Thassos Ancient Agora

Location: Limenas

The Ancient Agora of Thassos, Greece: The Ancient Agora was the political, administrative and religious center of the ancient town of Thassos. Located in a walking distance from the center of Limenas, this is the most important archaeological site on the island. Although the construction of agora started more systematically on the 4th century BC, the earliest constructions on the site date from the 6th century BC.

The Agora was actually a rectangular space surrounded by columns. This space included buildings of various use, temples, monuments, and statues. In the 1st century AD, a paved street connected the entrance to the Agora with the port of Limenas. On the northern side of the Agora, there were buildings of administrative purposes, including a rectangular building known as prytanio and a Doric building with the names of the rulers carved in an internal wall.

Many other buildings, sanctuaries and remains are found all around the Ancient Agora, such as an offering epigraph to Athena Propylaea, a cenotaph of Glafkos who was one of the first colonists from Paros who arrived on the island, cult sanctuaries depicting Apollo with the Nymphs and Hermes with the Three Graces, and a complex with rooms.

In the middle of the 3rd century BC, the Agora was destroyed for the first time by an invasion of Erules, a tribe of northern Balkans. In the centuries that followed, there were many war invasions, destructions, and reconstructions in the Agora of Thassos. In the 5th century AD, the first Christian basilica of Thassos is constructed on the northern side of the Agora, sadly using material from the ancient buildings. Above the Ancient Agora, there is the Ancient Theatre of Thassos.