Athens, Greece, part 2

     Because of poor band with on this internet on the rig, I have had to divide my original blog into separate blogs.  This is the second part of the original blog.

    After we left Mars Hill, we continued to the Ancient Agora (“gathering place”) of Athens.  During the classical period of Athens it was the home of Plato’s Akademia, Aristotle’s Lyceum, the birthplace of people like Socrates, Pericles and Sophocles.  The Agora was the center of this being the public space for commerce as well as political, religious and military activity in the city.  It originally contained many Stoas, long buildings where people set up their shops and sold their goods. The Stoa of Attalos was reconstructed in recent times and serves as a museum dedicated to the Agora.  An extensive water system runs through the area, still visible today as are the ruins or at least the foundations of many of the structures that were once there.  The most complete structure is the Temple of Hephaestus, a Greek temple which looks like a small version of the Parthenon. 

The Ancient Agora of Athens

Reconstructed Stoa of Attalos – a museum now

Greek potty chair in the Stoa museum

Temple of Hephaestus

     The principal road running through the Agora is the Panathenaic Way which was ancient Athens’ main street.  It was lined with important temples, legal buildings and businesses.  To walk along that road is to walk in the footsteps of people like Socrates, Aristotle and Plato.  Also serving as the main parade route, this is where every year in ancient Athens thousands of citizens would participate in a parade on  Athena’s birthday to take a new dress to adorn her statue at the Erechtheion. 

  

The Panathenaic Way

     We traveled to the Temple of Olympian Zeus, King of the Olympian Gods. This temple was started in 6 B.C. but not completed until the 2^nd century A.D., some 638 years later when the Roman Emperor Hadrian had it completed, making it the largest temple in Greece.  Little remains today of the short lived temple, as barbarians sacked it in the 3^rd century and it was never restored. Near it is Hadrian’s Arch, which resembles a triumphal Roman arch.  Built in honor of the Emperor Hadrian, it spanned an ancient road from the center of Greece past the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

Remains of the Temple of Olympian Zeus

Roman Emperor Hadrian’s Arch

     Continuing past these sites, we came to the Panathenaic Stadium, the oldest stadium in the world made entirely of white marble. It is where the ancient athletic events, the first Olympics, took place.  Originally built of wood, in 367 BC it was rebuilt using  white marble then enlarged in 140 AD to a seating capacity of 50,000.  It was reconstructed  for the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.  It houses the eternal flame used in all Olympic games.  The area where the ancient athletes trained and dressed is now a museum with posters and an Olympic torch from each of the modern games. 

Panathenaic Stadium

View of the Acropolis from the Stadium