Athenian Agora: Excavations in the Heart of Classical Athens

by John M. Camp

The great public square known as the Agora was the living heart of ancient Athens, where citizens met formally to administer civic affairs, and informally to trade or discuss politics or to take part in religious processions and athletic displays. In the fifth and fourth centuries B.C., the Agora was the scene of some of the finest political, philosophical, and artistic achievements in the first flowering of Western civilization. John M. Camp brings together the results of sixty years' work by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. Drawing on the wealth of excavated evidence, richly supplemented by literary and inscriptional references, Professor Camp tells the story of the Agora from Neolithic to medieval times.

Genres: Archaeology, History, Nonfiction, Greece

232 pages, Paperback

First published July 28, 1986

About the author

John Camp is the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Professor of Classics at Randolph-Macon College. He received his B.A. from Harvard University in 1968, and his M.A. (1972) and Ph.D. in Classical Archaeology (1977) from Princeton University. He has worked in the Athenian Agora since 1966, first as an excavator, later as assistant director, and now as the director, which he became in 1994.

Reviews

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 4 out of 5]

The previous owner took quite a few notes in the margins and I spent the most of my time reading those and checking out the pictures.

[Vassilis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book by THE suitable person to write about the Athenian Agora: Camp, who leads the excavations of the ancient Agora for many decades now. The book leads the reader through all the main periods of Athens, where Agora was central to its function, connecting the history puzzle pieces finding by finding, building by building, historical milestone by historical milestone, always giving significant information and insights on how Athens functioned from a political, legal, social, architectural, philisophical, military or any other point of view. Camp masterfully combines archaelogy with history with culture with practical info to give a holistic view of what ancient Athens and Athenian Agora meant and keep meaning for Greece and the rest of the world. Surely recommended!

[Sanford Holst · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent information and diagrams on the excavations in Athens' Agora.

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastically intertesting.