Agora, which is an Ancient Greek Word, means “place to gather at, city square, marketplace, bazaar”. Besides the commercial, political and religious functions of agoras, it is known that agoras used to be the focal point where the art is intense and many social events occur in ancient times. In the ancient times, there were at least one agora in every city. Some big cities would usually have at least two agoras. One of these would be a state agora, where the affairs of state are executed and various public buildings are gathered, the other one would be a commercial agora, where the commercial activities are intense.

The Agora of Smyrna is established on the northern slope of Pagos (Kadifekale) where the ancient city of Smyrna was moved to in 4 BC. This building, which was surrounded by important public buildings of the period, is the state agora of the city.

Most of the remains that survived to the present day of the agora which was established in the Hellenistic Period are from the Roman Period agora which was rebuilt with the contributions of Emperor Marcus Aurelius after the earthquake in 178 AD.

The Agora of Smyrna is a building which is planned in a rectangular form with a large yard in the middle, surrounded with colonnaded galleries(stoa). The north and west stoas which were exposed with excavations stand on the basement floor. The north stoa is a basilica in terms of plan features.

Basilica

Basilicas are buildings with wide and high corridors in the center and narrow and parallel corridors on the sides. Roman basilicas, which were pioneers in terms of plan features for Christian churches, were some kinds of courthouse where the legal affairs are executed. In addition, they were preferred for the activities of the merchants and bankers who gave shape to the commercial life of the city.

The basilica, which is situated on the north wing of the agora has a rectangular plan measuring 165 x 28 meters. In terms of dimensions, the basilica of the Agora of Smyrna is the largest known Roman agora.

The cross vaults, which survived to present day and can be seen at the east and west ends of the basement are among the most beautiful examples of the Roman Period architecture.

On the north side of the basilica, out of the two exposed monumental basement doors, the one on the west side is completely exposed today.

The vaulted shops, which suggested the commercial importance of state agoras towards the end of the Roman Period, are exposed on the north side of the basilica.

The Western Stoa

Like the basilica, the western stoa, which comprises galleries separated by three rows of colonnades, also stand on a basement floor. It is understood that the western stoa, which is mostly seen with arched basements today, was a two-floor building standing on the basement floor in ancient times. The ground floor, which is accessed with three stepped stairs and the second floor, which has a wooden floor, were used for strolling in the ancient times while getting protected from the rain and sun.

Cisterns which were built by putting up some walls of the basement floor gallery probably towards the end of the Roman Period, reached the present day as the most beautiful example of its kind.

The columns of the first floor which are on the yard side of the western stoa were stood up in the 1940s.

Faustina Gate and Ancient Street

One of the parallel, east-west avenues of the City of Smyrna, which was a grid-planned city, was through the Agora. There is a magnificent gate on the west side of the avenue which was probably dividing the Agora into two equal parts.

On the center of the northern arch of the gate, which is believed to have two eyes, there is an embossed portrait of Faustina, who is the wife of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. On the second eye, which is on the street that is still in use, there is probably the portrait of Marcus Aurelius. Since Marcus Aurelius and his wife Faustina had the Agora rebuilt after it was destroyed by an earthquake in 178 A.D, Smyrnaeans paid their debt of loyalty with this gate. The arched gate, which was repaired with incorrect measurements in the 1940s, was restored to its original specifications in 2004.

The Graffities

The graffities which are wall paintings and writings from the Roman Period are drawn on plastered solid basement walls of the basilica and columns of arches. Besides the ones drawn with ink made of iron and oak root, there are examples of graffities which are made by scraping method.

Graffities give very substantial information especially about the daily social life in the Roman Period. It was discovered that the graffities cover a wide range of subjects, including love games, gladiatorial battles, sexuality, sailboat paintings, names of lovers, birds, ships and riddles. On the city slogans found in the graffities, it is possible to see that the rivalry between Pergamon, Ephesus and Smyrna, which were the top three cities of the West Anatolia during the Roman Period, is present even in public.

The graffities, which were exposed in the basilica basement floor of the Agora of Smyrna, are unique in a lot of aspects. Primarily, these findings are the oldest graffities that are drawn with a material containing iron and oak root. On the other hand, although the written sources gathered to date as a result of World Ancient Time studies are usually formal or religious, the graffities in Agora of Smyrna, which are written in Ancient Greek, inform about the daily life of the people. Basilica graffities also give important hints about the early days of Christianity. Another feature of the graffities is they are the most comprehensive graffities in terms of description. Aforementioned graffities are unique in world archeology literature in terms of these features.

Studies - Projects

The archeological excavations done in Agora in cooperation of İzmir Museum Directorate and History Institution between 1933 and 1941 were the first in Smyrna. The excavations that were started around the columns of basilica that were preserved in situ was expanded towards West Stoa and East Stoa afterwards.

Today, in the Agora, a large part of the West Portico, a small part of the East Portico and the whole Basilica in the north was exposed. The South Portico is expected to be in the area on south of the antique city that is used as green field. With the recent excavation works, the existence of Bouleuterion/Odeion that is next to the West Portico was discovered. Another urban finding that is exposed with the excavations is the avenue that is on the north of the Agora running along east-west directions and was named "the North Avenue". Although the inscription on the architrave block in the findings refer the existence of a Nemesis Temple in or near the Agora that is also stated in other antique sources, the location of this temple was not found yet.

The first excavations in the Agora of Smyrna, which are one of the first excavation activities of the Republic of Turkey, are done in cooperation of İzmir Museum Directorate and History Institution between 1933 and 1941. In 1944, a short report of the excavation was published by R. Duyuran, who was conducting the excavation and then in 1950 a relatively more extensive article was published by R. Duyuran and S. Kantar.

The excavations in the Agora stopped for a long time from this date forward and after frequent inspection and cleaning studies, rescue excavations under the presidency of İzmir Museum and with the support of Governorship of İzmir, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality and İzmir Chamber of Commerce were done between 1996-2006.

As of July 2007, Antique City of Smyrna excavations, which are done by the presidential decree with a team under the presidency of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Akın Ersoy, on behalf of İzmir Katip Çelebi University, are also done in other locations of the city, besides the Antique City of Agora. Latest excavations in the Agora of Smyrna, Basmane Altınpark, Kadifekale and Smyrna Theatre are still in progress.