Description of the attraction
Agora was the name in ancient Greek policies for the market square, which was a place of general civil meetings (they were also called agora). Usually, in a square located in the center of the city, there was a central city market, divided according to various types of goods into "circles" and government offices. As a rule, the agora was surrounded by galleries with artisan workshops, temples, and sometimes statues erected along the perimeter of the square. Agoras often had a quadrangular projection, with columns located at the edges. There were many shops of various kinds in the agoras. Very often this area was the economic and administrative center of the city.
The Agora in Side is located near the Side Museum. To this day, only a few columns have survived from it, as well as the foundation of an ancient temple.
In ancient times, there were two agoras (squares) in Side. One of the squares still exists today. Side was a large shopping center. There was a huge slave market here. The agora in Side was especially famous for its beautiful slaves.
The surviving agora is located in the northwest of the colonnaded street and practically merges with the theater stage. The entrance to it lies through the gate, called propylion (colonnaded monumental entrance), located opposite the present museum. It is surrounded on all sides by granite columns with the order "atik-ion" in their pedestals, and the order "corinth" on the tops. After the architrave, the sloping roof is wooden, and in the four corners of the agora there are pedestals with statues (exedra).
Behind the southwestern eksedra, which merged with the stage of the theater, there was a semicircular monumental structure - toilets (latrium), covered with a vault. This is the only fairly well-preserved ancient toilet in Anatolia and a very beautifully decorated one. It has twenty-four seats, marble walls and mosaics on the floor. The sewage system for the waste water was located under the stone seats of the toilet, and in front of it was an open water canal with fresh water, which ensured cleanliness.
Agora at one time had two entrance gates, which were closed by walls. The Agora in Side and all other structures in it were erected in the second century AD. It was built specifically near the theater, on the recommendation of Vitruvius, an ancient Roman architect, so that theater spectators could take refuge in sudden rainfall.
Near its southeastern wall there was a road leading to the second agora of the city. The shops along the edges of this street were destroyed during the construction of the Philipus Atius wall.
In the center of the square, you can see traces of the circular temple of the goddess of fortune and chance Tyche. She, according to legend, ruled the fate of the city. In honor of the goddess, a temple with a place of worship was erected; columns with cornices are located around it.
