Archaeology at the Athenian Agora

The American School of Classical Studies at Athens has spearheaded the excavations at the Athenian Agora for the last 75 years. It has taken an enormous amount of money and work to uncover what's left of the Roman and Greek marketplace at the base of the Acropolis and Areopagus. It's especially expensive when you consider that, according to Greek law, you have to buy the land before you can dig it. So, the American School has been buying up land for several decades, excavating it, and slowly piecing together a plan of the agora. This was the most public place in Athens: vendors, merchants, shoppers, women managing household chores, businessmen, political officers, slaves - you name it, they rubbed shoulders here.

Sorry if this is a little bit boring. I'll freely admit it's not the most exciting thing I've seen, but it is interesting - and I know at least one bona fide archaeologist that reads on here. This one's for you, bonezman.

The Stoa of Attalos was donated to the Athenians during the second century BC by Attalos II, king of Pergamum (in Asia minor). It lasted for about 400 years until it was destroyed by Herulians in the 3rd century AD. During the 1950s, enough of the stoa's original architecture and proportions were found to allow for a complete and (fairly) faithful restoration. The stoa's rooms were originally rented to ancient Greek merchants, but today house the Agora Museum. The basement holds finds from past and ongoing excavations.




The Stoa of attalos is the collonaded and roofed building toward the top. This is the view from the south.








Inside the stoa's collonade














These are the current excavations on the north side of the agora. It (probably) represents the far northern edge of the public space and the beginning of private homes. Under the planking is the foundation for what is tentatively being called the 'Painted Stoa." The Painted Stoa held (what else?) paintings depicting great moments in Athenian mythology and history. It is especially notable because the philosopher Zeno used to teach here - thus he and his followers were called 'Stoics.'



If you look closely, you can see the outline of a large jar or pythos buried in the ground. These jars were used for storage and were buried up to their necks. This one was used in the 8th century (or thereabouts) AD. So, the top of that jar was at ground level in the 8th century AD. You can see how much lower archaeologists had to dig to get to the 5th century BC level.

We only see stone foundations today, but almost all the buildings were two-stories, made of mud brick. Mud brick eventually melts into . . . well, mud . . . .and covers up the foundations. Later occupants just build on top of the new dirt layer, establishing the stratification.






This is the foundation for a large house from the 5th century BC. You would walk in the corridor on the right, turn left at an open courtyard (in front of the little wall that is more recent), and then left again into a large room. There was a second story too, where the women mostly lived.








The marble threshold to a Roman-period house or business, a drainage pipe, and the famous archaeologist John Camp.