"Id","UserLevel","dc-date","Type","Collection","Redirect","dc-creator","Icon","dc-description","Name","Chronology","dc-publisher","dc-subject","dc-title"
"Agora:Webpage:e7c9c521511aa96685dcadb5ce110e71","","","Webpage","Agora","http://agathe.gr/overview/the_notebooks.html","","","The Notebooks The process of excavating an archaeological site is essentially destructive but the irrevocable features are preserved in a notebook. The excavator records his thoughts and observations, and uses drawings and photographs to supplement the text. After an excavation has concluded, scholars rely on the notebook to study the excavation, and it is through the notebooks that we may reconstruct the initial days of work in the Athenian Agora. The first two pages of Nb. Ε I, dated April 20, 1931. Pasted on the first page are contact prints of images of the first building to be demolished before excavation of the area could begin. An entry notes, “Contractor began the demolition of House 21, Block 631 (Section E) this morning. In the walls was found a piece of coarse moulding: Pentelic marble.” The first building to be demolished, House 21, Block 631 (Section Ε). View looking north along Patousa Street. House 21 at the end of the first day of demolition A view looking east from the Hephaisteion on April 27, 1931. The accompanying notebook entry reads, “The walls of the upper storey of House 20 fall a prey to the minions of the εργολάβοϚ [contractor]” (Nb. Ε 1, p. 18.) Fragments of many sculptures and architectural pieces were found in the walls of the buildings that were being demolished. The first catalogued pieces of the Architecture and Sculpture series were retrieved during the demolition of House 21. This is not surprising as the modern city was built on top of the ancient and the antiquities were easily available sources of building materials. “By the end of the day most of the walls above the first floor of House 21 had been razed. From the walls: the thigh of a statue of Pentelic marble, rather micaceous. Perhaps a trifle over life-size” (Nb. Ε I, p. 4; April 21, 1931).","Overview: The Notebooks","","","",""
"Agora:Webpage:8307df62c572f791a374e632a40f4710","","","Webpage","Agora","http://agathe.gr/democracy/sokrates.html","","","Sokrates The philosopher Sokrates was one of many Athenians critical of the people and their control over affairs of state. His probing public debates with fellow citizens led to his trial for impiety and corrupting the youth of Athens, his approach and opinions having exceeded the limits on freedom of speech acceptable to the Athenians. The Agora, as the political center of Athens, was the scene of many of the events played out in the drama of his teaching, trial, and death. According to custom, youths were not expected to spend time in the great square; the gymnasia of the city -- the Academy and Lyceum -- were their proper haunts. Sokrates, therefore, met them in a shop near the Agora, according to Xenophon (Memorabilia 4.21), and Diogenes Laertios preserves the name of Simon as the owner of the establishment where these meetings took place: ""Simon, an Athenian, a shoemaker. When Sokrates came to his workshop and discoursed, he used to make notes of what he remembered, whence these dialogues were called 'The Shoemakers""' (2.13.122). Regrettably, the shoemaker dialogues have not survived, but in the excavations of the Agora, a small house of the 5th century B.C. was excavated east of the Tholos, just outside the Agora boundary stone. Within it were found bone eyelets and iron hobnails dearly used for shoemaking, and nearby was found the broken fragment of a drinking cup, inscribed with the name of the owner, ""Simon.' The archaeological evidence suggests that we have here the very shop, visited by Perikles, which Sokrates used as an informal classroom, meeting here those students too young to frequent the square. Photograph of the House of Simon the Shoemaker. Athens, Agora excavations. The photograph shows the foundations of a house to the left of a roadway. It has been identified as a shoemaker's establishment by the discovery in the rooms of iron hobnails and bone shoelace eyelets (below). The base of a black-glaze drinking cup found in the roadway is inscribed ""of Simon,"" so it seems likely that this was the house of Simon the Shoemaker to whom the literary texts refer. Bone shoelace eyelets, Sth century B.C. D.: 0.015-0.025 m. Athens, Agora Museum BI 738. Iron hobnails, 5th century B.C. L. of shafts: 0.015 m. Athens, Agora Museum IL 1361. Base of an Athenian (Attic) black-glaze kylix (drinking cup), 5th century B.C. D.: 0.073 m. Athens, Agora Museum P 22998. The inscription ΣΙΜΟΝΟΣ, ""of Simon;' is scratched on the upper surface of the cup base. The cup can be dated by details of its shape to about 460 B.C., a time rather earlier than would be consistent with the Simon known to Sokrates and mentioned in the literary sources. It has been suggested that by the end of the 5th century, the base had become separated from the bowl of the cup and had been reused as a door knocker. The name Simon thus indicates whose house it was, and the findspot in the roadway is logical. The preliminary indictment leading to Sokrates' trial took place in the Royal Stoa and he was tried before a jury of 501 Athenians, in one of the lawcourts of the city, not as yet excavated. The trial was fairly close: 221 to 280 votes, according to Sokrates; in the penalty phase of the trial, however, he was condemned to death. According to Athenian law, the defense could propose an alternate penalty. Plato, in the Apology, tells what Sokrates suggests: What penalty do I deserve to pay or suffer, in view of what I have done? ... I tried to persuade each one of you not to think more of practical advantages than of his mental and moral well-being, or in general to think more of advantage than of well-being in the case of the state or of anything else.... What else is appropriate for a poor man who is a public benefactor and who requires leisure for giving you moral encouragement? Nothing could be more appropriate for such a person than free maintenance at the state's expense (Apology 36B, translated by Hugh Tredennick). Sokrates' confinement and execution in the state prison of Athens are described in some detail by Plato, and his description corresponds in several respects to a large building lying southwest of the Agora square. Here were found the thirteen little clay medicine bottles that may have held the poison hemlock with which the Athenians dispatched their political prisoners, and here, too, was found the small marble statuette that closely resembles the known portraits of Sokrates. Set of thirteen clay medicine bottles, 4th century B.C. H.: 0.036-0.042 m. Athens, Agora Museum P 20858. These small bottles are of a type generally used for drugs and medicine. This set of thirteen, found in the annex to the state prison, may have been used to hold the hemlock that was measured out in the exact dose necessary to cause death. After his trial in 399 B.C., recorded in Plato's Apology, Sokrates was executed in this manner. Fragmentary marble statuette, 4th century B.C. H.: 0.105 m. Athens, Agora Museum S 1413. Only one statue of Sokrates is recorded in ancient literature. After executing him, the Athenians felt such remorse that eventually they commissioned a bronze statue of Sokrates, the work of the renowned sculptor Lysippos, which they set up in the Pompeion in Athens (Diogenes Laertios 2.43). A bust in Naples may reproduce the original by Lysippos. This small statuette found in the state prison may have been a memento recalling the Lysippan bronze.","Birth of Democracy: Sokrates","","","",""
"Agora:Webpage:3d47492a7d4cca98fbe7153655364ed8","","","Webpage","Agora","http://agathe.gr/publications/monographs.html","","","Monographs Excavations in the civic and cultural center of classical Athens began in 1931 and have continued almost without interruption to the present day. The first Athenian Agora volumes presenting the results of excavations appeared in 1953 and, as scholars complete their research, further titles continue to be published. Each volume covers a particular chronological period, set of buildings, or class of material culture. The series includes studies of lamps, sculpture, coins, inscriptions, and pottery. Because most of these ancient finds can be dated stratigraphically, these typological catalogues are invaluable reference works for archaeologists around the Mediterranean. All monographs are published by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. You can order monographs online through Oxbow Books. Portrait Sculpture Author: Harrison, E. B.Publication Date: 1953ISBN: 978-0-87661-201-9Volume: 1 Presented in catalogue form are 64 portrait heads, headless torsos, and fragments (of both categories) ranging in date from the first half of the 1st century B.C. to the 5th century A.D. The catalogue is preceded by an introduction dealing with “finding-places,” “material,” “forms of portraits,” and “subjects.” Special emphasis is placed on stylistic criteria for dating each work, and the more interesting examples are discussed in some detail. There are not many great works of art illustrated, but many interesting types. As the author says in her introduction, “the Agora portraits interest us, not because they are unique, but because they are representative.” JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Coins: From the Roman through the Venetian Period Author: Thompson, M.Publication Date: 1954ISBN: 978-0-87661-202-6Volume: 2 Of the 55,492 coins that were recovered from the Athenian Agora during excavations from 1931 to 1949, this catalogue presents 37,000. These range in date from the last century of the Roman Republic to the declining years of the Republic of Venice. As the short historical survey that introduces the book indicates, this volume is intended to be a tabulation rather than study. It was written to provide prompt publication of the material excavated, and the catalogue is clear, fully documented, and easy to refer to. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Literary and Epigraphical Testimonia Author: Wycherley, R. E.Publication Date: 1957ISBN: 978-0-87661-203-3Volume: 3 Here are presented all the ancient written references, both literary and epigraphical, to the Agora (including its environs) and its monuments. The introduction summarizes chronologically the authors cited, evaluating the contributions of each. The texts are given in the original Greek or Latin, followed by a translation and a commentary. They are grouped in parts: the Stoas, Shrines, Public Buildings and Offices, Market, Honorary Statues, Miscellaneous including Boundaries, Trees, Kerameikos, Panathenaic Street, Old Agora. Within each part the monuments are arranged alphabetically and under each monument the texts are listed alphabetically by author with inscriptions at the end. Many texts not given numbers in this order are included in the archaeological and topographical commentaries. Each section on a monument opens with a brief synopsis of the evidence contained in the texts which follow. The index of authors gives dates and editions as well as passages and inscriptions cited, and is followed by an index of subjects. The plates show plans of the Agora and its environs and of the route of Pausanias. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Greek Lamps and Their Survivals Author: Howland, R. H.Publication Date: 1973ISBN: 978-0-87661-204-0Volume: 4 The author has used the trustworthy chronological data supplied by the scientific excavation of “closed deposits” at the Athenian Agora to build a continuous series of lamp types from the 7th century B.C. to the 1st century A.D. Many photographs and profiles of sections permit ready identification, and a handy graphical chart of lamp types facilitates quick checking of the chronological range of each. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Pottery of the Roman Period: Chronology Author: Robinson, H. S.Publication Date: 1959ISBN: 978-0-87661-205-7Volume: 5 A group of closed deposits, ranging in date from the 1st century B.C. to the early 7th century A.D., provide evidence for the relative and absolute chronology of pottery used during many centuries of Roman domination—from the sack of Athens by Sulla in 86 B.C. to the Byzantine period. A descriptive catalogue divides the pottery into eight groups, arranged into chronologically differentiated layers. Prefacing the catalogue of each group, a brief general description gives the location, chronological limitations, basis for dating, etc., and then the individual items are described in considerable detail. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Terracottas and Plastic Lamps of the Roman Period Author: Grandjouan, C.Publication Date: 1971ISBN: 978-0-87661-206-4Volume: 6 The volume contains a short introduction, a classification by types, a critical catalogue, a register of the dated contexts, concordances and indexes, and an excursus by T. B. L. Webster on the theatrical figurines. Nearly half of the 1,100 items are illustrated with photographs. The subjects of the (mostly fragmentary) figurines are revealing. To the Greek deities of earlier times are added Oriental figures like Serapis, Isis, Harpokrates, Attis, as well as Egyptian priests and Asiatic dancers. The molded “plastic” lamps that are included in this volume were probably made in the same workshops as the figurines. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Lamps of the Roman Period, First to Seventh Century after Christ Author: Perlzweig, J.Publication Date: 1961ISBN: 978-0-87661-207-1Volume: 7 Nearly 3,000 specimens of lamps of “Roman” character are catalogued in this volume that covers the period from the 1st century B.C. to the 8th century A.D. The lamps are not easy to classify because the appearance of the clay used is not an infallible guide to the place of manufacture and the molds used to create the shapes were used widely around the Mediterranean. Terracotta lamps were probably made for local consumption in most cities of Greece; only a few centers, notably Athens and Corinth, developed an export trade capable of competing with local manufacturers. Since lamps from Athens do appear at other sites, the presentation of a well-dated sample of these finds provides useful reference material for scholars working at other sites. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Late Geometric and Protoattic Pottery, Mid 8th to Late 7th Century B.C. Author: Brann, E. T. H.Publication Date: 1961ISBN: 978-0-87661-208-8Volume: 8 This volume reports on Athenian pottery found in the Athenian Agora up to 1960 that can dated from about the middle of the 8th century, when “the appearance of a painter of sufficient personal distinction to enliven the whole craft” marks a real break from the earlier Geometric style, through the third quarter of the 7th century when Protoattic gives way to black-figure and black wares. A sampling of contemporary imported ware is included. The material is treated first by shape and then, more extensively, by painting styles. Some 650 characteristic pieces are selected for cataloguing. The introduction discusses the development of the various shapes and styles, characterizing the special techniques and innovations of the period. The topographical features of the Agora that are indicated by the places of discovery of deposits of late Geometric and Protoattic pottery are summarized under wells, houses, workshops, sanctuaries, cemeteries, and roads. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside The Islamic Coins Author: Miles, G. C.Publication Date: 1962ISBN: 978-0-87661-209-5Volume: 9 All but 9 of the 6,449 Islamic coins found at Athenian Agora up to the date when this book was written belong to the Ottoman period. The earliest datable Ottoman coin is from the reign of Mehmed I (1413-21). Most of the coins come from overseas mints such as those of Istanbul, Cairo, Macedonia, Serbia, and Bosnia. Although the name of Athens cannot be read on any coin, the author thinks that many of the crude coppers of the 15th to 16th centuries A.D. were locally struck. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Weights, Measures and Tokens Authors: Lang, M., Crosby, M.Publication Date: 1964ISBN: 978-0-87661-210-1Volume: 10 The first part of this book deals with weights (14 bronze, 109-111 lead, 28 stone) and measures (75 dry, 28-31 liquid). Although humble objects, the detailed study of these everyday items provides archaeological evidence for substantial changes in weight standards at different times in Athenian history. This reinforces literary evidence for a highly centralized bureaucracy controlling trade and commerce. In the second part of the book, Crosby catalogues and discusses some 900 lead and 46 clay tokens uncovered during the Agora excavations. The bulk of the lead material dates from the Roman period, while all the clay pieces belong to the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd centuries B.C. These tokens served diverse functions. Some were used as admission tickets for festivals and theater performances while others can be related to attendance at lawcourts or receipt of tax payments. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Archaic and Archaistic Sculpture Author: Harrison, E. B.Publication Date: 1965ISBN: 978-0-87661-211-7Volume: 11 Over 170 catalogued pieces of sculpture from the Athenian Agora are divided into four sections: the genuinely Archaic in date and form, the “archaistic” imitating Archaic originals (late 5th century to early 4th century B.C.), and two restricted groups of sculpture common in Athens. The latter are the Hekataia (a triple Hekate figure) and the herms. The chronological range is thus from the earliest Archaic kouros (ca. 600 B.C.) through the herms and Hekataia of the Roman period. Among other questions, the author explores the nature of the archaizing movement and the different types of herms and how they were used in the Agora. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Black and Plain Pottery of the 6th, 5th and 4th Centuries B.C. Authors: Sparkes, B. A., Tallcott, L.Publication Date: 1970ISBN: 978-0-87661-212-5Volume: 12 This massive (two-part) volume focuses on pottery produced between 600 and 300 B.C. with Sparkes discussing the black glaze and Talcott the domestic (household and kitchen) wares of the period. Over 2,040 pieces of black-glaze pottery are catalogued and described, with many drawings and photographs. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside The Neolithic and Bronze Ages Author: Immerwahr, S. A.Publication Date: 1971ISBN: 978-0-87661-213-2Volume: 13 The finds in the Athenian Agora from the Neolithic and Bronze Ages have added important chronological context to the earliest eras of Athenian history. The bulk of the items are pottery, but stone, bone, and metal objects also occur. Selected material from the Neolithic and from the Early and Middle Helladic periods is catalogued by fabric and then shape and forms the basis of detailed discussions of the wares (by technique, shapes, and decoration), the stone and bone objects, and their relative and absolute chronology. The major part of the volume is devoted to the Mycenaean period, the bulk of it to the cemetery of forty-odd tombs and graves with detailed discussions of architectural forms; of funeral rites; of offerings of pottery, bronze, ivory, and jewelry; and of chronology. Pottery from wells, roads, and other deposits as well as individual vases without significant context, augment the pottery from tombs as the basis of a detailed analysis of Mycenaean pottery. A chapter on historical conclusions deals with all areas of Mycenaean Athens. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside The Agora of Athens. The History, Shape and Uses of an Ancient City Center Authors: Thompson, H. A., Wycherley, R. E.Publication Date: 1972ISBN: 978-0-87661-214-9Volume: 14 The subtitle, The History, Shape and Uses of an Ancient City Center, suggests the general character of this volume, which provides an overview of the area that served as the civic center of Athens from about 600 B.C. to A.D. 267. After a general resumé of the historical development of the Agora, the monuments are treated in detail, grouped by their use and purpose. Each monument is discussed in the light of both the literary and the archaeological evidence for its identification and its restoration. In the light of the topographical conclusions the route of Pausanias is traced. A chapter “After the Heruli” follows the fortunes of the area from A.D. 267 till the 19th century; the last century is treated in the detailed report of “The Excavations” up to 1971. This is a definitive survey of the historical and topographical results of 40 years of American excavations. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Inscriptions: The Athenian Councillors Authors: Merrit, B. D., Traill, J.Publication Date: 1974ISBN: 978-0-87661-215-6Volume: 15 This book presents 494 dedications made by, and honoring, members of the Athenian administrative assembly (prytaneis) between 408/7 B.C. and A.D. 231/2. The inscriptions are important because they enable scholars to reconstruct a more precise chronological framework for Hellenistic and later Athenian history while also increasing understanding of the political organization of Attica. With thousands of names from 700 years of administration listed, the dedications also provide a rich source for prosopographers. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Inscriptions: The Decrees Author: Woodhead, A. G.Publication Date: 1997ISBN: 978-0-87661-216-3Volume: 16 Edited texts, with extensive commentary, of some 344 fragments of Attic decrees dating from the mid-5th century B.C. to A.D. 203, found in excavations of the Athenian Agora before 1967, with brief notes on additional material found up to 1975. Well-documented discussions of individual archon years are supplied at the appropriate points in the chronological arrangement. In a field known for controversy, the author reviews the principal readings, restorations, and interpretations, achieving a balance between extreme positions. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Inscriptions: The Funerary Monuments Author: Bradeen, D. W.Publication Date: 1972ISBN: 978-0-87661-217-0Volume: 17 This volume presents the funerary inscriptions found in the Athenian Agora between 1931 and 1968. In addition, all Agora fragments of the public casualty lists known in 1971 have been included, together with fragments associated with them but found elsewhere, although the latter are not discussed in full. Of the 1,099 inscriptions catalogued here, 238 are published for the first time. With the exception of 6 (previously published), all contain a sure name, ethnic, or demotic. In accordance with the established policy of the Excavations of the Athenian Agora, a photograph is included of every stone for which none has appeared previously. The catalogue is arranged alphabetically by demotics and ethnics; the indexes include names, tribes, geographical names, significant Greek words, and Latin words. The author’s unparalleled familiarity with Attic funerary scripts enabled him to offer valuable chronological suggestions for otherwise undatable private monuments and his historical understanding gave new meaning to the public funerary monuments. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Inscriptions: The Dedicatory Monuments Author: Geagan, D.Publication Date: 2009ISBN: 978-0-87661-218-7Volume: 18 This is the last of five volumes presenting inscriptions discovered in the Athenian Agora between 1931 and 1967. Published here are inscriptions on monuments commemorating events or victories, on statues or other representations erected to honor individuals and deities, and on votive offerings to divinities. Most are dated to between the 4th century B.C. and the 2nd century A.D., but a few survive from the Archaic and Late Roman periods. A final section contains monuments that are potentially, but not certainly, dedicatory in character, and a small number of grave markers omitted from Agora XVII. Each of the 773 catalogue entries includes a description of the object inscribed, bibliography, a transcription of the Greek text, and commentary. There are photographs of each piece of which no adequate illustration has yet been published, including newly joined fragments. The volume concludes with concordances, bibliography, and an index of persons named in the inscriptions. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Inscriptions: Horoi, Poletai Records, and Leases of Public Lands Authors: Lalonde, G.V., Langdon, M. K., Walbank, M. B.Publication Date: 1991ISBN: 978-0-87661-219-4Volume: 19 The three types of inscription from the Athenian Agora presented in this volume are all concerned with important civic matters. Part I, by Gerald V. Lalonde, includes all the horoi found in the excavations; most of them had been brought into the area for reuse at a later period. An introductory essay discusses the various purposes the horoi served, whether as markers of actual boundaries or private records of security for debt. The various types are illustrated in photographs. In Part II Merle K. Langdon publishes all the known records of the Athenian poletai, a board of magistrates charged with letting contracts for public works, leasing the state-owned silver mines and the privilege of collecting taxes, and leasing or selling confiscated property. The catalogue is preceded by an account of the nature of these transactions and the history of the poletai. Part III, by Michael B. Walbank, presents the records of leases for public and sacred lands, which once stood in the Agora; the documents are now in both the Agora and the Epigraphical Museums in Athens. The discussion considers the history and the terms of the leases. The three sections are followed by combined concordances and indices, with photographs of all stones not previously published. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside The Church of the Holy Apostles Author: Frantz, A.Publication Date: 1971ISBN: 978-0-87661-220-0Volume: 20 The Church of the Holy Apostles stands at an important crossroads in the southeast corner of the area of the ancient Agora. The earliest church on the site, built over a wall of the 5th-century B.C. Mint and the foundations of the Roman Nymphaeum, is here dated to the last quarter of the 10th century on the basis of its plan and details. The original plan was revealed as a tetraconch cross-in-square with dome on pendentives carried on arches supported by four freestanding columns, the west of the four apses penetrating into the narthex. Fifteen tombs of this first period were excavated under the floor of the church proper and the narthex. In a second period, probably in the late 17th or early 18th century, repairs after damage from the 1687 fighting made changes in the narthex and dome and the interior was covered with paintings. War in 1826 again caused damage which was repaired in Period III with further changes and additions. Finally in 1876-1882 (Period IV) the west end was again rebuilt and the last vestiges of the west apse removed. The architectural type is studied in relation to other churches in Greece, and the restoration is described. The plates give the author’s photos of the structure before, during, and after restoration and drawings of elevations, sections, and plans. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Graffiti and Dipinti Author: Lang, M.Publication Date: 1976ISBN: 978-0-87661-221-7Volume: 21 Over 3,000 informal inscriptions scratched or painted on pottery, lamps, or other clay fragments have been found in the excavations of the Athenian Agora. In this volume, 859 of these graffiti and dipinti (representing those with sufficient content to be meaningful) are presented in catalogue and drawings. The texts consist of messages and lists, love names and curses, rough calculations, dedications, commercial and tax notations—in short, all manner of fascinating, all-too-human trivia. An introduction to each category defines the type, indicates special characteristics and suggests parallels, purpose, etc. Each example is illustrated in a line drawing with the exception of the tax notations (dipinti); in this case photographs seemed preferable owing to the fugitive medium and the run-on cursive forms. This skillful presentation of an important body of material contributes significantly to the study of informal Greek, especially in regard to letter forms and spelling, as well as to an understanding of the varying commercial practices in ancient Athens. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Hellenistic Pottery: Athenian and Imported Mouldmade Bowls Author: Rotroff, SPublication Date: 1982ISBN: 978-0-87661-222-4Volume: 22 This volume is the first of two to present the Hellenistic fine ware from the excavations in the Athenian Agora. Its scope is restricted to the moldmade hemispherical bowls manufactured from the late 3rd century to the early 1st century B.C. in Athens. The material studied, consisting of some 1,400 fragments of which about 800 were inventoried by the excavators, was unearthed between 1931 and 1973. Of the inventoried pieces, 364 fragments of bowls and molds are catalogued and discussed here, with 40 additional imported pieces, 6 related moldmade examples of other shapes, and 5 pieces used in the manufacturing process. The author first discusses the origins and dating of the bowls and then takes up the various types, in order of appearance on the historical scene: pine-cone, imbricate, floral, and figured bowls and their workshops and chronology, long-petal bowls, and other special types such as concentric-semicircle and daisy bowls. The discussion is followed by a detailed catalogue including references to comparanda. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Attic Black-Figured Pottery Authors: Moore, M. B., Philippides, M. Z. P.Publication Date: 1986ISBN: 978-0-87661-223-1Volume: 23 This volume is the first of the Athenian Agora reports to deal specifically with figured wares; it is concerned with the black-figured pottery found in the excavations in the Athenian Agora between 1931 and 1967, most of it in dumped fill especially in wells and cisterns. These deposits have been published separately in previous reports; by presenting them as a body, the authors are able to show how it complements and supplements the existing chronological and stylistic framework of shapes and artists. All the important pieces are shown in photographs, as well as all complete vases and those with particular problems. Profile drawings and reconstructions of the composition are supplied in a few special cases. Summary descriptions of references and a site plan are given for the deposits, which are also identified in the concordance of catalogue and inventory numbers. There are indexes of potters, painters, groups, and classes; subjects; shape and ornament; collections and provenances; and a general index. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Late Antiquity, A.D. 267-700 Author: Frantz, A.Publication Date: 1988ISBN: 978-0-87661-224-8Volume: 24 This book collects for the first time the archaeological and historical evidence for the area of the Athenian Agora in late antiquity, a period which spans the last flourishing of the great philosophical schools, the defeat of classical paganism by Christianity, and the collapse of the late Roman Empire. Although the primary focus of this volume is the material uncovered by the Agora excavations, the study also takes into account past and current discoveries elsewhere in the city. The author draws on archaeological, epigraphical, and literary evidence to present a comprehensive account of the history and topography of the city in the years before A.D. 700. The course of Athenian construction and destruction is traced from the mid-3rd century, through the Herulian invasion, to the period of recovery in the 3rd and 4th centuries (ending with the invasion of the Visigoth, Alaric, in A.D. 396). The 5th century is described, which saw the closing of the schools of philosophy by Justinian and the first Christian churches, and the gradual decline of the city until the Slavic invasion of the 580s, when Athens began an accelerated slide into oblivion. Special attention is paid to questions surrounding the history of the philosophical and rhetorical schools, the establishment of Christianity, and the removal of works of art from Athens to Constantinople. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Ostraka Author: Lang, L.Publication Date: 1990ISBN: 978-0-87661-225-5Volume: 25 The scraps of pottery on which were written the names of candidates for ostracism are one of the most intriguing pieces of evidence for ancient democracy found in the Athenian Agora. This book is a complete catalogue and discussion of these sherds. Chapter One discusses the history of ostracism in Athens with brief remarks about the “candidates.” Chapter Two concentrates on the physical evidence of the ostraka, their identification, appearance, and content. Chapter Three presents the groups in which most of them were found; their distribution is indicated on a plan of the excavation area. Chapter Four is the catalogue of 1,145 ostraka, arranged by candidates. To these pieces are appended the 191 ostraka, almost all nominating Themistokles, found by Oscar Broneer in a well on the North Slope of the Acropolis. A large number of the Agora ostraka are illustrated with line drawings, a representative selection with photographs. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside The Greek Coins Authors: Kroll, J. H., Walker, A. S.Publication Date: 1993ISBN: 978-0-87661-226-2Volume: 26 This volume catalogues over 16,577 identifiable Greek coins produced by the excavations of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens between 1931 and 1990. The majority of the coins found and catalogued are Athenian bronze, from the 4th century B.C. through the 3rd century A.D. Included as well are the Athenian silver and the hundreds of non-Athenian gold, silver, and bronze coins that made their way into the Agora in antiquity Considerable attention is paid to the archaeological context of the coins and to presenting a pictorial record of the Greek coinage from the Agora, with more than 1,035 coins illustrated. Substantial introductory discussions place all the coins in clear historical and numismatic contexts and give a sense of the range of international commercial activity in the ancient city. This comprehensive reference work is indispensable for students and scholars of Greek coinage and history. Presenting a reliable chronology of Athens’ bronze coinage for the first time, it will be the standard reference for this important coinage in particular for years to come. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside The East Side of the Agora: The Remains beneath the Stoa of Attalos Author: Townsend, R. F.Publication Date: 1995ISBN: 978-0-87661-227-9Volume: 27 The Stoa of Attalos now covers the remains several centuries of previous occupation. Mycenaean and Protogeometric burials represent the early use of the area. By the Late Geometric period, the presence of a few wells indicates a shift to domestic occupation; others containing 6th-century material suggest the presence of workshops and commercial activity as well as houses. The earliest physical remains are those of an Archaic altar; some rubble structures may have been hastily built by refugees during the Peloponnesian War. At the end of the 5th century, a group of public buildings was constructed, perhaps to house some of the lawcourts. About 300 B.C., these were replaced by an imposing structure, the Square Peristyle, which could have housed four lawcourts simultaneously, each with a jury of 500. Still unfinished when it was dismantled in the first quarter of the second century B.C., its materials were carefully reused in other projects, especially in South Stoa II. The evidence for these centuries is now limited to the meticulous records of the excavators and the finds now stored in the Stoa of Attalos, where some few remains still in situ are visible in the basement. The author’s success in making a coherent and orderly presentation rests on the care and diligence of the excavators as well as his own painstaking search through the records. The physical reconstruction is accompanied by a catalogue of archtitectural blocks; the discussion of the chronology is supported by the stratigraphic evidence and a catalogue of pottery. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside The Lawcourts at Athens: Sites, Buildings, Equipment, Procedure, and Testimonia Authors: Alan L. Boegehold, John McK. Camp, II, Margaret Crosby, Mabel Lang, David R. Jordan, Rhys F. TownsendPublication Date: 1995ISBN: 978-0-87661-228-6Volume: 28 A comprehensive, three-part study of the sites and procedures of Athenian lawcourts in the 5th, 4th, and 3rd centuries B.C. Part I discusses various courts, their names and possible sites, and reconstructs their history and daily workings, synthesizing literary, documentary, and physical evidence. Part II discusses the buildings which could have served as courts and the objects found in them. Such court paraphernalia included ballots, receptacles for documents, water clocks (used to time speeches), allotments machines and their accessories (for assigning jurors to the courts), seating tokens, and a curse tablet. Part III collects 355 testimonia on Athenian lawcourts, with Greek text, translation, and commentary. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Hellenistic Pottery: Athenian and Imported Wheelmade Table Ware and Related Material Author: Rotroff, S.Publication Date: 1997ISBN: 978-0-87661-229-3Volume: 29 The second of two volumes on the Hellenistic fine ware unearthed in excavations in the Athenian Agora, this book presents the Hellenistic wheelmade table ware and votive vessels found between 1931 and 1982, some 1,500 Attic and 300 imported pieces. An introductory section includes chapters devoted to fixed points in the chronology of the pottery, to a general discussion of the decoration of Hellenistic pots, both stamped and painted, or “West Slope,” and to the question of workshops. The author dedicates much of the text to a typology of Attic Hellenistic fine ware, carefully examining the origins, development, chronology, forms, and decoration of each shape. The ordering of the material by function rather than by the form of vessels provides insight into life in Hellenistic Athens. Especially important is the development of a chronological framework that builds upon and refines the author’s earlier work in this area. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Attic Red-Figured and White-Ground Pottery Author: Moore, M. B.Publication Date: 1997ISBN: 978-0-87661-230-9Volume: 30 This volume presents the inventoried red-figure and white-ground pottery found in the Agora Excavations between 1931 and 1967. Although many of these vases have already been published in various reports and special studies, this is the first time that all have appeared together, and this study gives a full accounting of them. Because almost all the shapes known in Attic red figure have been found in the Agora, these pieces provide a unique opportunity for study. The two introductory sections serve as a useful overview for the entire state of knowledge of Attic red-figure painting. The first gives a brief description of each vase shape and its development, and then shows how the Agora pieces fit into this sequence; the second follows this same format for groups of painters. In the catalogue, measurements and descriptions are given for 1,684 pieces, with relevant comparanda and up-to-date references. Inscriptions, graffiti, and dipinti are included, as well as reconstruction drawings of some of the more important or unusual scenes. The volume concludes with deposit summaries, concordance, and six indexes. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside The City Eleusinion Author: Miles, M.Publication Date: 1998ISBN: 978-0-87661-231-6Volume: 31 An archaeological study of the City Eleusinion in Athens, the sanctuary of Eleusinian Demeter and the city terminus for the annual Eleusinian Mysteries. The book presents the stratigraphical evidence from excavations of a part of the sanctuary (conducted in the 1930s and 1959-1960), the remains of the Temple of Triptolemos, a Hellenistic stoa, and a propylon, and contains extensive descriptions of the context pottery, a discussion of the ritual vessel plemochoe, and catalogues of inscriptions, sculpture, and architectural pieces from the sanctuary. There is a survey of the topography of the sanctuary and its environs on the North Slope of the Acropolis, and a discussion of its relationship to Eleusis and its position as a landmark within the city of Athens. Since a significant portion of the sanctuary still lies unexcavated under the modern city, the book includes a detailed assessment of the only evidence known so far for the various phases of use of the sanctuary, from the earliest evidence of the 7th century B.C. to the late antique period. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Roman Pottery: Fine-Ware Imports Author: Hayes, J.Publication Date: 2008ISBN: 978-0-87661-232-3Volume: 32 Examples of Roman period red-gloss and red-slip pottery generally termed terra sigillata found during excavations in the Athenian Agora form the focus of this volume. These fine wares, like the other table wares of the first seven centuries A.D. discussed here, were all imported—a very different situation to earlier periods where Athens was known as a great ceramic-making center, and perhaps the result of mass destruction of potters’ workshops during the Sullan sack of 86 B.C. While the image of a demolished pottery industry is tragic, the consequent conglomeration of finewares from many parts of the Roman empire in one city makes the Athenian Agora a tremendous source of comparanda for archaeologists working all round the Mediterranean. Written by the world’s leading expert on Roman pottery, this huge catalogue illustrating and identifying multiple shapes and types of decoration will therefore be an essential reference book. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Hellenistic Pottery: The Plain Wares Author: Rotroff, S.Publication Date: 2008ISBN: 978-0-87661-233-0Volume: 33 This manuscript represents the third and final volume in the publication of the Hellenistic pottery unearthed by the American excavations in the Athenian Agora. The first installment (Agora XXII) was devoted to the moldmade bowls and the second (Agora XXIX) to the remainder of the fine ware. The third presents the plain wares, including household pottery, oil containers, and cooking pottery. In all, about 1,400 Hellenistic vessels in these categories have been entered into the excavation record, which are represented here in a catalogue of 847 objects. The study constructs a typology, based on both form and fabric, and a chronology for these ceramics, using the fact that many of the pieces were found in “closed contexts” like wells. Finally, the author discusses the possible functions of the ceramic shapes found, and uses them to reconstruct some of the domestic and industrial activities of Hellenistic Athenians. While it documents the pottery assemblage of one site, this book will be an essential reference tool for archaeologists around the Mediterranean. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside Vessel Glass Authors: Weinberg, G., Stern, M. E.Publication Date: 2008ISBN: 978-0-87661-234-7Volume: 34 Greek and Roman glass from vessels of all sizes and shapes is discussed in this volume which presents 402 fragments of glass vessels excavated in the Athenian Agora. Only 36 pieces date to the Classical and Hellenistic periods, when the Agora was at the height of its importance, and just 15 are assigned to the 9th to 19th centuries. The remaining 350 are subdivided into four periods covering the Roman and Late Antique history of Athens: 86 B.C.-ca . A.D. 100, A.D. 100-267, A.D. 267-395, and A.D. 395-ca. 700. The fragments all have a findspot which allows the author to make some comments about the possible uses of the original vessels. The volume is divided into the following sections: history of the project, historical overview, important contexts, discussion of the catalogue by period and by shape, catalogue, deposit summaries, concordance. Most catalogues of ancient glass present pieces out of context, where function and date can only be guessed at. This volume, by publishing the main types of glass from a single site, provides richer contextual information and will thus be an essential reference work for archaeologists and specialists in ancient art. JSTOR | Search for Items Inside","Publications: Monographs","","","",""
"Agora:Webpage:db21d44af4ceff0cae67e9ec08301995","","","Webpage","Agora","http://agathe.gr/guide/library_of_pantainos.html","","","Library of Pantainos Lying partially under and behind the Late Roman wall are the remains of a building identified by its inscribed marble lintel block as the Library of Pantainos, dedicated to Athena Archegetis, the emperor Trajan, and the Athenian people in the years around A.D. 100 (Figs. 43, 44). It consists of a large square room and a paved courtyard, surrounded by three stoas that had shops behind their colonnades. As a cultural and educational building, the library reflects the role of Athens as the principal university town of the Roman empire. The dedicator, Titus Flavius Pantainos, was the son of the head of a philosophical school and refers to himself as a priest of the philosophical muses. A second inscription preserves the library rules: ""No book is to be taken out because we have sworn an oath. [The library] is to be open from the first hour until the sixth"" (Fig. 45). Figure 43. Plan of the Library of Pantainos, ca. A.D. 100. Figure 44. The north stoa of the Library of Pantainos, looking east toward the Gate of Athena. Figure 45. Rules of the Library of Pantainos: ""No book is to be taken out because we have sworn an oath. (The library) is to be open from the first hour until the sixth."" The northern stoa runs eastward, along the south side of a marble street that led in Roman times from the Agora to the Doric gateway of the market of Caesar and Augustus, also known as the Roman Agora. Destroyed by the Herulians in A.D. 267, the northern stoa was eventually rebuilt as part of a new large two-storeyed structure in the 5th century A.D. (Fig. 46), and the western stoa of the library was incorporated into the Late Roman fortification. Figure 46. Reconstruction of the marble-paved street and stoa of the complex east of the Stoa of Attalos, ca. A.D. 420. At left is the Gate of Athena, the entrance to the Roman Agora.","AgoraPicBk 16 2003: Library of Pantainos","","","",""
"Agora:Webpage:1c9ed7cadcdde1c789066cfe9e24c231","","","Webpage","Agora","http://agathe.gr/democracy/solon_the_lawgiver.html","","","Solon the Lawgiver By the early 6th century B.C. social tensions in Athens had become acute, pitting the poorer citizens against rich and powerful landowners. Many citizens were reduced to the status of share croppers, and others had actually sold themselves into slavery to meet their debts. To resolve the crisis the Athenians appointed Solon as archon (magistrate) to serve as mediator and lawgiver. Plutarch and Aristotle describe in some detail the constitution devised by Solon, who then went into voluntary exile to avoid being pressured into amending this legislation. Solon canceled most debts and freed those Athenians who had been enslaved, but he refused to redistribute property or to deprive the aristocracy of most of the political power. As he tells us in his own words: For to the common people I gave as much power as is sufficient, Neither robbing them of dignity, nor giving them too much; and those who had power, and were marvelously rich, even for those I contrived that they suffered no harm. I stood with a mighty shield in front of both classes, and allowed neither of them to prevail unjustly. (Plutarch, Life of Solon 18.4) Solon's new constitution was based on ownership of property. This notion of political rights or citizenship depending on property is one found in many societies until relatively recent times. All the people were divided into four classes, and political power was distributed among them. 1.The pentekosiomedimnoi, those whose land produced at least 500 medimnoi (measures) of grain a year which equals 730 bushels. These were eligible for the highest offices. Athenian (Attic) Geometric chest with five model ""granaries"" on the lid, mid-9th century B.C. H.: 0.253 m. Athens, Agora Museum P 27646. This unusual chest comes from the same burial as the jewelry described earlier. The five cone-shaped objects on the lid have been identified as model granaries and may refer to the woman's status as a member of the highest class, the landed aristocracy designated by Solon pentekosiomedimnoi, whose land produced 500 medimnoi (measures). Each of the five granaries would thus represent 100 medimnoi. Both the chest and the granaries are decorated with meander patterns, a favorite Geometric ornament. 2. The hippeis (knights), those who could afford the expense of maintaining a horse and whose property produced 300 medimnoi a year. Athenian (Attic) Geometric horse pyxis (box), mid- 8th century B.C. H.: 0.16 m. Athens, Agora Museum P 5061. This round box has three horses on the lid. Ownership of horses required a certain degree of wealth and allowed the man who owned them to assume a role in defending the city as a member of a fighting cavalry, the knights. Thus, horses became a status symbol and sign of wealth. 3. The zeugitai (teamsters), those who maintained a pair of oxen for plowing and whose land produced 200 medimnoi a year Terracotta figure of a pair of oxen driven by a man, 6th century B.C. H.: 0.10 m. Athens, National Archaeological Museum 18876. This image stands for Solon's third class of citizens, the zeugitai, who could maintain a pair of oxen for plowing and who served as heavy-armed infantrymen in time of war. 4. The thetes or common laborers. Iron pick, date uncertain. Preserved L.: 0.127 m. Athens, Agora Museum IL 1287. Such a pick might have been used by a member of Solon's lowest class, the thetes, or common laborers. All other native-born citizens now possessed an important and basic right: they could not be enslaved by their fellow citizens. As early as the time of Homer, to be a thete was regarded as only just above a slave: ""I would rather follow the plow as thete to another man, one with no land allotted to him and not much to live on, than be King over all the perished dead"" (Odyssey 2.489-491). Members of this lowest class were not allowed to hold office, but were given the right to sit and vote in the assembly and to sit as jurors in the lawcourts. Over time this last right became exceedingly important. An important concept clearly laid out for the first time in Solons political poetry is the notion that political participation was the duty of the citizen, not just a privilege to be exercised or not as one chose: He saw that the state was often in a condition of factional strife, while some of the citizens were content to let things slide; he laid down a special law to deal with them, enacting that whoever when civil strife prevailed did not join forces with either party was to be disenfranchised and not to be a member of the state.(Athenian Constitution 8.5). While Solonian reforms did not establish democracy, they were a crucial step on the Athenian road to democracy. Solons constitution, consisting of moderate redistribution rather than a revolutionary transfer of political power, nonetheless granted important rights to the lowest class of citizens. This middle course pleased no one, as he himself tells us: Wherefore I stood at guard on every side, A wolf at bay among a pack of hounds. (Athenian Constitution 12.4). Within a generation of Solon's reforms, factional strife among the powerful families led Athens once again to the brink of civil war, setting the stage for the next phase of Athenian political development.","Birth of Democracy: Solon the Lawgiver","","","",""
"Agora:Webpage:a244c669c51f44e8f67f3c533248b5ea","","","Webpage","Agora","http://agathe.gr/overview/the_church_of_the_holy_apostles.html","","","The Church of the Holy Apostles Though several churches were removed in the clearing of the site for excavation, it was decided to save and restore the little Byzantine church dedicated to the Holy Apostles. View of the restored Church of the Holy Apostles from the southwest, April 2006 The church, with an unusual tetraconch interior plan and decorative tilework on the exterior, is among the oldest in Athens, probably to be dated just before A.D. 1000. It was surely the focal point of an extensive neighborhood in the Byzantine period, the remains of which were recorded and removed in the course of the excavations. The eastern half of the church was relatively untouched, but several additions, the latest dating to the late 19th century, had damaged and obscured the western end. After excavation, these later additions were removed and the church restored to its original form. The work was funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and supervised by Alison Frantz. With the Stoa of Attalos, this reconstruction was completed and dedicated in 1956. The festival of the Twelve Apostles is still celebrated at the church every June 30th. Restored plan of the original layout of the church, showing its unusual tetraconch design. Drawing by W.B.D. Jr. “On February 12, 1954, the Department of Antiquities of the Ministry of Education approved the request for permission to demolish the modern addition to the Church of the Holy Apostles, with a view to restoring the church in its original form. On February 22 two workmen began stripping the plaster from the walls to determine the extent of the original walls. Good Byzantine masonry, similar to that of the eastern part of the church was exposed on the lower part of the north wall as far as the door and bell tower. The original length of this wall is so far unclear. The south wall seems to have suffered at least one major destruction, and from a point ca. 2 m. west of the southern apse little original masonry remains above the lower course. There is so far no trace of early work west of the door on either side” (Nb. HA I, p. 2). View of the Church of the Holy Apostles from the southwest, August 1954, after demolition of the later additions had been completed Interior of the church before the start of the restoration project, March 2, 1954. Before the restoration began the floor was removed and excavations were carried out to determine the church’s history. The structural elements of the church—the walls, columns, and vaulting—had been restored by late summer of 1955. Still much work had to be done before the dedication ceremony, planned to coincide with that of the Stoa of Attalos on September 3, 1956. The roof of the narthex was built, the interior walls plastered, the marble floor paving laid, the original marble elements of the windows were either restored or modern copies of designs contemporary to the building were set, the surviving frescoes were conserved and installation of frescoes removed from the Church of Aghios (Saint) Spyridon and Aghios Giorgios were installed in the new narthex. Building the centering for the vaults of the central saucer dome and completing the ribbing, February 21, 1955 Theophanes Nomikos carving the marble lunette for the central doorway, March 8, 1956. The interior walls have been plastered; the southern window of the narthex restored; frescoes have been installed. View from the narthex into the interior, December 1955. Frescoes from the Church of Aghios Spyridon were reset in the walls of the restored narthex. The fresco of Saint Spyridon was set on the left side of the central door leading into the interior and the fresco of Saint Anthony was set on the right side. Watercolors of Saint Spyridon and Saint Anthony by Piet de Jong made before the frescos were removed from the chapel of Aghios Spyridon, in the 1930s. Piet de Jong, an extraordinary archaeological illustrator, joined the staff of the Agora Excavations in 1932. The two watercolors represent just a tiny fraction of the work he left behind. They also illustrate the remarkable talent he had of coaxing details and colors from the object he was illustrating that the casual observer would most likely ignore. View of the northwest corner of the church after restoration, September 1956","Overview: The Church of the Holy Apostles","","","",""
"Agora:Webpage:e2ab9186a28fcbed8950fcadf366dc2b","","","Webpage","Agora","http://agathe.gr/guide/monument_of_the_eponymous_heroes.html","","","Monument of the Eponymous Heroes Across the street from the Metroon lie the remains of the Monument of the Eponymous Heroes (Fig. 21). When Kleisthenes created the democracy in 508/7 B.C., he assigned all the Athenians to ten newly-formed tribes; he then sent 100 names of Athenian heroes to Delphi, where Apollo’s oracle picked ten, after whom the tribes were named. Citizenship depended on membership in a tribe, the army was arranged in tribal contingents, one served in the boule as a member of one’s tribe, and festivals were held in honor of one’s tribal hero; the tribal system was the foundation on which the new Athenian democracy was built. Figure 21. The Monument of the Eponymous Heroes, second half of the 4th century B.C. The monument took the form of a long base for the ten bronze statues representing the ten eponymous heroes of the tribes (Fig. 22). It served as a public notice board and announcements concerning citizens would be hung on the face of the high base beneath the appropriate tribal statue. Military conscription, public honors, upcoming legal events, and proposed legislation would all be displayed. In the days before radio, television, newspapers, and the telephone, the monument was essential for the dissemination of official information. Figure 22. Restored drawings of the Eponymous Heroes, second half of the 4th century B.C Only parts of the stone sill and the surrounding fence survive, along with five limestone blocks from the base itself and two marble blocks from the crown. Literary references indicate that the Eponymoi were erected as early as 425 B.C., though the remains here go back no earlier than ca. 330 B.C. Cuttings in the sill show that the monument was refurbished on several occasions thereafter and these adjustments may well match changes in the tribal system itself. New tribes were created and new heroes added from time to time in order to flatter powerful rulers in the Hellenistic and Roman periods; the number of tribes -- and therefore heroes -- fluctuated between ten and thirteen. ""Higher up stand statues of heroes, from whom the tribes at Athens later took their names. Who fixed the number of tribes at ten instead of four and gave them new names instead of the old ones -- all this is related by Herodotos. Amongst the Eponymoi -- for that is what they call them -- are Hippothoon, son of Poseidon and. . . ."" (Pausanias 1.5)","AgoraPicBk 16 2003: Monument of the Eponymous Heroes","","","",""
"Agora:Webpage:8215b26d0ead85c21d46314d7c1ef95e","","","Webpage","Agora","http://agathe.gr/democracy/women.html","","","The Unenfranchised I - Women Numerous people resident in Athens and Attica had little part in the political life of the state. Most glaring by modern standards was the exclusion of women, although a similar exclusion persisted into the 20th century in Western society: Women only received the vote in all states of the United States in 1920, in France in 1945, and in Switzerland in 1971. Though protected by numerous laws regarding her property and rights, Athenian women had no vote and were not allowed to participate actively in political life. Women were not expected in the Agora, and it is not entirely clear that they were allowed to attend the theater. The proper Athenian lady was expected to spend almost all her time at home, and her primary function was to bear and raise the children. Perikles' comment on women in his great funeral oration is illuminating: If I am to speak also of womanly virtues, referring to those of you who will henceforth be in widowhood, I will sum up all in a brief admonition: Great is your glory if you fall not below the standard which nature has set for your sex, and great also is hers of whom there is least talk among men whether in praise or in blame. (Thucydides 2.45) Athenian (Attic) red-figure fragment of a kylix (drinking cup), late 6th century B.C. H.: 0.055 m. Athens, Agora Museum P 23133. The fragment shows the upper part of a nude woman, probably reclining on cushions at a symposion. She holds a castanet in her left hand and wears disk earrings. She is probably a hetaira, or courtesan, a woman accomplished in the arts of music, conversation, and sex. In addition to her duties as mother, the average Athenian woman was expected to run the household, an extraordinarily time-consuming operation. In addition to cleaning and preparing, food, this meant making most of the family clothing on the loom and fetching drinking water from one of the local fountain houses. Only in the area of religion did women have a direct role in public life. They were active participants in most of the cults and their associated festivals. Several of the significant cults had priestesses rather than priests as the chief religious functionaries. Athenian (Attic) red-figure fragment of a vase, about 460 B.C. H.: O.O57 m. Athens, Agora Museum P 29766. In contrast to the hetaira, this woman appears to be a properly dressed Athenian lady. The fragment preserves the upper part of her body and shows us that she wears a tunic, cloak, and headband. Needless to say, there were exceptions to the rule, and the famous women of Athens about whom anything was written were infamous, including -- ironically -- Perikles' own companion Aspasia: Sources claim that Aspasia was highly valued by Perikles because she was clever and politically astute. After all, Sokrates sometimes visited her, bringing along his pupils, and his cose friends took their wives to listen to her -- although she ran an establishment which was neither orderly nor respectable, seeing that she educated a group of young female companions to become courtesans. Aeschines says that Lysikles the sheep-dealer, a man lowly born and humble of nature, became the most important man of Athens by living with Aspasia after the death of Perikles. (Plutarch, Life of Perikles 34.3-4),","Birth of Democracy: Women","","","",""