The Museum of the Ancient Agora is housed in the reconstructed Stoa of Attalos, originally erected during the 2nd cent. BC as a gift of the king of Pergamon, Attalos II, to Athens.
The exhibition in the Museum gallery holds archaeological finds coming from the systematic excavations of the American School of Classical Studies in the area and dated from the Neolithic to the Post-byzantine and Ottoman periods.
The Museum exhibition is organized in chronological and thematic units that reveal aspects of the public and private life in ancient Athens.
The earliest antiquities, potsherds, vases, terracotta figurines and weapons, dating from the Neolothic , Bronze Age, Iron Age and Geometric period, come from wells and tombs excavated in the area of the Athenian Agora and its environs.
The most important exhibits are the objects associated with the various departments of civic life and the institutions of the Athenian Democracy and are dated from the Classical and Late Classical periods. Among them are exhibited official clay measures, bronze official weights, a fragment of a marble allotment machine, official jurors? identification tags, a clay water-clock, official bronze ballots, and potsherds inscribed with names of illustrious political personalities of the 5th cent. BC Athens which were used as ballots in the process of ostracism,
Of special interest is a marble stele adorned with a relief showing the People (Demos) of Athens being crowned by Democracy and inscribed with a law against tyranny passed by the people of Athens in 336 BC. Also exhibited are fine specimens of black-figured and red-figured pottery – some attributed to renowned vase painters-, as well as kitchen and table ware, lamps, terracotta figurines, coins and jewelry.
Finally on display are a collection of miniature Roman copies of famous statues and a number of particularly fine portrait busts and heads of the Roman period.
More information:
24 Adrianou Str., Τ.Κ. 10555, Athens (Prefecture of Attiki)
Telephone: +30 210 3210185, 3214825, 3210180
Fax: 210 3210196
Tickets: Full: €10, Reduced: €5