Markets looked different

I recently had the chance to escape to Athens for a weekend. It’s one of those places where history and ancient civilisation feel alive.

The Ancient Agora of Athens, sitting in the shadow of the Acropolis, has even more to tell than the city’s main attraction itself. The Agora was the main marketplace of ancient Athens, a place where Socrates and Aristotle gave lectures, and Herodotus taught history. What surprised me most was how advanced and organised it all was. The Athenians had their systems to keep trade fair. There were officials who checked weights and measures, and money changers who helped travellers exchange foreign coins for Athenian drachmas. These small silver coins, stamped with the image of Athena or an owl, were trusted across the ancient world.

You will need a bit of imagination to picture the Agora in its full glory. Today, it’s mostly columns, stones, and ruins. Luckily, the Stoa of Attalos has been beautifully restored and turned into a museum, where models illustrate how the Agora evolved over time and paintings reveal what the ruins looked like in earlier centuries.

So, if you ever feel like contemplating your lunch options where Plato once philosophized – the Ancient Agora is the place to go!