Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Athens
- Cambridge Companions to the Ancient World
- The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Athens
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Athens: An Introduction
- 1 #Leagros: An Athenian Life
- Part I The Urban Fabric
- 2 Asty and Chora: City and Countryside
- 3 The Emergence of the Polis
- 4 City Streets, Walls, and Gates
- 5 The Akropolis
- 6 The Agora: Public Life and Administration
- 7 Athenian Inscriptions
- 8 Water and Water Management
- 9 Housing and the Household
- 10 The Archaic and Classical Cemeteries
- Part II Inhabitants
- Part III Business/Commerce
- Part IV Culture and Sport
- Part V Politics
- Reception
- Index
- References
6 - The Agora: Public Life and Administration
from Part I - The Urban Fabric
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 March 2021
- The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Athens
- Cambridge Companions to the Ancient World
- The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Athens
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Athens: An Introduction
- 1 #Leagros: An Athenian Life
- Part I The Urban Fabric
- 2 Asty and Chora: City and Countryside
- 3 The Emergence of the Polis
- 4 City Streets, Walls, and Gates
- 5 The Akropolis
- 6 The Agora: Public Life and Administration
- 7 Athenian Inscriptions
- 8 Water and Water Management
- 9 Housing and the Household
- 10 The Archaic and Classical Cemeteries
- Part II Inhabitants
- Part III Business/Commerce
- Part IV Culture and Sport
- Part V Politics
- Reception
- Index
- References
Summary
The public, official life of Athens took place mostly in the central square, known as the Agora, described by ancient authors, especially Pausanias, and excavated by the American School of Classical Studies. This chapter explores the buildings that housed the executive (Royal Stoa), legislative (Bouleuterion), and judiciary (law courts, or diskasteria) branches of the Athenian democracy.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Athens , pp. 86 - 97Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021
References
Further Reading
The excavations of the Athenian Agora have been well published. Over sixty volumes and 450 articles have appeared thus far, and more are in preparation. The majority of articles are published in Hesperia, the journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. The website of the Athenian Agora Excavations (www.agathe.gr) provides online access to numerous resources, including archival excavation materials, plans, and full publication lists of the excavations. On the early years of these excavations see Dumont 2020. For more on the ancient sources related to the Agora, see Pausanias (Book 1, especially chapters 3–18), Aristotle’s Constitution of the Athenians (Athenaion Politeia), and Wycherley 1957. For general resources on the Agora, consult Thompson and Wycherley 1972, Camp 1992, Mauzy 2006, Camp and Mauzy 2009, Camp 2010, and Gawlinski 2014. On the lawcourts, see Boegehold 1995 and Townsend 1995, along with Lang 1990 on ostracism. For more on the numerous inscriptions of the Agora, see Bradeen 1973, Meritt and Traill 1974, Lalonde, Langdon, and Walbank 1991, Woodhead 1997, and Geagan 2011.