Ancient Agora of Athens

The Altar of Zeus Agoraios (meaning Zeus of the Agora) is an altar dating to the 4th century BC located north-west of the Ancient Agora of Athens, constructed from white marble, 9m deep and 5.5m wide.It was one of the first objects to be discovered inside the Agora during the excavations of 1931. Evidence of marks done by masons from the Augustan period show that it was moved from an initial source later identified as the Pnyx located outside the ancient Agora.One of the excavators of the Agora, T. L Shear Jr., noted: it may not be coincidence that Zeus, whose special task it was to govern the political assemblies of the Athenians, should depart the Pnyx at just the time when Augustus is said to have curtailed sharply the powers of those same assemblies.

The Monument of the Eponymous Heroes, located in the Ancient Agora of Athens, Greece and adjacently situated near the Metroon (old Bouleuterion), was a marble podium that bore the bronze statues of the ten heroes representing the tribes of Athens. Being an important information center for the ancient Athenians, it was used as a monument where proposed legislation, decrees and announcements were posted.

The Synagogue in the Agora of Athens is an ancient synagogue located in the Ancient Agora of Athens. During an excavation in the summer of 1977, a piece of Pentelic marble apparently once part of a curvilinear frieze over a doorway or niche was discovered a few meters from the northeast corner of the Metroon. The marble fragment is incised with the images of a seven-branched Menorah and a Lulav, or palm branch. The synagogue is thought to date from the period between 267 and 396 CE.

The Temple of Ares was a sanctuary dedicated to Ares, located in the northern part of the Ancient Agora of Athens. The Temple was identified as such by Pausanias but the ruins present today indicate a complex history. Ares had a temple somewhat like Athena's. The foundations are of early Greece construction and date, but fragments of the superstructure, now located at the western end of the temple, can be dated to the 5th century BC. From the fragments archaeologists are confident that they belonged to a Doric peripteral temple of a similar size, plan and date to the Temple of Hephaestus. Marks on the remaining stones indicate that the temple may have originally stood elsewhere and was dismantled, moved and reconstructed on the Roman base - a practice common during the Roman occupation of Greece. The temple probably came from the sanctuary of Athena Pallenis at modern Stavro, where foundations have been found but no temple remains are present. Pausanias described the sanctuary in the 1st century: [At Athens] is a sanctuary of Ares, where are placed two images of Aphrodite, one of Ares made by Alkamenes, and one of Athena made by a Parian of the name of Lokros. There is also an image of Enyo, made by the sons of Praxiteles. About the temple stand images of Herakles, Theseus, Apollo binding his hair with a fillet, and statues of Kalades, who it is said framed laws for the Athenians, and of Pindaros, the statue being one of the rewards the Athenians gave him for praising them in an ode. However, as the Roman Empire had adopted Christianity as the official religion of the empire, in the late third and early fourth centuries, probably under the Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire by Emperor Theodosius I, the temple of Ares was destroyed and looted.

The Southeast Temple is the modern name for an Ionic octostyle prostyle temple located in the southeast corner of the Ancient Agora of Athens. Architectural fragments from the temple enable a full, if tentative, reconstruction of its appearance.These fragments originally belonged to the Temple of Athena at Sounion at the southern tip of Attica, but they were spoliated to build the temple in the Agora in the first half of the second century AD. It was thus the last of several "itinerant temples," relocated from the Attic countryside to the Athenian Agora in the Imperial period. It is unknown which god or hero it was dedicated to. It was heavily damaged during the Herulian Sack of Athens in 267 AD and then spoliated to build the post-Herulian fortification wall.

The Southwest Temple is the modern name for a tetrastyle prostyle Doric temple located in the southwest part of the Ancient Agora of Athens. Fragments from the temple found throughout the Agora enable a full, if tentative, reconstruction of the temple's appearance. These fragments originally belonged to several Hellenistic structures and a fifth-century BC stoa at Thorikos in southeastern Attica, but they were spoliated to build the temple in the Agora in the age of Augustus. It is unknown which god or hero the temple was dedicated to. It was spoliated to build the post-Herulian fortification wall after the Herulian sack of Athens in 267 AD.

The Temple of Apollo Patroos (meaning "from the fathers") is a small ruined temple of Ionic order built in 340–320 BCE. It is 10 m wide and 16.5 m long, and is located north-west of the Ancient Agora of Athens, near the Stoa of Zeus.Apollo was considered to be the founder of the Ionian race and protector of families. The temple's interior had a cult statue dedicated to the god and made by the famous Greek sculptor Euphranor.Pausanias described the temple in the second century: Euphranor also wrought the Apollon surnamed Patroios (Paternal) in the temple hard by [the Painted Portico oin the marketplace of Athens]. And in front of the temple is one Apollon made by Leokhares; the other Apollo, called Alexikakos (Averter of evil), was made by Kalamis. They say that the god received this name because by an oracle from Delphoi he stayed the pestilence which afflicted the Athenians at the time of the Peloponnesian War.If still in use by the 4th-century, the temple would have been closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire, when the Christian Emperors issued edicts prohibiting all non-Christian worship and sanctuaries.

The Odeon of Agrippa was a large odeon located in the centre of the ancient Agora of Athens. It was built about 15 BC, occupying what had previously been open space in the centre of the Agora. It was a gift to the people of Athens by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, a Roman statesman and general.

The Stoa of Zeus at Athens, was a two-aisled stoa located in the northwest corner of the Ancient Agora of Athens. It was built c. 425 BC–410 BC for religious purposes in dedication to Zeus by the Eleutherios ("pertaining to freedom"): a cult founded after the Persian War. Stoas were not commonly used for religious purposes, but were typically built for promenades and meetings.It is different from others in that it was a stoa rather than a temple (the common building used for religious purposes). Scholars believe the building also served other civic purposes due to its central location. Researchers think the structure may have been built by Mnesikles, the architect who built the Propylaia. The Propylaia was the Periclean gateway to the Acropolis. In the late first century BC a two-room annex was added, possibly for the cult of the Roman imperial family. The building in all was 43.56 meters by 10.73 meters.

The South Stoa I of Athens was located on the south side of the Agora, in Athens, Greece, between the Heliaia and the Enneakrounos, a southeastern fountain house. It was built around 425–400 BC (during the Classical Era). The stoa was in use until c. 150 BC, when it was replaced by South Stoa II (of Athens). Archaeologists also theorize that the stoa may have had a second story. The two-aisled stoa opened north, with a Doric outer colonnade, an inner colonnade of unknown order and sixteen rooms which lined the southern wall. Of the sixteen rooms, one narrow room must have served as a vestibule, while the other fifteen square rooms were probably used for public dining. The rooms were outfitted for city magistrates fed at public expense.

The Altar of the Twelve Gods (also called the Sanctuary of the Twelve Gods), was an important altar and sanctuary at Athens, located in the northwest corner of the Classical Agora. The Altar was set up by Pisistratus the Younger, (the grandson of the tyrant Pisistratus) during his archonship, in 522/1 BC. It marked the central point from which distances from Athens were measured and was a place of supplication and refuge. The exact identities of the twelve gods to whom the Altar was dedicated is uncertain, but they were most likely substantially the same as the twelve Olympian gods represented on the east frieze of the Parthenon: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, Athena, Ares, Aphrodite, Hermes, and Dionysus, though there are reasons to suppose that Hestia may have been one of the twelve.It was formerly thought that during the Roman period, the Altar became known as the Altar of Pity (Eleos), however that altar is now believed to have been located further east in the Roman Agora. The altar was dismantled c. 267 AD.

The Strategeion, a trapezoidal chamber located in the Ancient Agora of Athens, Greece, is known as the meeting room of the ten Strategoi of ancient Athens.Having been built atop two ancient graves dating back nearly 2700 years, archaeological indications reveal the presence of a heroic cult dedicated to the hero named "Strategos", a name that was later used as a title for the Athenian generals. The ten Strategoi (including known figures such as Pericles, Aristides, Themistocles, Cleon, and Nicias), who were elected for one year and one for each tribe, used to discuss and take decisions regarding matters of finance, politics and foreign policy.