[Agora Webpage] AgoraPicBk 16 2003: Boundary Stones and House of Simon the Cobbler

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Boundary Stones and House of Simon the Cobbler Inscribed marble posts were used to mark the entrances to the Agora wherever a street led into the open square. Two have been found in situ, inscribed with ... Agora boundary stone found east of the Tholos, ca. 500 B.C. ... Agora boundary stone found deep under the Middle Stoa. ... The remains of the house of Simon the cobbler, 5th century B.C., built against the Agora boundary stone (bottom left).

[Agora Webpage] Birth of Democracy: State Religion

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State Religion: The Archon Basileus There was no attempt in Classical Athens to separate church and state. Altars and shrines were intermingled with the public areas and buildings of the city. A single ... In addition, several ancient texts refer to the great unworked stone (lithos) found in place in front of the building (19.3), which was used by the king archon when, as chief of the religious magistrates, he administered their oath of office: "They took the oath near the Royal Stoa, on the stone on which were the parts of the (sacrificial) victims, swearing that they would guard the laws" (Pollux 8.86) and "the Council took a joint oath to ratify the laws of Solon, and each of the thesmothetes swore separately at the stone in the Agord' (Plutarch, Life of Solon 25.2). ... Although its top is level and smooth, the stone is unworked, a condition appropriate to its sacred function. The stone lies in front of the Royal Stoa and is clearly the stone on which magistrates stood to take the oath of office.

[Agora Webpage] AgoraPicBk 16 2003: Southwest Area

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Southwest Area - Industry and Houses Leaving the area of the boundary stone, one can head southwest up a valley leading toward the Pnyx, meeting place of the Athenian assembly. Here are the complex remains ... Southwest Area - Industry and Houses Leaving the area of the boundary stone, one can head southwest up a valley leading toward the Pnyx, meeting place of the Athenian assembly. ... Walls were of sun-dried mudbrick on stone foundations, with tiled roofs; most floors were of beaten clay with only occasional mosaics.

[Agora Webpage] AgoraPicBk 16 2003: East Building

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East Building Running southward from the east end of the Middle Stoa is the East Building. Its eastern half takes the form of a long hall with a marble chip floor and stone slabs designed to carry wooden ... Its eastern half takes the form of a long hall with a marble chip floor and stone slabs designed to carry wooden furniture, presumably tables (Fig. 40).

[Agora Webpage] AgoraPicBk 16 2003: Royal Stoa

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Royal Stoa On the west side, lying just south of the Panathenaic Way, are the remains of the Royal Stoa (Stoa Basileios), one of the earliest and most important of the public buildings of Athens (Figs ... "[The archons] took the oath near the Stoa Basileios, on the stone on which were the pieces of the victims, swearing that they would guard the laws." ... The lithos or oath-stone, set up on the steps of the Royal Stoa.

[Agora Webpage] Birth of Democracy: The Boule

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The Boule (The Senate) The Athenian legislature also included a deliberative body known as the Boule. It was made up of 500 members -- 50 from each of the 10 tribes -- who were chosen by lot and served ... During the first century of its use, it served also as a display area for numerous important documents, laws, and treaties: Nevertheless I still wish you to hear the words on the stone in the Bouleuterion concerning traitors and those who attempt to overthrow the democracy ... These words, gentlemen, they inscribed on the stone, and this stone they set up in the Bouleuterion (Lykourgos, [Speech] Against Leokrates 124, 126).

[Agora Webpage] AgoraPicBk 16 2003: Panathenaic Way

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Panathenaic Way Numerous roads led in and out of the Agora square. By far the most important, however, was the broad street known as the Dromos or Panathenaic Way, the principal thoroughfare of the city ... The street is unpaved except to the south, as it begins the steep ascent to the Acropolis, where it was paved with large stone slabs in the Roman period. ... The line of the street was defined in the Hellenistic and Roman periods by successive open stone gutters along its south side (Fig.5).

[Agora Webpage] AgoraPicBk 16 2003: Southwest Fountain House

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Southwest Fountain House Closer to the agora proper a row of five public buildings lined the south side of the square in the Classical period (Fig. 29, 36). They comprise several important monuments, though ... A colonnade on two sides gave access to a large reservoir, the terminus of a long stone aqueduct that approached the building from the east, running under the south street.

[Agora Webpage] AgoraPicBk 4 2004: Athenian Citizenship

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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 ... Fortunately for us, the stone, metals, and pottery which the Athenians used are relatively imperishable, so that we have much of this primary evidence to supplement and illustrate the literature and history written by ancient authors. ... Most important of these, perhaps, are the laws and other records published on stone for the ancient Athenians themselves.

[Agora Webpage] Birth of Democracy: Marble Stele

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Law Against Tyranny In 338 B.C. Philip II of Macedon and his son Alexander defeated the Athenians and other Greek states in a battle at Chaironeia in central Greece. In the following year (337/6 B.C.) ... The law was inscribed on two stelai (stone markers) to be set up at the entrances of the Bouleuterion (senate house) and the ekklesia (assembly). ... The secretary of the Council shall inscribe this law on two stelai of stone and set one of them by the entrance into the Areopagos, that entrance, namely, near where one goes into the Bouleuterion, and the other in the Ekklesia.

[Agora Webpage] AgoraPicBk 4 2004: The Council and Magistrates

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The Council and the Magistrates Like selection for military service, allotment to the Council was organized according to the division by tribes; 50 members from each tribe acted as a unit in the Council ... Each board of Poletai made a record on stone of its work (17). ... Oftentimes provision was made in the decree itself for a copy to be carved on stone and set up in an appropriate place. ... Perhaps most notable of the decrees recorded on stone are treaties and other international agreements (19).

[Agora Webpage] AgoraPicBk 4 2004: Citizenship Tribes and Demes

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Citizenship: Tribes and Demes Every male Athenian, above and beyond the regular universal military training for service in the citizen army, was subject to universal political service. Besides being a ... In this way maximum participation was achieved, and every man was a public servant. 6.Oath stone (lithos) of the Athenians, on the steps of the Royal Stoa. ... The oath stone (6) has been found in front of the Stoa Basileios (or Royal Stoa), headquarters of the Basileus, chief religious and legal magistrate of the city.

[Agora Webpage] Birth of Democracy: Sources and Documents

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Sources and Documents Our understanding of the workings and history of Athenian democracy comes from a variety of sources. Most useful, perhaps, are the ancient literary texts that survive, many of which ... Important documents or decrees would then be transferred from the impermanent wax to papyrus or stone. Of the materials on which the Athenians wrote, only the stone inscriptions have survived in any quantity.

[Agora Webpage] AgoraPicBk 4 2004: Law Against Tyranny

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Law Against Tyranny In the fourth century B.C. the Athenians were faced with the dangerous possibility of tyranny. Although the Macedonian king had guaranteed Athenian democracy in the peace following ... The secretary of the Council shall inscribe this law on two steles of stone and set one of them by the entrance into the Areopagus . . . and the other in the Assembly.

[Agora Webpage] AgoraPicBk 4 2004: The Agora and Pnyx

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The Agora and Pnyx Center of public activity, the Agora was a large open square where all the citizens could assemble (2, 3). It was used for a variety of functions: markets, religious processions, athletic ... Boundary stone of the Agora, ca. 500 B.C.

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

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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 ... The upper surface of the present sill (4th century B.C.) preserves traces of the stone fence that would have defined the sacred area around the altar, now missing.

[Agora Webpage] AgoraPicBk 16 2003: Monument of the Eponymous Heroes

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Monument of the Eponymous Heroes Across the street from the Metroon lie the remains of the Monument of the Eponymous Heroes (Fig. 21). When Kleisthenes created the democracy in 508/7 B.C., he assigned ... Restored drawings of the Eponymous Heroes, second half of the 4th century B.C Only parts of the stone sill and the surrounding fence survive, along with five limestone blocks from the base itself and two marble blocks from the crown.

[Agora Webpage] Overview: The Museum

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The Museum On display in the public galleries of the stoa is a selection of the thousands of objects recovered in the past 75 years, reflecting the use of the area from 3000 B.C. to A.D. 1500. The public ... On the left side of the stone can be seen the holes for an attachment, a mechanical device that would have made the selection by chance (I 3967, Agora Museum).

[Agora Webpage] AgoraPicBk 4 2004: Military Service

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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 ... When the ephebes’ military service was over, it was customary for decrees honoring them for their faithful service to be inscribed on stone, with the list of their names appended.

[Agora Webpage] Birth of Democracy: Political Organization of Attica

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Political Organization of Attica: Demes and Tribal Representation Each tribe was divided into three parts, and each third (trittys) was from one of the three regions of Attica, plain, coast, or hills ... Upper part of an inscribed marble stele (stone slab) with red-painted letters, 222/1 B.C.