[Agora Webpage] AgoraPicBk 16 2003: Altar of the Twelve Gods

http://agathe.gr/guide/altar_of_the_twelve_gods.html

Altar of the Twelve Gods Near the middle of the open square, somewhat to the north, lay the Altar of the Twelve Gods (Fig. 7), today largely hidden under the Athens–Piraeus railway (1891). A corner of ... A corner of the enclosure wall survives, along with the inscribed marble base for a bronze statue that reads "Leagros, the son of Glaukon, dedicated this to the twelve gods." Thucydides tells us the younger Peisistratos, grandson of the tyrant, established the altar in the Agora during his archonship (522/1 B.C.). ... On the altar in the Agora the Athenians later rendered the inscription invisible by adding to the length of the structure." (Thucydides 6.54.6–7)

[Agora Webpage] Birth of Democracy: Practice of Ostracism

http://agathe.gr/democracy/practice_of_ostracism.html

Ostracism Soon after their victory over the Persians at the battle of Marathon in 490 B.C., the Athenians began the practice of ostracism, a form of election designed to curb the power of any rising tyrant ... An ostracism was held, which resulted in the exile of his main opponent, Thucydides the son of Melesias (not Thucydides the historian). ... Ostrakon of Thucydides, ostracized in 443 B.C. ... Inscribed: ΘΟΚΥΔΙΔΗΣ, Thucydides. This Thucydides, the son of Melesias, may have been the maternal grandfather of the historian Thucydides.

[Agora Webpage] AgoraPicBk 16 2003: Southeast Fountain House

http://agathe.gr/guide/southeast_fountain_house.html

Southeast Fountain House The slight traces just south of the Church of the Holy Apostles have been identified as the remains of an early fountain house (Figs. 33, 34). The identification is based on a ... Pausanias identified this building as the Enneakrounos (nine-spouted) fountain, built in the 6th century B.C. by the tyrant Peisistratos, but Thucydides -- who presumably knew better -- locates that famous monument south of the Acropolis, below the sanctuary of Olympian Zeus.

[Agora Webpage] AgoraPicBk 16 2003: Introduction

http://agathe.gr/guide/introduction.html

Introduction Classical Athens saw the rise of an achievement unparalleled in history. Perikles, Aeschylus, Sophokles, Plato, Demosthenes, Thucydides, and Praxiteles represent just a few of the statesmen ... Perikles, Aeschylus, Sophokles, Plato, Demosthenes, Thucydides, and Praxiteles represent just a few of the statesmen and playwrights, historians and artists, philosophers and orators who flourished here during the 5th and 4th centuries B.C., when Athens was the foremost city-state in Greece.

[Agora Webpage] AgoraPicBk 4 2004: Athenian Citizenship

http://agathe.gr/democracy/athenian_citizenship.html

Athenian Citizenship The government of ancient Athens concerned itself with many aspects of the lives of its citizens. In the pure democracy of Athens the government was not only of the people and for ... Nothing can better sum up the Athenian ideal of citizenship than the words which Thucydides makes Perikles speak in the Funeral Oration at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War: “We cultivate refinement without extravagance and knowledge without effeminacy; wealth we employ more for use than for show, and place the real disgrace of poverty not in owning to the fact but in declining the struggle against it.

[Agora Webpage] AgoraPicBk 4 2004: Ostracism

http://agathe.gr/democracy/ostracism.html

Ostracism In addition to the legal assassination condoned in the Law against Tyranny, a less extreme method was also available for removing powerful but dangerous men from public life. This was a formal, ... Perikles himself, about whom Thucydides says “by report it was a democracy, in fact a rule of the first citizen,” was never ostracized, but there were votes against him nonetheless.

[Agora Webpage] Birth of Democracy: Women

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The Unenfranchised I - Women Numerous people resident in Athens and Attica had little part in the political life of the state. Most glaring by modern standards was the exclusion of women, although a similar ... Perikles' comment on women in his great funeral oration is illuminating: If I am to speak also of womanly virtues, referring to those of you who will henceforth be in widowhood, I will sum up all in a brief admonition: Great is your glory if you fall not below the standard which nature has set for your sex, and great also is hers of whom there is least talk among men whether in praise or in blame. (Thucydides 2.45) Athenian (Attic) red-figure fragment of a kylix (drinking cup), late 6th century B.C.

[Agora Webpage] AgoraPicBk 4 2004: Military Service

http://agathe.gr/democracy/military_service.html

Military Service After the 18-year-old was registered in his deme as a citizen and was approved by the Council, he entered military service as a young conscript (ephebe) with other members of his tribe ... One bronze shield is inscribed: “The Athenians from the Lakedaimonians at Pylos.” Thucydides, in his account of the battle, comments: “Nothing that happened in the war surprised the Hellenes so much as this.

[Agora Webpage] Overview: The Archaeological Site

http://agathe.gr/overview/the_archaeological_site.html

The Athenian Agora The Agora of Athens was the center of the ancient city: a large, open square where the citizens could assemble for a wide variety of purposes. On any given day the space might be used ... It is during this “Classical” period that the Agora and its buildings were frequented by statesmen such as Themistokles, Perikles, and Demosthenes, by the poets Aeschylos, Sophokles, Euripides, and Aristophanes, by the writers Thucydides and Herodotos, by artists such as Pheidias and Polygnotos, and by philosophers such as Sokrates, Plato, and Aristotle.