Agora

The agora (/ˈæɡərə/; Ancient Greek: ἀγορά agorá) was a central public space in ancient Greek city-states. It is the best representation of city form’s response to accommodate the social and political order of the polis.[1] The literal meaning of the word is "gathering place" or "assembly". The agora was the center of the athletic, artistic, spiritual and political life in the city.[2] The Ancient Agora of Athens is the best-known example.

This article is about the ancient marketplace. For other uses, see Agora (disambiguation).
Stoa of the ancient agora of Thessaloniki
Agora of Tyre

Origins

Early in Greek history (10th–8th centuries BC), free-born citizens would gather in the agora for military duty or to hear statements of the ruling king or council. Later, the agora also served as a marketplace, where merchants kept stalls or shops to sell their goods amid colonnades. This attracted artisans who built workshops nearby.[3]

From these twin functions of the agora as a political and a commercial space came the two Greek verbs ἀγοράζω, agorázō, "I shop", and ἀγορεύω, agoreúō, "I speak in public".[4]

The term agoraphobia denotes a phobic condition in which the sufferer becomes anxious in environments that are unfamiliar – for instance, places where they perceive that they have little control. Such anxiety may be triggered by wide-open spaces, by crowds, or by some public situations, and the psychological term derives from the agora as a large and open gathering place.

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See also

References
  1. Caves, R. W. (2004). Encyclopedia of the City. Routledge. p. 10.
  2. Ring, Trudy; Salkin, Robert; Boda, Sharon (1996). International Dictionary of Historic Places: Southern Europe. Routledge. p. 66. ISBN 978-1-884964-02-2.
  3. Peppas, Lynn (2005). Life in Ancient Greece. Crabtree Publishing Company. p. 12. ISBN 0778720357. Retrieved 6 January 2017.
  4. ἀγορά, ἀγοράζω, ἀγορεύω. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project.

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