Athens Ancient and Roman Agora, Athens

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In the Roman Agora, the tower of the wind is one of the few ancient buildings and ancient clocks that stands almost intact.
This is a An octagonal marble structure with a conical roof and was built by the astronomer Andronicus from Macedonia in the middle of the 1st century BC.

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The Ancient Agora in Athens is the city's most popular agora.
In addition to being a place where people gathered to buy and sell all kinds of commodities, it was also a place where people assembled to discuss all kinds of topics: business, politics, current events, or the nature of the universe and the divine.Here, where ancient Greek democracy came to life, you get a wonderful opportunity to have an idea of the commercial, political, religious, and cultural life of one of the great cities of the ancient world.
Metro stop: monastiraki.

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This is the old market place that dates back to the city -state time of Athens. This area was the heart of civic life in ancient Athens and dates back to 6th century BC. The site is large and has many ruins and a museum on the site. The best preserved of which is the temple of Hephaistos.

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Built by comission of Julius Ceasar and Augustus from 19 to 11 BC it was later improved by Hadrian. The most famous structure of the agora is the perfectly preserved Tower of the Winds which is thought to predate the agora and to have been used by the astronomer Andronicus from about 150 BC.

The Agora was very important to ancient Greek society as public life was concentrated here. It was shaded with poplar, willows and planetrees and ornamented with fountains, temples, alters, and statues. Merchants and vendors sold all matter of items available to the ancient Greeks. Bankers and money lenders spread their tables and opened for business.
Pay special attention to the Temple of Hephastius (or Theseium), which is the best preserved temple in all of Greece and is not always mentioned.

One of my favourite monuments on the Roman agora is the Tower of the Winds.

We use to call it just “Aerides”(winds) but it is also known as “Horologion(timepiece) of Andronicos” (the Macedonian astronomer that build it around 50BC). The tower was excavated by the Greek Archaeological Society in 1845. Before that time it was partly buried in the ground and in early Christian times was used as the bell tower of a church!

The octagonal tower is made by pentelic marble, its high is 12m, it has a diameter of 8m, with a Doric interior, Corinthian exterior and originally was topped by a revolving bronze weather vane depicting Triton that had a wand in his hand indicated the direction from which the wind was blowing! What’s more, there was a water clock(that’s why it’s also called horologion) in the interior of the tower supplied by water coming from the Acropolis.

In each side you can see a sculpted figure of the eight winds (in ancient Greece the winds were Gods that had divine powers):
Borias (N, He blows the cold north wind through a large shell),
Kaikias (NE, He throws a basket of hailstones),
Evrus (E, An old man with beard is wrapped in a cloak),
Apeliotis (SE, A man bringing fruits and grain),
Notos (S, Bearer of rain, he empties a pot of water),
Lips (SW, He holds the stern of a ship, promising a good sailing wind),
Zephyros (W, A young man scattering flowers),
Skiron (NW, He scatters glowing ashes from a bronze vessel)

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This is one of the best preserved agoras in whole Greece. It can be dated back 3000 BC. The agora in Athens had private housing, until it was reorganized by Peisistratus in the 6th century BC. Although he may have lived on the agora himself, he removed the other houses, closed wells, and made it the centre of Athenian government. It was the heart of Athens and the center of the Greek cultural, political, social, economic and administrative life.

The Ancient Agora is considered a must do in all the travel books I read.... my question to the authors is why ??? The place is a park with two major orginal buildings, the other one a nice redone building. The admission price is also included with the Acropolis ticket, but it's free on Sunday's from November to April. If you visit it by yourself it's 4 Euro's to get in.

We spent about 1 hour and saw eveything in a non rushed way.