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Group statue near the Temple of Hephaistos in the Ancient Agora

 

 

Ancient Agora

South-east side

 




Private houses in the Ancient Agora

The house of Simon the shoe-maker dated from the 5th century BCThe remains of many private houses have been found on the north, west and south slope of the Areios Pagos, outside the Ancient Agora.  Those of the Classical and Hellenistic periods, plain both in scale and furnishing, were probably the residences of craftsmen and merchants.

Their floor plan was simple. The various rooms were organized around a central rectangular court, usually without a peristyle. Their number and arrangement depended on the size of the houses.

Only the lower part of the walls was of stone. The rest was made of plinths covered with lime mortar. The floors were pressed mud-earth except for the andron (the men’s dining room) where the floor was paved with pebbles or mosaics. Many of these houses were two-storeyed. The wooden roof had terracotta tiling. Some larger and richer houses of the 4th and 5th centuries BC were the residences of famous teachers who, as is believed, gave private lessons and offered hospitality to their favorite students.

The ruins of a house have been found between the Tholos and the Middle Stoa. it had two rooms and a front court where numerous metal nails and small rings, such as those used in shoe-making, were found. The base of a cup inscribed with the name of its owner, “of Simon” was discovered. The house must have belonged to a shoe-maker, possibly the Simon whose workshop was visited by Socrates, according to ancient writers.


BYZANTINE HOUSES

The area around the Ancient Agora continued to be inhabited until the 6th-7th century. This can be confirmed by the existence of several luxurious late Roman houses such as the apsidal “House Γ” with a triclinium north from the Areios Pagos and by the remnants of houses in the area of the Tholos and the conversion of the Temple of Hephaestus (Hephaisteion – Theseion) into a Christian church (6th-7th century).

Model of the ancient city within the late Roman wallsToday the most probable theory is that from the late 10th century the city was limited within the late Roman walls, while during the 11th and mainly the 12th century a number of areas were developed outside the walls. Remains of Byzantine houses have been found on the east and north side of the Agoraios Kolonos in the Roman Agora, on the west side of Areios Pagos, in Kerameikos (above the Pompeion), on the southern side of the Acropolis (near the Odeion of Herodes Atticus and the Theatre of Dionysos) as well as near the Temple of Olympian Zeus (the Olympeion).

The expansion of the city in those areas outside the late Roman walls is also indicated by the great number of churches that were built there. One can get a better idea regarding the type of neighborhoods in medieval Athens from the small area on the north-eastern side of the Agoraios Kolonos where between the 10th and 12th century, a wide densely populated neighborhood developed.

The lack of city planning arrangements there is evident. The houses have been built on either side of a narrow street directed from the north towards the south. The houses have small rooms built around a yard which was usually whitewashed and had a small shed on one side. In most cases there have been two or three settlement stages. There used to be water wells in the yard while food supplies were stored in large earthenware jars embedded to the floor.

The buildings were cheap and only the foundations have been preserved while the restoration of the walls has been impossible. Amidst the houses there used to be small shops and workshops. There was a large square building with many rooms which might have been an indoor market, an inn or perhaps a workshop, probably manufacturing textiles. Top of the page


The Library of Pantainos

The Library of Pantainos was built to the south of the Stoa of Attalos. Between the two buildings there was a paved street with colonnades, constructed in 100 AD. which connected the Ancient Agora and the Roman Agora. The Library of Pantainos was built around that time by the Athenian Titus Flavius Pantainos in honor of the goddess Athena, the emperor Trajan and the people of Athens.

The building had a rectangular courtyard with a peristyle with several rooms around it. The main library hall was situated to the east. It was a large square room, 10 meters (32.80 ft) on each side with a colonnade at the front.  Its interior walls were covered with marble. This is where the books were kept.  The rooms on the western and northern side of the building, in front of which there was an Ionic colonnade, had their entrance from the Agora and they probably served as shops or sculptor’s workshops.

 The remains of the library are not visible today due to the construction of the late Roman wall which was built with architectural parts from public buildings that were destroyed during the invasion of the Herulians in 267 AD.

At the site a fragmentary inscription was found mentioning the rules of the library according to which lending books was not allowed. This inscription, as well as the dedicatory inscription of the donor, are displayed in the Ancient Agora Museum in the Stoa of Attalos. Top of the page


The reconstructed Stoa of Attalos in the Ancient AgoraThe Stoa of Attalos

The Stoa of Attalos is a prominent building in the east side of the Ancient Agora in Athens. It was built ca 150 BC with a donation from Attalos II, the King of Pergamon (159-138 BC). The Stoa of Attalos was discovered during the excavations carried out by the Greek Archaeological Society between 1859 and 1902. It is the most representative monument of the Hellenistic period in Athens.  The Stoa now houses the Ancient Agora Museum.

In reconstructing the Stoa of Attalos (1953-1956), the American School of Classical Studies in Athens used much of the original architecture.  The Stoa is a two-storeyed building (116 m by 19.4 m - 381 ft x 63.64 ft) made of Pentelic marble, grey Hymittos marble and Attic limestone.  The façade of the lower floor has a colonnade of 45 Doric columns with unfluted lower drums.  A second colonnade of 22 unfluted Ionic columns runs along the inside. At the far end of the Stoa there were 21 store-rooms which the city lent to private merchants.

The outer Doric and inner Ionic colonnade on the ground floor of the Stoa of Attalos in the Ancient AgoraIn the south-east part of the Stoa there was a stairway leading to the upper floor whose floor plan mirrored that of the ground floor with a colonnade of 45 Ionic columns along the façade. Marble parapets closed the spaces between the columns.  The interior colonnade was decorated by Pergamene capitals and there were 21 rooms. On the epistyle of the lower floor there were inscriptions with the donor’s name “King Attalos son of King Attalos and Queen Apollonis”.

In front of the Stoa there were honorific pedestals and statues. The most remarkable was a pedestal with a bronze quadriga  (a four-horse chariot) and its rider Attalos II, the donor of the Stoa. Later, the Athenians used the monument to honor Emperor Tiberius. The foundation of the pedestal can still be seen in front of the middle of the Stoa façade.

The Stoa of Attalos was a large and important commercial centre. It served Athenian trade and business. It offered shade in summer and shelter from the winter rains. The building is notable because of its special luxury which was an unusual feature. The Stoa was the most significant monument ever donated by the Attalids, the kings of Pergamon, to Athens.

The Stoa of Attalos was destroyed during the invasion of the Herulians (267 BC) and its building material was used to construct the new defensive wall, known as Rizokastro, along the eastern side of the Agora.

 
  WHAT TO SEE IN ATHENS
  THE ANCIENT AGORA
  THE ANCIENT AGORA
  SOUTH SIDE
    Private Houses
    Library of Pantainos
    Stoa of Attalos
  THE ANCIENT AGORA
  As it used to be
  PAINTED STOA
  SANCTUARY OF APHRODITE
  OURANIA
  PANATHINAIC WAY
  ROYAL STOA
  STOA OF ZEUS ELEUFTHERIOS
  ALTAR OF THE TWELVE GODS
  TEMPLE OF ARES
  TEMPLE OF APOLLO PATROOS
  ARSENAL
  STATUE OF HADRIAN
  TEMPLE OF HEPHAISTOS
  MONUMENT OF THE EPONYMOUS
  HEROES
  OLD BOULEUTERION AND THE
  METROON
  NEW BOULEUTERION
  THOLOS
  STRATIGEION
  SOUTH-WEST FOUNTAIN HOUSE
  HELIAIA
  SOUTH STOA
  ODEION OF AGRIPPA
  EAST BUILDING
  MIDDLE STOA
  ENNEAKROUNOS
  SOUTH-WEST TEMPLE
  NYMPHAEUM
  MINT
  SOUTH-EAST TEMPLE
  ELEUSINION
  ANCIENT AGORA MUSEUM
  AGHII APOSTOLI SOLAKI

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