| 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/ | |