The word Agora (pronounced 'Ah-go-RAH’) is Greek for 'open place of assembly’ and, early in the history of Greece, designated the area in the city where free-born citizens could gather to hear civic announcements, muster for military campaigns or discuss politics. Later the Agora defined the open-air, often tented, marketplace of a city (as it still does in Greek) where merchants had their shops and where craftsmen made and sold their wares. The original Agora of Athens was located below theAcropolis near the building which today is known as The Thesion and open-air markets are still held in that same location in the modern day.
(Content from Ancient History Encyclopedia)
(picture from http://www.ancient.eu/agora/)
(picture from http://www.ancient.eu/agora/)