Thanks for the Memories: The Athenian Agora as a Lieu de Mémoire

Abstract

The relationship between memory and place can often be expressed through association. When one thinks of the birthplace of democracy, it does not tax the imagination for Athens and the Athenian Agora to spring to mind. The fact that the connection between the agora and democracy is so embedded in the collective consciousness even today is no coincidence. Rather, it is evidence of a naturally occurring space at the foot of the Athenian Akropolis undergoing several millennia of transformative experiences, shaping and being shaped by the identities of its inhabitants, in order to become the place now recognised as the Athenian Agora: the heart of Athens, the birthplace of democracy, and truly, a lieu de mémoire. A transformative process, which I argue, began at the end of 6th century Athens with the collapse of the Peisistratid tyranny and was only strengthened by the advent of oligarchy in the final decade of the 5th century.