Marketplace (Agora) and Temple

After crawling all the musea described in my last post, we finally headed out onto the marketplace (agora). It was a cultural and political centre (apart from the Acropolis) from the 5th century BC onwards. It is a very green place today, and you can see the Acropolis from afar. Much of the structure is not existent anymore, but you can see the stone foundations at least (of the halls and temples). Not on the photo are huge statues of the city's gods of protection (half men, half serpents).

A great and well-kept temple is the Temple of Hephaistos which has been used as a church for a few centuries and so survived, unlike other temples (like the one to Olympian Zeus).

The simple doric columns and dark interior are maybe fitting to the grim god of metalworks. One side shows a battle between centaurs and lapiths, and you can even enter the temple!

Outside, this structure was the foundation of a collection of statues of heroes of the city (which have been carried into musea to protect them I guess).

The city of Athens still has much more to offer: Read on!

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