Agora

So today was my last on site class at the Agora.  Here at DIKEMES you can take archaeology classes where you actually visit the sites that are talked about in class.  The Athenian Agora was the public gathering place back in the day.  There were temples, statues, stoas and a notice board.  This place was one of the most important places in Ancient Athens, which is why my class spent so much time there.  The Sacred Way went right through here, which the Panathenaic festival of Athens that celebrated their patron goddess Athena followed on their way to the Acropolis.

While at the Agora, my class discussed the various stages of the Agora, from the Golden Age of Perikles to the Romans taking over and building a new "agora" which was far closer to a forum.  Every single time we were at the Agora, one of the wild dogs of the site decide to hang out with us.  He even followed us to the Roman Agora which was a distance away form the Greek one.  We did nothing to encourage him, but every time we entered the site, there he was.

One of the things about Diamant, my professor, is that he makes us sit down when he talks to us.  Not only is this resting, but helps when seeing the plans of various buildings that were at one time in the Agora.  The only problem with this is that the Greeks are very touchy about their heritage and so do not like us very much, and sometimes someone sits on an important piece of marble, that looks like all the other pieces that everyone else is sitting on.  I have no idea how they distinguish which stones are important but they manage to and yell at us.  Fortunately Diamant can handle the guards pretty well, even taking us to places that have "do not enter" signs.

This is a view of the ruined Roman gymnasium.  Previously it was the Odeium of Agrippa.  In the back is the Stoa of Attalos, donated by King Attalos of Pergaman, it was rebuilt in the '50s.  Right in front of it is the Sacred Way.