The Ancient Agora of Athens is the best example of an ancient Greek agora. It is located northwest of the Acropolis and within easy reach from Monastiraki square (and metro station).

Opening hours and tickets

The Ancient Agora is open, during winter, every day from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. During the summer, you can visit it daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Please note that the museum within the Agora opens at 10 a.m. regardless of the time of the year.

A ticket (including the museum) costs €10 (adult) but you can also use the €30 combined ticket purchased at any of the other sites within the “archeological park” of Athens.

Buildings

Until Peisistratus, the Agora comprised only private housing. Peisistratus make it the center of the Athenian government and although he lived within the Agora, the other houses were removed. He constructed a temple and by the 5th century BC the temples of Hephaestus, Zeus and Apollo have also been constructed.

From 509 BC, the city council, the Archons, or magistrates, along with plenty other important persons in Athens met in the Agora.

Temple of Hephaestus

It is the best preserved Greek temple. It is located on the top of the Agoraios Kolonos hill and until 1834 served as a Greek Orthodox church.

After the Persians invaded Greece, the Greeks swore never to rebuild the buildings destroyed but directed their funds to rebuilding the economy. But Pericles wanted to rebuild Athens and make it the center of Greek power and culture. Historians believe the construction of the temple took about 30 years because, meantime, the money were redirected to building the Parthenon.

Stoa of Attalos

It is one of the newest buildings added to the Agora. It is of the Hellenistic age and has been fully restored. It now houses the Ancient Agora Museum.

In 2003, the ceremony of the signing of Treaty of Accession of 10 countries to the European Union was held here.

Other buildings in the Ancient Agora

• Heliaia – the supreme court of Ancient Athens
• Strategion – the meeting room of the ten Strategoi of ancient Athens
• Tholos – the seat of the government , located on the southwest side of the Agora
• Metroon – a building dedicated to Demeter, the mother goddess
• Altar of the Twelve Gods – the ancient altar dedicated to the twelve gods worshiped in ancient Greece (Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Hestia, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, Athena, Ares, Aphrodite and Hermes); the location was only discovered in 2011 when more diggings were made for the Athens-Piraeus Railway
• Temple of Ares – a Doric peripteral temple similar to the one dedicated to Hephaestus
• Temple of Apollo Patroos
• Stoa of Zeus
• Temple of Aphrodite Urania
• Stoa Basileios
• Stoa of Hermes
• Stoa Poikile
• Altar of Zeus Agoraios – it was one of the first things to be discovered when the excavations started
• Odeon of Agrippa – large concert hall located in the center of the Agora
• Synagogue in the Agora of Athens
• Church of the Holy Apostles

>>for those passionate about history and Greek architecture, this guide comprises a lot of useful and interesting information

When and how to visit

If you visit Athens during the winter (November 1 to March 31) plan your visit in the Agora on Sunday. There’s free entrance to the site and you can easily visit the Agora in about an hour and then head to the museum. If you visit during the summer, try to arrive early because it gets hot during the day (and there isn’t much shade within the Agora).

More photos from the Ancient Agora

Photo credits: All photos by Cristina Puscas and may not be used without permission