Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks

Space and Time 45
Reconstruction of the chryselephantine (gold and
ivory) statue of Athena Parthenos by Pheidias, after 448
b.c.e. Courtesy akg-images, London.
Urban Growth
Before the beginning of the sixth century b.c.e., Athens possessed
few public buildings. Nor, so far as we know, was any part of the
city specifically laid aside for civic activity. Around the beginning of
the sixth century b.c.e. , however, the city began to expand dramatically,
albeit in a haphazard fashion and without reference to any
master plan or guiding architectural principle. By the fifth century,
the population had grown to such an extent that it could no longer
gather in the Agora for public meetings. The ekklêsia or assembly
was therefore moved to a hill overlooking the Agora called the
Pnyx. The Theater of Dionysos, located on the south slope of the