The Agora

Abstract

Aaccording to Herodotus (i. 153) Cyrus king of Persia said of the Greeks, ‘I never yet feared the kind of men who have a place set apart in the middle of the city in which they get together and tell one another lies under oath’, Like other despots, he had a misplaced contempt for freer institutions; but at least he had sufficient insight into Greek life to regard the agora as particularly characteristic of the people. The word ‘agora’ is quite untranslatable, since it stands for some—thing as peculiarly Hellenic as polis, or sophrosyne. One may doubt whether the public places of any other cities have ever seen such an intense and sustained concentration of varied activities. The agora was in fact no mere public place but the central zone of the city, its living heart. In spite of an inevitable diffusion and specialization of functions, it retained a real share of all its old miscellaneous functions. It remained essentially a single whole, or at least strongly resisted division. It was the constant resort of all citizens, and it did not spring to life on special occasions but was the daily scene of social life, business and politics.

R. Martin, Recherches sur l’Agora Grecque, Paris, 1951, deals exhaustively with the architectural form of the agora and with its political, commercial and religious life.