During the rule of Solon the Legislator, when the Athenian Agora was formed, its eastern side was absolutely free from buildings. Dromos crosses the area diagonally, acting as a border. But as the city grew, the need for public buildings also increased, especially after the Persian Wars. At that time, a large rectangular colonnade was built around the buildings, which most likely belonged to one of the buildings in Athens, as indicated in the ballot box with the judges. votes found there. In the Hellenistic period, Attalos from Pergamum donated to the city of Pallas Athena a magnificent two-story stoa, towering over the Agora and expanding the business center of the city east of the main road. These buildings were destroyed when the city was fired by Sulla; but immediately after this, the Romans began a quick reconstruction, an unmistakable measure conquered by conquerors through history. A library was built on this side of the Agora, and then another one, near Attalos. These and other structures were seen by Pausanias and Strabo when they arrived in Athens in the 2nd century AD.
From the first long bottleneck in the southeastern corner of the site, there are only a few remnants left due to the many changes that have occurred over the years after its construction. Originally, the Stoa was on two levels along the Panatheni way to compensate for the natural slope of the earth. There were eleven shops and a row of columns with Ionian capitals. It must have been a very busy place, as shown by the figures of Germs, the animals and the sundial, carved on the first column. The models of antiquity also carved young profiles, some with beautiful classical features, and others created with the intention to ridicule.
The colonnade must have stretched in front of the library next to it, from which nothing was left, because it was completely destroyed during the raid on Herouli, but also because the wall subsequently erected was built over the structures on this side of the Agora. Evidence of prisoners. Anxiety after the bag of the city is part of the columns, lying like wounded soldiers, in a hastily built wall.
It was in the 3rd century AD, when the Roman Empire faced the threat of fierce Germanic tribes, such as the Goths, Vandals, and others, who went north, following the river roads of Eastern Europe and uniting with the nomadic tribes of the Caucasus. From there, they poured into the Roman possessions around the Black Sea and Asia Minor. The Goths, along with their cousins, the Gerulians, built a powerful fleet and sailed to the destruction of the Aegean sowing. They captured Lemnos and Skyros and destroyed Corinth and Argos, while other cities respectfully and in vain built fortifications. In the pouch of Athens, the Kherulians destroyed everything except the temple of Gethei and the shrines on the Acropolis. The whole Agora was covered with a layer of ash from buildings burned at that time. Many keys were found that were thrown into the wells during that period, indicating the despair experienced by the rabid inhabitants. But the barbaric occupation did not last long. Inspired by the fiery sentences of Speaker Dexippe, the inhabitants of Athens recalled how their ancients dealt with the Persians, and, as one person, two thousand Athenians managed to expel the invaders.
Immediately after that, they built a wall using rubble from destroyed buildings. The perimeter of this wall significantly reduced the area that the Athenians had to protect in any future attack. The fortifications began at Propylaia, from the position of the Bel gate, descended to the east side of the Panafenai path, crossed the southeast wall and library, reached the back wall of the Stoa Attalos, turned east for a few meters, and then turned south again to touch the rock Acropolis. The degree of this fortification shows that the number of inhabitants has already drastically decreased. The wall was 11-1 / 2 meters high and 3-1 / 2 m. It had two faces, and the space between them was filled with column drums, inscriptions, pedestals of statues and sculptures of all kinds. Traces of one tower of the fortress and parts of the water mill are preserved. The three gates were identified with confidence on the west side along the Panathaine way. But the most impressive part of the remaining wall, with built-in pillars and pieces of marble from earlier buildings, is located in the place where the Pantein Library once stood.
It was the intellectual heart of Athens, built at the end of the 1st century AD. A long inscription was found in which it is reported that Titus Flavius Pantanios dedicated the entire structure with all its buildings and library with all its books to Athena Polias and the emperor Trayan. The same inscription allowed schools to conclude that the building has a courtyard with rooms and covered areas, as well as some outdoor shelters. Another inscription demonstrated the strict rules of the institution, which prohibited the borrowing of books by oath. Ironically, Pausanias did not mention this library at all, ever partial to the shrines of the gods and more ancient structures. He belonged to the huge building next door, Stoa Attalos, with the same unpretentiousness.
Attalos of Pergamum, who built this magnificent Stowe, was descended from an adventurous dynasty, which, although its roots were from Morocco's Minor mining, became completely Hellenized. Its founder was a certain Filetiros from Pontus, in which the Macedonian Lykims had such confidence that they laid a debt on him to be kept in a fortress in Pergamum. The man who benefited most from the disputes between Lisimachos and Seleucos over the division of the empire of Alexander the Great inspired by him was this flexible Filetayros, who turned out to be the owner of all the goods entrusted to him. He founded the Attalidian state, which between 283 and 129 BC turned into a center of commerce and writing, mainly due to the use of new written material obtained from the skin of animals. It was, of course, not so new; from very ancient times, very significant writings were written on a piece of thin leather called diphester. The Persians perceived this word and adapted it to their native language as a respite from which the Greek word comes, meaning notebook. When, under the rule of the Ptolemies, Egypt banned the export of papyrus, the kingdom of Pergamum improved the technique of making diphtheria, in order to give it a finer texture, more white color and the ability to write on both sides. He also acquires a new name, pergamini or parchment.
The kings of Pergamum were great lovers of beauty. They decorated their capital with remarkable monuments and magnificent sculptures. “The Dying Gaul” in the Capitoline Museum in Rome, but above all the altar of Pergamum in the Berlin Museum, testify to the high artistic level of that period. The Pergamum Library, which was said to contain about 20,000 volumes, was later donated by Mark Antony to the beautiful Cleopatra to enrich the library in Alexandria. Finally, Attalos III, the last of his lines, bequeathed this rich kingdom to the people of Rome by virtue of contradictory will, thereby strengthening the Roman presence in Asia.
Two of the most significant attalid scions who alternated with the power of Pergamum, studied in Athens. Each, at the height of his fame, donated magnificent buildings to the city of his youth: The Stoa next to the Theater of Dionysus, called Émenmen II, and the great Stoa in Agora, Attalos II. Built in 150 BC. At right angles to slightly earlier Medieval, the Hellenistic Stoa of Attalos became the new commercial center of Athens for the next four centuries.
In order to build a mysterious base or a crepidome on which the stoa rested, the remains of the old peristyle, which could belong to one of the buildings of the fifth century, had to be covered. The stoa was built in two tiers; it was about 117 meters long and 20 meters. wide. Its facade, which stood to the west. It was decorated with 45 Doric columns, not folded below, as it was in the Hellenistic years, while in the interior of the covered area there were 22 columns supporting the roof, all of which were uneven with Ionic capitals. There were also 45 small ion columns on the façade of the upper floor, which were joined together with decorated marble slabs: parapets to protect people. On the upper floor there was also an internal colonnade corresponding to the one on the ground floor. On each of the two levels there were 22 square rooms suitable for use as shops. Initially, the staircase leading to the second level was outside, on the two narrow sides of the Stoa, as we could see them meeting on the northern edge of the covered ground floor, where traces of a large marble fountain were found. The external southern staircase was replaced by an internal one when the library Pantainos was built to create more space between two buildings. It has been restored and used today. Later, the road passed over the south side of Stoa Attalos, leading to the Athenian gates on the border with the Roman Agora, where the shopping center of the city remained for the next centuries. But even when the ancient Agora was no longer considered a business center, it never ceased to be the main meeting point for residents. Strabo, who came to Athens in the II century AD, called the Roman market "Eretria", referring to his more ancient eponymous contemporary, Pausanias, who used: "Kerameikos".
During the barbaric invasion, the stoa was burned, as can be seen from the traces on the southern inner wall. During subsequent fortification, the solid structure built by Attalos was considered suitable for the city wall. Then the facades of the workshop were built, rows of columns were demolished, and the towers of the fortification were added all over the former stand, leaving Agora outside the protected area. One part of the back wall was excavated in the 19th century, and after regular excavations in 1953, Stoa Attalos was completely restored by the American School of Classical Research. Today it houses a museum on the ground floor, and on the covered open area there are statues, statues, inscriptions and steles that enliven many details of the city’s past life.
In front of the external colonnade of Stoa Attalos, in the middle of the facade, a large square base was installed for the monument depicting King Pergamum in a chariot. A few years after the construction of the Stoa, a bema (raised platform) was also exhibited, from which speakers and Roman generals could turn to the people of Athens, another indication of how much traffic was in the area. A large number of bases of honorable monuments on the opposite side of the Panafenai road prove the same thing. Right behind these monuments are the ruins of the Blanket, one of the most heavily modified buildings in the Agora, thanks to numerous renovations and additions.
From various sources in antiquity, we know that the open triangular space in the Agora next to Dromos was the venue for rituals and presentations before the Dionysus Theater was built. There were ikria, wooden platforms, from which the audience watched the action unfold. A brief link even exists in what could be seen by climbing the branches of a poplar tree growing nearby. Perhaps this previous use, along with the existence of a playground and a large open space, caused Agrippa to build Odeion at this exact location.
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa was Augustus. son-in-law and the governor of the eastern provinces of the Empire. At the end of the 1st century BC He offered the Athenians a magnificent building for speeches or even for philosophical discussions, thereby winning the desired title of benefactor of the city, along with an honorary monument at the entrance to the Acropolis. The design of the Odeion reflected the Roman taste for a grand; he used the natural slope of the earth in the best way, giving him plenty of space on the earth, with stelae, several levels and two entrances. The most impressive of them must have been in the south, right in front of the Middle Stoa.
Persons entering Odeillon from this side passed under two rows of Corinthian columns, then passed into the main hall with a very high ceiling projecting above the building. From that moment, one went down to a 1000-seat audience, and from there into a semicircular marble orchestra. Above the orchestra was a stage, behind which was another, northern entrance with a small external gate.
The large size of this room must have caused the roof to collapse a century after it was built. In the subsequent restoration, a large number of rows of benches were removed from the upper part, and the hall justified a noticeably smaller size. Now he had only one entrance, on the north side, decorated with statues of giants and tritons. After the barbaric raids, the building underwent another radical change of form to accommodate the gymnasium. Of its old façade, only four of the gigantic statues survived, and behind it a large plain was leveled to be used as a ported courtyard. Even further, rooms and more courtyards were built and equipped with baths. A large number of these scattered areas can be explained by the custom of the ancients, in order to have classes in their high school. This custom provided the root of the modern Greek word gymnasio, meaning high school.
Despite the fact that the Odeon was completely destroyed, there remained a monumental 2nd century of our era, from which we can still see the bases and statues of two proud representatives of the myth of the world. One of them is a giant with a snake form, and the other is a mature, strong newt with fish instead of legs.
It was found that myths were created at the dawn of human thought. Starting from the superstitions of the early peoples, up to the symbolism of the Platonists, who expressed primitive totemism and interpreted metaphysical problems, the myth passed through various stages of evolution. But it always assumed the distant past, because only then did events acquire the dimension of hyperbole. A typical example was provided by the Romans, whose mythology was relatively poor. In addition, they were practical and victorious commanders and administrators of the army, who did not need heroic models, and did not react to them at all as to lovers of speech and poetry. But they adopted the Greek religion and loved to represent mythological creatures in their art.
Giants and tritons were remnants of Greek prehistory. The former were defeated by the gods in the decisive battle for peace, because, like the children of Earth, who were shown by their serpentine tails, they were natural phenomena such as storms, floods and catastrophes. One of them was Enceladus, who was buried under the Sicilian island, and every time he moved, he created earthquakes. Tritons were considered sea spirits and had a dual substance of both destruction and restitution; rather, like a storm, followed by calm. Although Triton appears as the son of Poseidon and Amphitrite in Greek mythology, he may possibly be of foreign origin.
The golden Mycenaean ring shows some creatures in strange, scaly clothes. In the British Museum there are Babylonian stones and Assyrian seal stones depicting forms half human and half fish, and in Pasargad in Persia on the jamb found the gate, of which there is a relief representation of such a dual form of being. Eusebius, a Christian chronicler of the 4th century, mentioned similar creatures that appeared, he said, during the Babylonian years. Eusebius found this information in the texts of Apollodoros, 2nd century BC. historian and philosopher who was interested in the genealogy of the gods before the flood. Apollodoros & # 39; The main source was “The Babylonian Story”, written in Greek in the 4th century by a priest named Berosh of Bithynia. Having access to the cuneiform texts of the Chaldeans, Berozus learned that in the most ancient times an amphibian creature called Oannes emerged from the sea. This strange creature is a civilized humanity with its excellent wisdom. From time to time other Oannes also appeared, always carriers of abundance and knowledge. The Sumerians worshiped this figure as a god named Enki, and the Babylonians called the same divinity Ea, that is, the god of waters, and believed that his palace was in the city of Eridu in the Persian Gulf. It is strange to consider the fact that in West Africa there is a tribe called the Dongons, who believe that the knowledge of the movement of the stars was transferred to them by wise amphibious creatures. Then, of course, there is a gorgon or a mermaid of later Greek folklore. Thus, it would seem that the Triton of the Ancients is a timeless creature with distant alien pedestrians, as well as more recent local descendants.
In Pausanias, the book of Beotik, there is a very interesting link to Tanagru. The men of this region, he said, managed to catch Triton by deception and behead him, because it irritated their wives. Путешественник описал безголовое тело, которое, как он утверждал, видел в городе, и, по сути, описывал земноводное, неприятно антропоморфное существо. Тритон Одеяния был украшенным вариантом этого мифического существа, которое так захватило человеческое воображение.
Перед гигантскими статуями у входа в Одейон был большой храм Ареса. Сегодня ничто из этого здания не сохранилось, кроме его контура, - отличается от остальной части участка, потому что оно покрыто гравием - несколько плит с рельефными щитами и некоторые рассеивающие части колонн и капителей. Многие из них носят характерные вырезы римских масонов, хотя скала была срезана в 5 веке, еще раз продемонстрировав, что храм был первоначально построен где-то в другом месте, и был куплен здесь понемногу и перестроен вместе с его последним алтарь во время римского правления. Граждане классических Афин не особенно интересовались возведением храма Аресу, насильственному, прочному, а не исключительно умному богу войны; особенно когда их город был защищен Promachos Athena, она была организована защитой и крутой стратегией. Но римляне высоко оценили Ареса (Марса) как божественного лидера своих легионов. Превалирующее мнение школ относительно первоначальной позиции храма Ареса в Афинской Агоре состоит в том, что оно первоначально находилось в Акарнесе, где, как известно, было святилище бога. Такой культ был бы абсолютно логичен там, учитывая, что этот Чердачный Дем был расположен на границе, которая должна была защищать от вражеских дождей, а воинственный Арес, драчливый и всегда готовый к битве, был наиболее подходящим защитник границ. Следует также указать на смешение двух крайних состояний в эротических отношениях между воинственным Аресом и нежной богиней Афродитой. Объединение этих двух совершенно разных божеств породило всемогущего Эроса, который мог успокоить даже своего жестокого отца, и Гармонию, которая привела равновесие в этот противоречивый мир.
Паусаниас дает нам только одно мимолетное упоминание о храме Ареса, потому что, когда он проходил мимо участка, его в основном интересовали статуи внутри и вокруг него. Некоторые из этих статуй были идентифицированы в усеченных скульптурах, найденных поблизости, и теперь выставлены в Музее Агоры. Другие были потеряны навсегда: например, статуи 6-го века тиранисидов Гармодиос и Аристогейтон. Эти статуи были добычей, которую Ксеркс перебрал в Персию, где они остались, пока Александр Великий не восстановил их и отправил обратно в Афины. Тиранициды считались достойными уважения как символы демократии; они также были первыми смертными, которых хвалят, имея статуи, удостоверенные им, привилегию, которая до сих пор была зарезервирована только для богов и полубогов. Статуи были размещены по эту сторону Агоры, потому что это, вероятно, было там, где был убит Гиппархос. Его смерть была достойной в подавлении тирании, установленной его отцом Пейсестратосом. Фукидид сказал нам, что это смелое действие произошло в день Панатинаии, когда тиран контролировал подготовку к процессии. Мы также знаем, что знаменитости отправной точкой был Алтарь Двенадцати Богов, главный перекресток города.
Этот значительный Алтарь был построен примерно в 520 году до н.э. на северном краю Агора, вершине воображаемого треугольника, который составляет его площадь. В огражденном стенами корпусе оно было установлено как место, где были обездоленные, запрещенные и даже плохо обработанные рабы. Возможно, именно поэтому Паусаниас писал, что видел Алтарь Милосердия: очевидную ссылку на святилище, которая заставила самых археологов заключить, что эти два имени были упомянуты на том же алтаре. Из самой структуры нет значительных путей, потому что линия поезда проходила прямо над ней. Эта железнодорожная линия для посетителей является самой северной границей Агоры, хотя в древности существовали важные здания с другой стороны, которые еще не были полностью изучены и изучены.
