-born citizens could gather | ||
to hear civic announcements, muster for military campaigns, or discuss politics. It later | ||
designated the open-air marketplace of a city. | ||
5 | The agora of Athens is the best-known, though the term was used in other city-states | Párr. 2 |
for their public spaces where events of the day were discussed, merchants had their shops, | ||
and craftspeople sold their wares. Agora is therefore also understood to mean an assembly of | ||
people as well as where they meet. The agora of Athens was located below the Acropolis near | ||
the building which today is known as the Thesion (the Temple of Hephaestus), and open-air | ||
10 | markets are still held in that same location today. The site is frequently referenced as the | |
birthplace of democracy since it was here that political discussions and arguments gave rise | ||
to that concept. | ||
The site was destroyed, along with the rest of the city, during the Persian king Xerxes’ | Párr. 3 | |
invasion in 480 BC and was rebuilt by order of the Athenian statesman Pericles (l. 495-429 | ||
15 | BCE). Socrates (l. c. 470/469-399 BC) questioned the citizenry of Athens in the agora, and | |
it was there that the young playwright and aristocrat Aristocles of Athens first heard him | ||
speak, burned his plays, and devoted himself to the development of Greek philosophy under | ||
the name Plato (l. 428/427 - 348/347 BC). The agora was also the site of the court which | ||
condemned Socrates for impiety in 399 BC and sentenced him to death. | ||
20 | The agora was important because it was where the community congregated to discuss | Párr. 4 |
events of the day, politics, religion, philosophy, and legal matters. The agora served the same | ||
purpose in ancient Athens as the town square and town hall in later societies. Like the later | ||
town centers, the agora was a cultivated area adorned with trees, gardens, fountains, | ||
colonnaded buildings, statues, monuments, and shops selling assorted goods. | ||
25 | The Athenian agora played host to later philosophers after Socrates such as Diogenes | Párr. 5 |
of Sinope (l. c. 404-323 BC) who actually lived there on the streets, Crates of Thebes (l. c. | ||
360-280 BC) and his wife Hipparchia of Maroneia (l. c. 350-280 BC), who did the same, | ||
and Saint Paul (l. c. 5 - c. 64), who preached there at the Areopagus. According to the biblical | ||
Book of Acts 17:16-33, Paul encountered the Stoics and the Epicureans at the Athenian agora | ||
30 | and preached the news of the gospel of Jesus Christ to them there. | |
The agora continued as an important site of commerce, public discourse, and social | Párr. 6 | |
life through the early Roman period but was destroyed in 267 by the Germanic Heruli and in | ||
396 by the Visigoths. In the 7th century, some buildings – like the Temple of Hephaestus – | ||
were converted into churches and so preserved. The site was officially recognized for its | ||
35 | historical importance in the 19th century, and restoration of parts of it began in the 20th, | |
notably the reconstruction of the Stoa of Attalos which today houses a museum. In the | ||
present day, the area around the ancient agora of Athens continues to serve as a meeting place | ||
for public discourse, commerce, and protest just as it did in the past and efforts have been | ||
made to preserve it as an important historic site. | ||
40 | ||
Mark, J. J. (2021, Mayo de 2021). Agora. World History Encyclopedia. | ||
https://www.worldhistory.org/agora/ |