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ROMAN ATHENS
86 B.C.-267
A.D.
THE
AGORA
In the Roman period
many new buildings were
built in the Agora. The Romans
honoured Athens decorated the city
with elegant
public buildings. The first Roman emperor, Augustus,
made the first steps for this. With his
order the classical
Temple of Ares it was transported there,
while his general Agrippas
built in the middle of the Agora the Odeion.
Here follows a presentation of
the most important
monuments of the Roman
period Agora.
To see the
images in full screen, just click on them!
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General view of the
Agora. 1. SE Temple,
2.Nymphaion, 3. Library of Pantainos, 4. Stoa of Attalos, 5.
Odeion of Agrippa, 6. Temple of Ares, 7. Monopteros, 8 Basilica,
9. Poikile Stoa, 10. NW Temple, 11. SW Temple, 12. Middle Stoa,
13.Temple of Hephaistus. |
The Odeion of
Agrippa (15
B.C.)
The
Odeion of Agrippa was dedicated
by the Roman general Marcus
Vipsanius Agrippa during his
visit in Athens in 16-14
B.C. It was intended for musical
shows and could accomodate 1.000 individuals.
The South side was joined with the
Middle Stoa thus creating the one of two entrances.
The central room was 25
metres long and did not had any
interior columns. This led to a roof collapse
160 years later (150-175
B.C.). Immediately extensive repairs followed. The north facade
was decorated with the statues of Giants and Tritons
that are still visible in the area.
The central room became smaller and the capacity
was limited to 500
spectators. As a result the
Odeion was used only for
philosophic lectures, as the same time a new
Odeion was built in the southern
slope of the Acropolis, The Herodeum.
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The
Odeion of Agrippa in his first phase from the Northeast. |
The Temple of
Ares (440 &
15 B.C.)
The temple of Ares was a classical
temple built in the 5th
c. B.C. together
with the other three almost
identical temples (Temple of
Hephaistus in the
Agora, Temple Poseidon in Sounio
and theTemple of Nemesis in Ramnous).
In the end of the 1st c. B.C.,
the temple was transported
from some other point of Attica
in pieces and was
reconstructed in front
of Agrippa's Odeion.
During the reign of Augustus,
the transportation of classical
buildings to Athens
was a usual phenomenon . The
place from where it was transported is
not certain. However,
the latest studies
show that it may have been originally built in ancient
Pallini and was initialy dedicated
to Athena.
There the foundations of a temple of
the same dimensions were found
but without any traces
of the actual building.
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The
Temple of Ares from Northeast. On the left is the Odeion of
Agrippa. |
Monopteros -
Basilica
The Basilica of the Agora was
constructed during the reign of Hadrian. It was the
characteristic type of a Roman
Basilica and was used for commercial reasons or
counsil meetings.
Monopteros was a
circular building that was built in the beginning of
the 2nd century A.D. Its use
is uncertain. Possibly it was a small temple or a
fountain.
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General
view from south. On the left is
the eastern wall of
the Odeion of Agrippa, then the Poikile
Stoa, the Basilica,
the Monopteros and the
Stoa of Attalos. |
The
Monopteros in front of the Basilica and the Stoa of Attalos
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The Library of
Pantainos (98-102
A.D.)
The Library of Pantainos
was built by the Athenian
Titus Flavivs
Pantainos between 98 and 102
A.D. It was a building used
as a library which is obvious from
the two inscriptions found in the area. According to
one of them, Pantainos with
his son and daughter gave the books, the
equipment and dedicated the building to the emperor
Trajan. It is very likely
that the building it preexisted and that Pantainos added the
stoas around it and
the internal colonnade. Another
inscription reads: "No book
shall come out of the library because we
gave an oath. The library
will be open from the first
to the sixth hour".
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The
Library of Pantainos from above. On the left
is the southern end of the Stoa of Attalos. |
The
Library of Pantainos from northwest.
On the background, the Acropolis. |
The
road between the
Library of Pantainos and the Stoa of Attalos that connected the
Agora with the newly built Roman Agora of Caesar and Augustus.
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Nymphaion and SE
Temple
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The
Nymfaion was
a monumental fountain that was
constructed around 140 A.D. It had
a semicircular form and in
the arches of the northern
facade stood statues of
the imperial family. In the big
pedestal in front, stood
the statue of
Hadrian that can be found
today in the Eastern part of the Agora,
just under the Temple of
Hephaistos.
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The
temple next to the Nymphaion
was built in the beginning of
the 1st c.
A.D. For his construction was used
material from a classic building
that was transported by another
region of Attica. A lot of members
were found in the nearby
postheroulian wall.
These materials were
probably part of a Doric
building of Thorikos. In
the interior of
the temple were found pieces
of a big woman's statue. Thus the
Temple can be possibly identified
with the Temple of Demeter that
was reported by
Pausanias.
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General Views of the
Roman Period Agora
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View from the east. On the
left is the propylon
of the Odeion of Agrippa and
on the right, is
the Temple of Ares. In the
boackground is the Metroon and on
the hill, the Temple of
Hephaistos.
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From
the Northeast. On
the left is the Odeion of Agrippa
and on the right, the Temple of
Ares. |
The
Middle Stoa in the Roman times. The Soouth Stoa II and the
Aiakeion were
destroyed during the sack of the city by the Roman general Sylla
in 86 B.C. and
were not buuilt again.
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The southwest Temple
and the buildings that were perhaps used
as government offices. The southwest
Temple was also constructed from materials
of another classical
building (probably from the Temple
of Athena
Sounias) and was
possibly dedicated
to the imperial family. |
View of
the central Agora.From
left to right: The Temple of Ares, the Odeion of Agrippa and the
SW Temple. |
View
from the North towards the Middle Stoa. |
For other monuments of Roman
Athens click below:
THE
ACROPOLIS -
SOUTH SLOPE OF ACROPOLIS
ROMAN AGORA - LIBRARY OF
HADRIAN
OLYMPIEION - GATE OF HADRIAN
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