Agora

It is impossible to imagine an ancient city without its agora, and at Priene, from whichever direction you may come, it is in the agora that you will inevitably find yourself. It is best to start the tour of the building from the west.

On entering the agora you will pass a small market on your right where meat and vegetables were sold. The agora itself, which was devoted to civic affairs, formed a rectangule measuring 75 x 35 m with the gymnasium on the lower side. Except for the side looking on to the main street, the agora was surrounded by colonnades. In the centre stood a statue dedicated to Hermes, and one can still see a number of round or square pedestals on which marble or bronze statues had been placed. The steps on the south led down to the streets below. On the east there remain traces of the temenos (walled sanctuary) of Olympian Zeus.