Ancient Agora of Argos - Theatrou 77

Beautiful. It hurts many unidentifiable ruins its origin. Except the theater.

The shiver and the excitement of the ancient meet everyday as in any archaeological site you visit ...

The first discoveries date back to 1902, when part of the theater, the Odeon and the Roman nymphaeum came to light. These findings made it possible to identify the location of the agora. Little remains of the monuments that should have delimited it. Barely remains of a stadium, two official buildings and a temple; from the classical and later Roman era. All the brick you see is Roman, the Greeks didn't use it. They are the ones who move the stadium to the left; they build hot springs with shops and a fountain in the center. Under the houses there should be a temple; so says Pausanias who visited Argos in the year 18. The Hypostyle Hall is one of the oldest monuments from the Agora of Argos (475-450 BC) that has been excavated until now. It is a square monument measuring 32 meters long, built with porous stones and limestone on the upper part, with a facade to the east and a small door on the south side. The entrance was decorated by 15 Doric columns, while inside there were 16 Ionic columns that supported the roof, pyramidal in shape. It is related to the establishment of democracy in Argos. It is considered that it was used as Bouleuterion, the building where the «boulé», or council of the five hundred, met. During the 3rd century, part of it was occupied by the adjacent baths, and its final destruction dates from the 4th century. The walls that covered this building incorporated architectural elements from an altar and probably from the Temple of Apollo. To the east of the hypostyle hall lies the Dromos, founded at the end of the 4th century BC. C next to the drainage system. It was 600 feet (180 m) long, which was the official measurement for the Olympic stadiums (also for Olympia, Epidaurus, and Athens); But each city had a different footprint! The 600 feet of Argos are equivalent to 176 mt. In its western limit there are stones that mark the starting line, with a width of 90 meters, with capacity for 20 runners. In the 1st century, Dromos was reorganized and moved south instead of east. The use of Dromos for the training of athletes, was abolished at the end of the 2nd century when a square building was founded on its western limit that was used as a fountain. The arena and the Dromos originally must have belonged to one of the three gymnasiums of Argos, where young people, without social discrimination, exercised their body and spirit, and trained in virtue. The excavations of 1953 brought to light the so-called round temple (Tholos), north of the Dromos, which may have been built in memory of some historical event, during the reorganization of the agora in the 1st century. It is a circular marble covered monument, which uses an ancient underground crypt (a kind of well with a ladder and a corridor that extended north) and an earlier building. It has a 16 × 16 m podium and was surrounded by eight luxurious Corinthian columns. A central staircase on the north side led into the crypt. At the end of the 2nd century, its initial function disappeared and the monument became a simple nymphaeum, leaving two fountains in the agora. The monumental fountain with coins of the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius was completely destroyed during the invasion of the Slavs in the 6th century. In front of the Roman nymphaeum an artificial terrace supported by a thick polygonal wall was discovered. It is probable that the Kriterion, that is to say the areopagus or the court of the city, had its headquarters here. There are also two monuments: The D (2nd century BC) is a monumental pedestal measuring 3.65 × 2.10 mt which, due to its location, between monuments and statues, but also due to its construction, implies that it was an important monument for Argives. The M of the Roman imperial era (II century) north of the Dromos is a square square measuring 6 × 6 mt, surely for tombs, a privilege only for the distinguished members of society who had honored the city with their donations and heroic acts .

Free entry, it is almost ruins but there is a lot of information boards about individual buildings, so I have an idea as to what was.

It is a city with a lot of history, nice people and varied gastronomy.

It is a shame for everyone, the situation is, such a historical monument. The grasses are, like small trees and toilets, in unacceptable condition. It is a pity and sad, when we want, to have tourism and our monuments, to be in complete abandonment. Should the local government, or the Ministry of Culture, take care of cleaning the market?