The 'School of Athens' fresco by Raphael, housed in the Vatican, is meant to represent the Greek agora and all the great minds that passed through it. Credit: Heather Whipps
Posted on 03/24/2008 3:34:30 PM PDT by blam
How the Greek Agora Changed the World
By Heather Whipps, LiveScience's History Columnist
posted: 17 March 2008 08:15 am ET
It was the heart of the city – where ordinary citizens bought and sold goods, politics were discussed and ideas were passed among great minds like Aristotle and Plato.
Who knows where we'd be without the "agoras" of ancient Greece. Lacking the concept of democracy, perhaps, or the formula for the length of the sides of a triangle (young math students, rejoice!). Modern doctors might not have anything to mutter as an oath.
What went on at the agora went beyond the simple daily transactions of the market. The conversations that happened there and the ideas that they bore continue to affect us to this day, from the way scientists carry out their work to how we pass our laws.
The heart of public life
Nearly every city of ancient Greece had an agora – meaning meeting place – by about 600 B.C., when the classical period of Greek civilization began to flourish. Usually located near the center of town, the agora was easily accessible to every citizen, with a large central square for market stalls bound by public buildings.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Perhaps you should ping Jim Robinson and have him rename the site “Free Agora”. (-:
The 'School of Athens' fresco by Raphael, housed in the Vatican, is meant to represent the Greek agora and all the great minds that passed through it. Credit: Heather Whipps
The Athens Agora. The temple to the right is the Hephaisteon which for many years was an Orthodox Christian Church. Arguably, it is the best preserved temple in Greece. The other contender is the Temple of Apollo at Bassae.
It all started long before the Greek agora. Even backward African tribes had their open area with the huts around it for that socialization, long before the Greeks were civilized.
So agoraphobia is...?
it is actually more sophisticated a concept and exchange of ideas than just an open area around huts.
I have seen many of the ancient locals and their agoras. I have even seen their weekly “agora” where farmers bring their wares.
It is just as much a polical as commercial discourse.
You don’t think the African natives used to gather in the central area and discuss the climate and other political issues?
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Civilization btt.
That’s what they did indeed. But it didn’t lead anywhere. That’s the difference.
Ooh! Desktop background booty!
never said they would not.
However I think the Hellenic model is a bit differnt in that it was not “just a spot” but an actual archetected location with that intention from the start.
For example to the right of the picture above near the plaka is a water clock mechanism (I have actually been there and there is an excellent History Channel documentary covering it) which told time for the whole area.
It was more than just a “village” level of transactions and discourse, it was a commercial draw for surrounding villages. Its creation is akin to our modern day creation of supermalls with clubs and theaters.
either way its is all good.
Later, of course, but the agora began as a place for the surrounding farmers to sell their food to the town-dwellers. The same set-up has been used all over the world, for many centuries. I will grant you that the Greeks made good use of it for politics, but I'm sure other cultures had the same thing. The Romans copied the Forum from the Greek agora, but the Greeks probably copied it from somebody else.
on that you could argue the central location in a cave by the cave dwellers was an “agora”.
but as the article indicates and more than a few papers on the subject, the exchange of ideas is the major inovation. It was not just a place to dump out your veggies and sell them and discuss “ows da weather” in polite conversation.
It was the functional equivalent of their FreeRepublic with a store feature.
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