Ancient Agora of Athens Site & Museum Skip-the-Line Ticket

The Agora was the heart of ancient Athens, the focus of political, commercial, administrative and social activity, the religious and cultural centre, and the seat of justice.

The site was occupied without interruption in all periods of the city's history. It was used as a residential and burial area as early as the Late Neolithic period (3000 B.C.). Early in the 6th century, in the time of Solon, the Agora became a public area.

After a series of repairs and remodellings, it reached its final rectangular form in the 2nd century B.C. Extensive building activity occured after the serious damage made by the Persians in 480/79 B.C., by the Romans in 89 B.C. and by the Herulae in A.D. 267 while, after the Slavic invasion in A.D. 580, It was gradually abandoned. From the Byzantine period until after 1834, when Athens became the capital of the independent Greek state, the Agora was again developed as a residential area.

The site includes:

• The Temple of Hephaestus - On top of Agoraios Kolonos hill, stands the temple of Hephaestus, broadly known as Thisio. It is one of the best preserved ancient temples, partly because it was transformed into a Christian church. According to the traveller and geographer Pausanias (1, 14, 5-6), two deities were jointly worshipped in the temple: god Hephaestus, protector of all metallurgists, and goddess Athena Ergani, protecting all potters and the cottage industries. The identification of this temple as ?Hephaesteion? (location of worship of the god Hephaestus) was ascertained by the excavations and investigations that brought to light metallurgy workshops on the wider area of the hill, thus outshining earlier opinions presuming that Theseus, Hercules or Aris (Mars) were the deities worshipped there. The temple was probably erected between 460 and 420 BC by a yet unknown architect, to whom, however, are attributed other temples of similar structure in the Attica region
• The Church of the Holy Apostles of Solakis was built shortly before 1000 AD. and was partially based on a Nymphaeum of the 2nd c. A.D. It was the center of a Byzantine quarter that developed in the area. The original floor plan of the temple was cruciform inscribed, with arches on the four sides and a narthex on the west side. The dome was supported by four columns. The Holy Altar and the floor of the temple were marble. The exterior masonry preserves elaborate ceramic ornaments of horizontal serrated bands and "Kufic" designs which owe their name to the Arabic script developed in the city of Kufa. Four construction phases can be found in the building, as over the years the temple was repaired and expanded several times. It is the only medieval monument that survives in the area of ​​the Athenian Agora. It was restored to its original form in the years 1954 - 1957. The few surviving frescoes in the central aisle of the church date from the 17th century.
• 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 individual ticket can be used on any date within the applicable visit period Apr-Oct or Nov-Mar.