Athens Agora
Athens Agora - in ancient Greece, one of the main squares where the townspeople gathered to discuss political issues, compete with athletes, and look at theater performances. Today, the square is a favorite place for photo shoots for tourists.
Since 1931, archaeological excavations have been carried out on the territory of Athens Agora, during which they found fragments of ceramics, which indicate that people settled here 4 thousand years ago. Around the 6th century BC during the reign of Solon, urban square was made here. Then the era of democracy came to Greece, and public life became very important for citizens. The area expanded more and more, new buildings were being built. At that time, religion played a huge role in everything and around the square as mushrooms after the rain, temples and shrines grew. Among them is the most famous temple of Gephaestus - the patron saint of the craft. During the excavations, numerous metal and ceramic products were found, this suggests that Hephaestus, the god of fire and blacksmiths, was worshiped in this temple. The temple was well preserved, and with the advent of Christianity it was transformed into the Orthodox Church of St. George.
The patron saint of Athens Agora was the main Greek god - Zeus. For him, an altar was built of very expensive pantelian marble, decorated with skillful carvings. Also in Agora were the temples of Athens, Apollo, Hermes, a concert hall, a library, numerous statues of ancient Greek heroes, gods.
The main purpose of Agora was trade, and the archon ( city ruler ) made sure that the trade went according to the law and the corresponding taxes fell into the city budget. Trade was held daily from 9 to 12 hours, after all the goods were cleaned. The goods were laid out on tables separated by wooden partitions, trapezites followed the transparency of all operations, and agoranomas, market police, and metronomes followed the order. The choice of goods was quite large, here you could find honey, olive oil, marble, wheat, wine, ceramic and metal products.
