The Agora of Athens in Ancient Greece (Cinematic)

the agora was the civic center of athens but it wasn't only frequented by politicians and city officials [Music] the area housed a market where people could purchase food and other goods from merchants it was also frequented by philosophers who use the public space to establish schools and pass on their teachings to students religion had its place as well temples dedicated to hafeistos and apollo were located in the agora along with the altar of the twelve gods and the monument of the eponymous heroes the painted stower or stowa poikile derived its name from the panel paintings on its wall the paintings were created in the 5th century bce by famous artists like polygonotos and depicted greek military victories like the battle of marathon the stowa served as a public meeting place for citizens but it was especially popular with philosophers who used the space to pass on their teachings in 301 bce the philosopher zeno of kition chose the stoa poikile as the location for his school of philosophy the appropriately dubbed stoicism trade in the agora was supervised by magistrates there were five agaronomoi who kept order in the market controlled the quality of goods and collected market dues this provided revenue to the city and helped pay the magistrates and those in charge of maintaining order the market benefited everyone customers bought what they needed merchants made their living and city officials received the money they needed to keep the wheels of democracy turning [Music] the original temple of apollo patrols was built around 535 bce by paisistratos but was destroyed by the persians during their invasion a few decades later it long remained in ruins except for the altar which was left standing as a reminder of the persian sacrilege eventually a new temple was built in the 4th century bce inside was a statue made by euphrates the same artist who painted in the stower of zeus the temple held special significance in athens as it was connected to the origin of the city's people the name patrowos meaning fatherly referenced the belief that apollo was the father of eon founder of the eonian greeks from whom all athenians are descended the temple of hafeistos overlooks the agora from the colonists agarious hill today it is one of the best preserved temples in greece owing to its conversion to a church in the middle ages but while this transformation preserved the structure it also damaged the surrounding sculptures the temple was dedicated not only to her feistos the god of mythology but also to athena ergane goddess of arts and crafts nearly every part of the hephaesteon was lavishly decorated with depictions of famous mythological events like the labors of theseus the thesis scenes gave the temple the nickname theseon a name that lives on today as a city district in athens the bulaterion was another building in the agora that contributed to the democratic process it housed the athenian council of citizens the boule this council of 500 was composed of 50 members from each greek tribe all of whom served a one-year term they were chosen by lot from among citizens over 30. every month one group of 50 was chosen to lead the boule's executive committee the pritiness the pritineas met every day of the month and called meetings of the full council in the buleterium where they spent their time discussing bills the preterneon was one of the most important buildings in the agora as it was the headquarters of the pritoneas the pritineas was the executive committee of the boule who ran the city's daily operations the pritineas dined in the britain neon and 17 of them slept on site to ensure there were always officials available to deal with emergencies the pritaneon also housed the official weights and measures of the city the fire of hestia which provided sacred fire for all public sacrifices was also located there the helia was the most important court in athens and was presided over by a group of judges called heliasts judging was a regular part of an athenian citizen's life with trials happening almost every day heliasts were chosen randomly based on two factors first that they were on the official list of six thousand potential heliasts second that they were present at court on the day of the trial a stipend of two obols was established by pericles to compensate for the loss of work while on helias duty and also to encourage participation in the judiciary process in the agora an athenian could buy and sell many different products the permanent retail market was divided into sections according to the category of merchandise merchants and craftsmen who worked in the market could be citizens foreigners or even freed slaves they sold everything from food and clothes to jewelry and slaves with so much variety competition was fierce and that competition helped regulate the market's prices [Music] the heli io wasn't the only court in athens this other court was located next to the south stoa historians believe it to be a court based on the discovery of a nearby box containing seven bronze ballots these ballots were used by jurors to give their verdicts the reason trials were so common in athens might have been related to their democratic regime which promoted the individual's right to demand reparations for injustice however not all legal matters were settled in this fashion if a claim was small enough it was settled individually by a magistrate public trials were reserved for more serious offences such as murder theft and political crimes the mint was where the city made its coinage it is believed that athens mint was in the city's agora as modern excavations have turned up small disc shaped pieces of metal used to make coins much of the silver required for minting coinage came from the lavreon silver mines athens was so dependent on the mines that when they lost them during the peloponnesian war the city was forced to melt down a gold statue of athena to mint gold coins and avert a monetary crisis

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Length: 7min 52sec (472 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 22 2020