An AGORA was the commercial, judicial and political nucleus of
an
ancient city, its center for artistic activities and for
teaching.
The Agora of Smyrna was built during the Hellenistic era. It
was
constructed on a sloped terrain in three floors. It is bordered
in
all sides by porticos (roof structure over a walkway,
supported by columns). Today it is the largest and best
preserved
among Ionian agoras. It consists of five parts, including the
agora
area, the base of the northern basilica gate, the stoa and
the
ancient shopping area. On entering the courtyard, on the left
is
the western stoa, in the back basilica and on the right hand
side
the Ottoman cemetery.
We placed a box in a wall cavity in one of the stoa's with
water
channels. The box was hidden by two small stone pieces. The
box
contains, in addition to the usual stuff such as pencil,
log-book,
etc, several blue evil eyes for protecting you from bad luck :)
You may visit Agora any day from 10 to 5 p.m and the entrance fee
is 3 Turkish Liras
IZMIR AGORASI
Agora, "toplanilan yer, kent meydani, çarsi, pazaryeri"
gibi
anlamlara geliyor. Antik çagda Agora'lar bu fonksiyonlarinin
yaninda, sanatin yogunlastigi ve birçok sosyal olayin
gerçeklestirildigi yer olarak da biliniyor.
Izmir Agora'si dikdörtgen formda planlanmis, ortada genis bir
avlu
ve etrafi sütunlu galerilerle (stoa) çevrili bir yapidir.
Bugün de devam eden kazi çalismalari sonunda, büyük ölçüde
ortaya
çikarilan bu tarihi kalinti Izmir'de ziyaret edilmesi gereken
yerlerin basinda geliyor.
Biz zemin kattaki su kanalli stoa'lardan birine, duvardaki
bir
oyuga bir kutu yerlestirip, üzerini iki tas parçasi ile
örttük.
Kutuda her zamanki, kalem, kayit defteri gibi malzemeler
yaninda,
bulanlari kem gözlerden koruyacak bir kaç da mavi nazar
boncugu
bulunuyor.
Agora hergün açik ve giris ücreti 3 TL.