The first agora in Western civilization appeared in Athens, at the end of the sixth century BC. This is where Athenian democracy was born, which opened a new era in world culture. At the Agora in Athens we have the ruins of the administrative and the religious sections of the agora.

The Temple of Hephaistos, the big temple of the agora, was dedicated to both the god of the craft men (especially the blacksmiths) and the god who had helped Athena to be born – Hephaestus.


They were co-worshiped in the temple, with Athena as the protectoress of the people of arts and crafts.



In the lower area of the agora are ruins, the foundation of another temple, which was dedicated to the patron god of the tribe of ions. Ions, unlike the Dorians, were people of culture among the Greeks. But Dorians were warriors, who teased the ions because of their culture – of being feminine. The Ions of Athens were a special, tiny island of Ions, in the middle of a sea of Dorians. All of their Athenian neighbors were Dorians. We have the Temple of Apollo, or rather, the ruins of the Temple of Apollo. The broken cult statues of these temples are in the Museum of the Agora.

The Lyre attaches to the belt on Apollo’s chest.

The King-Priest image in Revelation 1:13 is Apollo.




Here is the Stoa of Attalos:










A Golden Age (480-404 BC) track to honor the goddess Athena. And besides that there is another small temple of Athena as well.



Further, on the right, there is a porch, not a very big porch, but very important. The porch, Erectheion, was dedicated to Zeus (Zeus the Liberator.) Now, this porch, the Stoa of Zeus, was a place for the philosophers.

Among the philosophers, was Socrates, who frequently met his disciples there. It is the place, some centuries later, which Diogenes the Cynic used as a sleeping place.

The Apostle Paul was in the Athens Agora of his time.

And a little bit further is a very little room, a porch which was the office of a person. The porch was not closed in front with a wall, but with a colonnade and is called Royal Porch (Royal Stoa). It was not a place for gathering, but an office.

Remember, Athens is the first place where monarchy was abolished, and the position of King became one of the Civic offices. And so, every Athenian could candidate to be King of Athens, for a year. The person who had the title of the king (for 1 year) was also President of the Supreme Council of the City, the Supreme Council of Mars Hill.
After 3 AD, a part of the records building was used as a synagogue. According to the book of Acts, the Apostle Paul came first to the synagogue, close to the agora, the place of the philosophers (Socrates 470-399 BC; Plato 428-347 BC Socrates student; Aristotle, 384-322 BC student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great) Still today, 2000 years later, the synagogue is very close to the agora. It’s behind the new classical style houses.
A wall filled with bricks identifies the room where the synagogue used to be after the attack of the Herulians in 267 AD. During The Sack of Athens the city was destroyed partially and after it was reconstructed, the city authorities gave a room to the Jewish community to use as a synagogue.

Now, just behind this area is a statue. The sign under the statue says Emperor Hadrian, but it’s headless, armless and very broken.

How can archeologists identify this torso with the statue of Hadrian? Can you guess? Here we don’t have the trophy of a winner, officer or a soldier. We have something else on the breast plate of this emperor. that’s right. We see at the lower part, Romulus and Remus being nursed by the she-wolf. This is the emblem of Rome.
But we see something very weird; we see some bodies stepping upon the back of the wolf vest. Can you guess who is this person, from the symbols on the sides of this personality, that steps upon the back of the wolf? What do we see on both sides of this person?
We see a snake, and we say no, but remember both are symbols of wisdom, the wisdom from above, and the wisdom from below. From that, we understand that the person upon the back of the she-wolf is the patron Goddess of the city of Athens, the goddess of wisdom being crowned by two victories (the flying girls). There are two symbols symbolizing two cities.
Now, if that sign were on the breast plate of a soldier or an officer, it definitely could be considered high treason. No one could say that something is above Rome, except Hadrian, who studied in Athens and was in love with Athens. Hadrian gave a lot of offerings to the city of Athens, and he built a lot of buildings and monuments. As a Roman Emperor he claimed that Athens was above Rome and wisdom was above power. And this is how, everywhere, his statue was erected, always. And that is how we identify this torso as Hadrian’s statue.
Here is a model of the restoration of the 2 AD Agora in Athens.

