Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

34 AGORA. AGORA.
also used as a treasury: D, the Basilica, or court of
justice: E, the Tholus, in connection with the other
rooms of the Prytaneimi, c, d.!llrmTi bl. f1 The cut below, which is also from Hirt, re>1r'i lll ~ 1111111 4-A presents a section of the Agora made along the
-_.' _ dotted line on the plan.
t I ff1 ~ - * * We gain further information respecting the buildings connected with the Agora, and the works of
art with which it was adorned, chiefly from the
statements of Pausanias respecting those of particular cities, such as Athens (i. 5. ~ 2), Thebes
(ix. 17. ~ 1), Sicyon (ii. 7. ~ 7, 9. ~ 6), Argos (ii.
21), Sparta (iii. 11), Tegea (viii. 47. ~ 3), Mega=.., ~lopolis (viii. 30. ~ 2), to which passages the reader
is referred for the details. The buildings mentioned in connection with the Agora are:- 1.
H_..._= Temples of the gods and shrines of heroes [TEMai;. -.; -1 PLUM], besides altars and statues of divinities............The epithet &yopaZoy is often applied to a divinity
C l c 1 o *'who was thus worshipped ill the Agora (Panus.
I I I I ll. cc.; Aesch. Emnen. 976; Soph. Oed. Tyr.
161, where mention is made of the circular throne
of Artemis in the Agora), and Aeschylus exPLAN OF A GREEK AGORA, ACCORDING TO pressly refers to the
VITR UVIUS.
c. Theb. 271, 272). 2. The Senate-house (3ovAevA, the open court, surrounded by double colon- TripLOV), and other places for the meetings of the
nades and shops: B, the Curia: c, the chief temple, governing bodies, according to the constitution of the
i m ~_ —— m'
SECTION OF THE SAME.
particular state: in the Agora at Sparta, for ex- and in which also stood the statues of the ten
ample, there were the senate-house of the Gerontes heroes (&apXr-y'ra), after whom the Phylae of
and the places of meeting of the Ephori, the No- Cleisthenes were named, of Solon, of Harmodius,
mophylaces, and the Bidiaei. 3. The residence of and Aristogeiton, of the orator Lycurgus, and of
the magistrates for the time being [PRYTANEIUM]. very many others. It was customary also to build
4. Courts of justice [BASILICA]. 5. The public new porticoes out of the spoils taken in great wars,
treasury [THHESAURUS]. 6. The prison [CARCEPR]. as examnples of which we have the Corcyraean por7. The police station, if such a term may be ap- tico at Elis, mentioned above, and the Persian porplied to an ancient Agora. At Athens, for example, tico at Sparta.
the station of the thousand Scythi'an bowmen, who The open area of the Agora was originally the
formed the police force of the state, was in the place of public assembly for all purposes, and of
middle of the Agora: this does not, however, seem general resort. Its use for political purposes is doto have been a permanent bIuilding, but only a scribed in the preceding article. Here also were
number of tents. 8. Buildings used for the re- celebrated the public festivals. At Sparta, the
gulation of the standards of measure, and so forth; part of the Agora ii which stood the statues of
such as the building vulgarly called the Temple of Apollo, Artemis, and Leto, was called XdpoT, bethe Winds at Athens [HOROLOGIUM], and the cause the choruses of the Ephebi performed their
Milliarium Aureum at Rome, which seems to have dances there at the festival of the Gymnopaedia.
been imitated from a similar standard at Athens (Pans. iii. 9.) Lastly, it was the place of social
[MILLIARIUM]. To these various buildings must and fashionable resort. At Athens, fashionable
be added the works of art, with which the open loungers were called &ayadEara'yopas.
area and the porticoes of the Agora were adorned; Originally the Agora was also the market, and
which were chiefly in celebration of gods and was surrounded with shops, as shown in the above
heroes who figured in the mythology, of men who plan. As commerce increased, it was found conhad deserved well of the state, of victories and venient to separate the traffic from the other kinds
other memorable events, besides- those which ob- of business carried on in the Agora, and to assign
tained a place there purely by their merits as to each its distinct place, though this was by no
master-pieces of art. As a specimen we may means universally the case. The market, whethei
take the Agora at Athens, a portico of which, identical with, or separate from the Agora for pothence:called the roo 7rrolKiAS, was adorned with litical and other assemblies, was divided into parts
the paintings of Polynotus, Micon, and others, for the different sorts of merchandise, each of