About the Daily Life in Ancient Athens Walk in Athens
The birthplace of democracy, and standard bearer for classical art, literature, and philosophy, Athens is widely considered the touchstone of Western civilization. During this three-hour walk of the Agora, Keramikos, Roman Agora, and other sites in Plaka and Monastiraki, we will look at the social, political, and economic underpinnings of Greek accomplishments and explore aspects of daily life in ancient Athens.
Our walk begins in the Agora, centerpiece of daily life in ancient Athens. A confusing jumble of ruins spanning over 2000 years, our trained archaeological scholar will spend much time simply helping us to decipher the visual clues in the landscape and recreate, through it's various phases, the built environment of this area. We'll look closely at such buildings as the Stoa, Hephasteion, and Odeion of Agrippa and discuss their role in daily life. Our docent may trace the economic history of ancient greece as the city evolved, discussing the rise of successively more complex sy
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The birthplace of democracy, and standard bearer for classical art, literature, and philosophy, Athens is widely considered the touchstone of Western civilization. During this three-hour walk of the Agora, Keramikos, Roman Agora, and other sites in Plaka and Monastiraki, we will look at the social, political, and economic underpinnings of Greek accomplishments and explore aspects of daily life in ancient Athens.
Our walk begins in the Agora, centerpiece of daily life in ancient Athens. A confusing jumble of ruins spanning over 2000 years, our trained archaeological scholar will spend much time simply helping us to decipher the visual clues in the landscape and recreate, through it's various phases, the built environment of this area. We'll look closely at such buildings as the Stoa, Hephasteion, and Odeion of Agrippa and discuss their role in daily life. Our docent may trace the economic history of ancient greece as the city evolved, discussing the rise of successively more complex systems of trade and commerce and their effect on Athens. We'll spend ample time within the museum of the Stoa where there is a wonderful collection of finds from the Agora excavations.
From here, our walk may go in a variety of directions. We may head towards the Keramikos, an excavated burial area where we can look at how ancient Athenians dealt with death. Or, we may head into areas of Plaka where remnants of ancient Greek, Hellenistic, and Roman structures still remain, including the impressive library built of the Emperor Hadrian and the Roman Agora, which provide a wonderful backdrop for tracing the development of the city after Roman conquest in the 1st century BC.
We'll finish up on the leafy streets of Plaka with a strong sense of how normal people lived during the classical and post-classical periods, and how political and social forces shaped the city throughout its history. This walk is often combined with the Acropolis Seminar to paint a vivid portrait of ancient Athens.
