The Acropolis and the Agora: The History of Ancient Athens’ Most Important Sites

The Acropolis, which literally means “a city on the heights,” is a citadel whose currently surviving structures were mostly built during the 5th century B.C. in honor of Athena, the patron goddess of Athens. It functioned as a sacred precinct that contained the city’s most important religious and municipal structures, many of which have remained relatively intact for over 2,000 years. The Propylaea (the gateway to the Acropolis), the Parthenon (the principal shrine to the goddess), the Erechtheion (a shrine that supposedly houses the burial grounds of mythical Athenian kings), and the Temple of Athena Nike all survive to this day, and for these reasons, the Acropolis is perhaps the definitive and most eloquent expression of classical architecture, if not of the classical form itself.

In order to understand whether and how this might be the case, it is important to reflect not only on the aesthetic quality of the structures themselves but also to seek out the historical, religious and philosophical contexts that clarify the structures’ purpose and significance. Naturally, like many other works of its type and influence, the structures on the Acropolis embody certain traditions, but they also depart from some traditions and also transformed others. Indeed, just as the Acropolis is Athens’ most striking feature, it is also a perfect representative of the city’s golden age, both in terms of classical style and civilization as a whole. It’s no wonder that people continue to view the Acropolis as both a portal to antiquity but also a spot with living structures whose importance continues to reverberate to this day.

The center of political and commercial interaction in the Ancient Greek polis was the agora. The word essentially means a gathering place or an open space, and in all Greek city states, the agora was central to all aspects of daily life and commerce. As the agora developed as a civic space, particularly from the 6th century B.C. onward in Athens, the architectural splendor of the buildings associated with it became an ever more obvious demonstration of the power and glory of Athenian democracy.

In its earliest forms, an agora in maritime cities was invariably situated near the sea, while in inland urban centers, it was usually located at the foot of the hill that normally provided the city’s ultimate defense. The agorawas always the oldest part of any city and, as such, and as well as being the commercial hub of the area, also became the center of the religious and political life of the polis. In Homer’s time, an agoramight have seats for the comfort of the citizens that had assembled to consult with one another. The city’s oldest sanctuaries were always located either in or very close to the agoraitself, and the first festive games were held in its open space. Roads to and from the city centered on the agora, and it was usually the starting point for any processions to the various sacred sites visited by the populace. The space itself was treated in much the same way as a temenos or sacred precinct.

Originally, all public transactions were also carried out in the agora,but over time in larger cities, it became necessary to have specific buildings for many of these dealings. In Athens, for example, the Pnyx, adjacent to the Athenian Agora, was commandeered to host political meetings, and the Kerameikos, the oldest industrialized area of the city, developed right next to the Agora; together they comprised the very heart of commercial Athens. Buildings that developed to serve the political, religious, or commercial activities of the citizens were generally built around the agora rather than in it and helped to define the agora itself. These buildings would typically include law courts offices, formal feasting halls, and official meeting places.