[Agora Webpage] Overview: The Excavations

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

The Excavations Excavations in the Athenian Agora by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens commenced in 1931 under the supervision of T. Leslie Shear. The systematic excavation of this important ... The area in question covered some 24 acres and was occupied by 365 modern houses, all of which had to be purchased and demolished. ... Since then, several dozen more houses have been cleared, bringing the total to more than 400. ... A drawing of the house lots in the area to be excavated: (a) Section ΟΕ, excavated by the German Archaeological Institute; (b) Athens/Piraeus railroad; (c) Giants and Tritons; (d) Section ΣΑ, Stoa of Attalos; (e) Section Ε, demolition of houses begun April 20, 1931, excavations begun May 25, 1931; (f ) Section Α, demolition of houses begun May 28, 1931; (g) Section ΣΤ, demolition of houses begun August 17, 1931; (h) Church of the Holy Apostles.

[Agora Webpage] Overview: The Site before Excavation

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

The Site before Excavation The Agora lies on sloping ground northwest of the Acropolis, below and east of the extraordinarily well-preserved Doric temple of Hephaistos, popularly known as the “Theseion” ... The other ancient remains were not so well preserved, however, and their ruins lay as much as 8 meters below the modern surface, covered from the 10th century by an extensive neighborhood of private houses. The houses were repeatedly rebuilt, after successive invasions by Franks, Ottomans, and Venetians. ... Marble Giants, (c.) Stoa of Attalos, (d.) railroad, (e.) ... The Stoa of Attalos (c) was cleared of debris by the Greek Archaeological Society in 1859/1862 and 1898/1902, the extension of the Athens/Piraeus railroad (d) cut through the northern part of the site in 1890/1, and other areas (e.g., e) were opened up by German and Greek archaeologists in 1896/7 and 1907/8.

[Agora Webpage] Publications: Picture Books

http://agathe.gr/publications/picture_books.html

Picture Books The Athenian Agora Picture Book series, started in 1951, aims to make information about life in the ancient commercial and political center of Athens available to a wide audience. Each booklet ... Finds and architecture from the private houses that covered over the Classical remains are discussed, and the book ends with a survey of the Church of the Holy Apostles, the 11th-century church that stands at the southeast corner of the Agora. ... This book discusses the complex engineering that channeled fresh water into the Agora and disposed of waste water, and shows some of the ornate wells and fountain houses where ancient Athenians gathered to drink and bathe. ... S.Publication Date: 1978ISBN: 087661618XPicture Book: 18 From the thousands of pieces of Late Roman “small change” discovered trodden into beaten earth floors and dropped into wells to the hoards of 19th-century A.D. silver French francs discovered beneath modern houses, many post-classical coins have been discovered during excavations at the Agora.