Agora in Athens

The Agora, which is the core of Athens’ politics, commerce and administration, also once served as the religious and cultural hub for the ancient city. The court of justice was also once based here. The site bears traces of civilised human activity dating from as early as the Late Neolithic period. During the 6th Century BC, under Solon, the Agora had already been established as a public area.

Following the raids of the Persians in the late 5th Century BC, the Romans in the 1st Century BC, the Herulae in the 3rd Century AD, and the Slavic invasion in the 6th Century AD, the area was renovated many times only to be eventually abandoned. The period between the Byzantine rule and the early 19th Century, when Athens established itself as the capital of independent Greece, the Agora became a residential area. During the 19th Century the figures of Giants and Tritons adorning the facade of the Gymnasium were renovated by the Greek Archaeological Society, while the Stoa of Attalos was restored in the 1950s. Further renovations, carried out in the 1970s, include the Byzantine church of Aghioi Apostoloi and the Hephaisteion.