The Ancient Agora is proof that Athens is one of the oldest cities in the world.   The buildings still standing and ruins around affirm the active life there many, many years ago.

A mix of purposes show that this gathering place was lively.  The ruins of the gymnasium, the beautiful Church of the Holy Apostles, the Temple of Hephaistus and the Stoa of Attalos (now a museum) confirm the presence of a diversity of events that occurred on these grounds.

We appreciated the Stoa of Attalos, the two-story building converted to a museum where statues and artifacts are presented. Also, the church is also unique and the Temple of Hephaistus surprisingly still stands tall. 

Temple of Hephaistus

This temple is a very well preserved Greek temple. By the way, Hephaestus was the son of Zeus and Hera, and a god of blacksmiths, metallurgy, craftsmen and fire.

Some say it is a temple for artisans.

Stoa of Attalos

The Stoa of Attalos is a two-story building converted into a museum where statues and artifacts are presented.

It was built and named after King Attalos II of Pergamon, who ruled in the city between 159 BC and 138 BC.

Church of Holy Apostles

Only a few buildings are still standing on the premise of the Ancient Agora. This one is one of them and you can also step in to look at the walls that were restored in 1956.

It is a small, distinctive 11^th century church among larger structures on the site.  However, today, you get a better idea of the cachet of this historical building due to the restoration work.

There are many beautiful churches in Athens, we can’t stop at all of them.  While we were on the Ancient Agora site, we opted to look inside and we were not disappointed.

Tickets

We took the combo ticket that allowed us to visit this site among others: Roman Agora, Hadrian’s Library, Temple of Olympian Zeus and Acropolis. If you already have your ticket… skip the line.

For an overview of Athens click here.

For all posts on Athens click here.