Agora

The agora, translatable as marketplace, was a public space and an essential part of an ancient Greek polis or city-state. An agora acted as a marketplace and a forum to the citizens of the polis.

Agora also means a place of assembly in any Ancient Greek state. It is sometimes used in modern language to refer to a crossroads, either metaphorically (the point or concept which links, or is the crossroads of multiple related concepts), or literally, a point at which many physical roads or paths meet.

The agora arose along with the polis after the fall of Mycenaean civilization, and were well established as a part of a city by the time of Homer (probably the 8th century BC). The most well-known agora is the Ancient Agora of Athens. The Agora Open Air Museum of Izmir is one of the best preserved agoras in the world.