The ancient agoras, typical to any Ancient Greek city, were by definition a place of gather and exchange, either of material goods or just of ideas. As a keen “word merchant”, who advocated that only an examined life was worth living, Socrates spent the best part of his life in the Agora of Athens, where the civic, political, and commercial heart of the city beat.

Based on various ancient authors, such as Plato, Aristophanes or Xenophon, we will try to stage various episodes of the philosopher’s life among the surviving ruins of the Athenian Agora. Socrates seems to have left his most distinct footprints in the colonnaded porticoes, the stoas, framing the Agora and serving as offices, law courts, exhibition rooms, shops, or just as venues for casual meetings. Practicing an exclusively oral philosophy, Socrates was always seeking for prospective students in those much-frequented places. Moreover, Socrates held many of his philosophical discussions in the open square of the Agora near the benches set up by casual merchants, or bankers, in shops and in houses surrounding the Agora, during private banquets. Meanwhile, Socrates will also lead us along the administrative buildings lining the west side of the Agora. Though not eager to participate in public affairs, Socrates was once allotted in the Senate of 500 and served his office with unconditional respect for the Athenian law.