When Athens entered Rome's orbit it did not stop being an important city: for the Romans it was the capital of culture, where one went to study philosophy and rhetoric. Emperors enriched it with new buildings, and some of the most interesting stand today between Plaka and Monastiraki, north of the Acropolis.
The Roman Agora
At the end of the 1st century BC, with funds donated by Julius Caesar and then Augustus, the Athenians built a new market east of the Ancient Agora, which was by then crowded with monuments. It was a large rectangular courtyard surrounded by colonnades, with shops, fountains and offices. The entrance on the west was through the Gate of Athena Archegetis, with four Doric columns, still standing; an inscription records its dedication to the goddess and to Augustus. On the east side remain a propylon with Ionic columns and the public latrines, surprisingly well preserved.
Inside the enclosure stands the Fethiye Mosque, "of the Conqueror", built by the Ottomans after the conquest of 1458 on the remains of a basilica and rebuilt in the 17th century: one of the few surviving Ottoman mosques in Athens, it hosts temporary exhibitions.
The Tower of the Winds
The most original monument is the Tower of the Winds, the Horologion built by Andronicus of Cyrrhus, a Macedonian astronomer, probably in the 1st century BC. It is an octagonal tower of Pentelic marble about 12 metres tall. Each of its eight faces looks towards a point of the compass and bears at the top a relief of the wind blowing from that direction: Boreas, the north wind, bearded and wrapped in a heavy cloak; Zephyrus, the west wind, a youth scattering flowers; Notus, the damp south wind, pouring water from a jar; and then Kaikias, Apeliotes, Eurus, Lips and Skiron. Below the reliefs are the lines of sundials, while inside a water clock worked, fed by a spring on the Acropolis. At the top a weathervane shaped like a Triton showed the wind direction. Over the centuries it served as a bell tower and as a dervish prayer hall; today, restored, it can also be visited inside.
Hadrian's Library
A little further west, facing Areos Street next to Monastiraki Square, stands the great Corinthian-columned facade of Hadrian's Library, built around AD 132 by the philhellene emperor. It was a vast enclosure with a courtyard of a hundred columns, a garden with a pool in the middle and, at the back, the halls where scrolls were kept and read. In later centuries churches were built inside it: you can still see the remains of a 5th-century early Christian basilica. The site has its own ticket.
Practical information
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Getting there | Metro Monastiraki (lines 1 and 3); the Library is next to the station, the Roman Agora 5 minutes away |
| Tickets | Each site has a separate ticket; free for EU citizens up to 25 |
| Time | About an hour for both |
| When | Morning or late afternoon; little shade |
Much can be seen from outside too, from the pedestrian streets around the enclosures. After the visit, climb the lanes of Plaka or dive into the Monastiraki market. See also the Olympieion and Hadrian's Arch and Roman Greece.