agora (ἀγορά) : æ-gaw-RA
(Greek; pl. agorai: open market or meeting place). Large, open public space which served as a place for citizens of a Greek city to assemble; the word can describe both the assembly of people or the assembly area; the political, civic, religious, and commercial center of a Greek city; buildings for all of these various purposes were constructed as needed in and around the agora. Pausanias describes two types of 5th and 4th-century agorai: ionic (symmetrical layout; rectangular space bounded by colonnades and temples as in Athens, Miletus, and Priene), and archaic (arbitrary layout of colonnades and public buildings as in Elis). The Greek agora influenced the design and layout of the Roman forum.