The Ancient Agora

As it used to be

The Agora ,meaning market or gathering place, was a civic and commercial center of ancient Athens, located northwest of the Acropolis. On a typical day, citizens shopping or participating in various political activities created a large flow of traffic.

The people in the Agora would have been predominantly male with the exception of women of the lower classes who had to help their family make a living and performed menial tasks (like getting water from one of the two fountain houses) alongside slave women from richer families. For fear of corruption, aristocratic families often did not allow their sons to frequent the Agora until young adulthood. To spend much idle time in the Agora was considered the mark of a bad character.

North-West Side

The photo shows the north-west side of the Ancient Agora as it is now. The numbers on the photo refer to the buildings that used to be there and that are listed below.