There is no doubt about it. The Acropolis is Athens’ top sight. But it is not the only way to experience ancient Athens, and seeing only the Acropolis and expecting to emerge with an understanding of Athens at its height is doing a disservice to just how incredible this city was.

First, let’s define some basic time periods. For classical Athens, we will use the start date of 480 BCE, the year the Persians sacked the city, destroying the majority of it. (Before that, one had the Bronze Age civilization of the Mycenaeans – of Trojan War fame – and the pre-classical development of the Greek city-states.) The classical period came to an end slowly, but we will use 322 BCE as that date, when Athenian independence ceased under Macedonian rule, ushering in the Hellenistic period, which would continue until 88 BCE when the city was sacked again, this time by the Romans.

Now let’s get to the history.

After Athens and some other Greek city-states helped other Greek cities in Asia Minor rebel against the Persian Empire, Persia invaded. While the Greeks defeated Persia in 490 BCE at the Battle of Marathon, Persia returned a decade later, and this time, in 480 BCE, laid waste to Athens, largely destroying the city. The Acropolis, especially, as the religious and political center of the city, was destroyed to its foundations. (Click here to read more about the Acropolis.) While Athens and their Greek allies would ultimately prevail in the war, the city had to be rebuilt.

Fortunately, fresh off their military victory, and wealthy from nearby silver mines, the Athenians had the will, money, and status to do just that, and while the Acropolis projects are the most famous, they are not the only ones that still survive. And also, fortunately, for a single admission price of €30 – although rumor has this going up starting in 2025 – visitors can see the Acropolis and several other incredible ancient sites. (The Acropolis by itself is €20, again likely to rise. The combo ticket is for five days beginning with your timed entry to the Acropolis, so that has to be your first stop.)

The most impressive classical Athenian sight is the Ancient Agora, or marketplace. (This isn’t to be confused with the Roman Agora – or Roman Forum – that is practically next door, which I’ll talk about in a later article.) The agora is large, and while few full buildings remain, seeing the remains of what was classical Athens’ most important commercial area – and its second most important religious area after the Acropolis – will take a few hours to do well.

There are basically two types of buildings in the agora: stoas and temples. Stoas are large buildings lined with columned porticos that would once have held shops. The ancient agora had several, and while they were added over time – including by the Romans after the Hellenistic period was done – the remains give you a true idea of what a Greek commercial center would have looked like. One, the Stoa of Attalos, originally from the second century BCE, has been rebuilt, and now houses the agora’s museum.

The museum has some awesome stuff in it, and I could go on about a lot of it. But the coolest thing, by far, is a classical Athenian jury selection device. Citizens’ names were on thin bronze plates that were inserted (names covered up inside) the slots in this machine. Black and white marbles were released one at a time, thereby excusing or mandating service from an entire row at a time. It is amazing!

The agora of Athens originally held about a half dozen temples. Remnants of buildings dedicated to Ares, Apollo, and Zeus can all be seen, but the easy highlight of the entire agora is the Temple of Hephaestus. Built from 449 to 412 BCE (a remarkably long period when one considers the size, explained by the Peloponnesian War that began in 431 BCE, halting construction on most projects), the basically entirely intact temple is the best preserved Doric temple in the Greek World.

(Let’s do a quick interlude here for Greek architectural types, explained through the crowns on their columns. Doric are the most simple, with basically the column going directly into the roof with few adornments. The early classical period was mainly Doric. Then came Ionic, easily recognized for the column capitals that look like scrolls, which spanned the late classical and early Hellenistic periods. Finally, the late Hellenistic and Roman-era Corinthian columns, with their tops loaded out with adornments.)

During this entire period, Athens was a walled city, albeit a large one. The population was estimated at close to 200,000 based on the dimensions, with sprawl even flowing outside of the walls. One of the best examples of this is the Kerameikos, another area the combined ticket allows admission to, about a ten minute walk from the agora. This district, which existed on both sides of what was once the city’s largest gate, housed many potters’ workshops, and is where we get the word ceramic from.

While significantly smaller than the agora, and less well preserved, this is a site that exceeded my wildest expectations for a few reasons. One, it has the only – that I’ve found – example of remains of the original city walls.

Two, there is a spectacular old (dating to classical Athens) stone bridge over the remnants of one of the city’s three tiny rivers.

Finally, Kerameikos has the start of the “street of tombs,” a public monumental cemetery that lined a road stretching from Athens to its port of Piraeus. The monuments outside in the elements are copies; the originals are in a small museum on the site.

Of course, if artifacts are what you’re after, you will have to add another admission (€12) to your combined ticket and visit Greece’s National Archaeological Museum, which houses the largest collection of Greek artifacts from the Bronze Age civilizations all the way to Roman times. Even with rooms periodically closed for maintenance, collection upgrades, and refurbishment of the 1889 neoclassical building, one can easily spend the better part of a day roaming the collections.

(While this article focuses on the classical and Hellenistic periods, I’d be remiss if I didn’t encourage you to also visit the Mycenaean rooms. The gold work, especially on the death mask of Agamemnon, is exquisite. And considering much of this dates back more than a thousand years before the classical period, the craftsmanship is even more impressive.)

There are too many highlights to mention in a single article, many of which I discovered almost by accident wandering the maze of rooms. A huge bronze statue of Poseidon is one of my favorite pieces, this one from the early classical period. As with columns, one can tell statues’ ages apart based on facial expressions. Those that are more stoic are earlier, while those with more active emotion are later.

Here is an example of a much later (late classical) sculpture, this one from a grave stele. You can see the difference on the faces.

Upstairs is the largest collection of Greek pottery I can imagine having. The focus is on pre- and early classical, but time periods range.

Other remnants of classical and Hellenistic Athens can be found almost at random throughout the central portions of the city. From the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates – I use it as a guidepost navigating the city center as I don’t really know what it is/was – to random columns in parks, it is a joy to discover each new item.

One other site that is included in the combo ticket is worth mentioning: Aristotle’s Lyceum. It is further out than the others, and the least preserved, so if you find yourself pressed for time, this is one you can skip. Little remains of the Lyceum, founded in 334 BCE. It was outside the city walls, the spot chosen for its access to water. Here, Aristotle educated some of the youth of Athens, and did much of his writing, which would come to dominate western philosophy and science until the Renaissance. It is a surreal feeling strolling the ground the famed philosopher used for his regular walks, even if the archeological remnants are bare at best, as the complex was fully destroyed during the Roman invasion.

Classical and Hellenistic Athens, Athens at its cultural peak, is so much more than just the Acropolis. If you have time while here, it is worth investing in a combo ticket and exploring a bit. The city’s famous past truly comes to life in sites like the agora and Kerameikos, bringing the seat of philosophy and democracy closer to us today.

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