Circa fifth century BCE

No need to scale the hill the Acropolis to recapture classical Athens at the height of its glory. Simply push through the knot of flea markets, shops and hawkers in the Monastiraki neighbourhood, a hub of commerce now just as the city was then, to an entrance of the ancient Agora market. With the Parthenon and still-resplendent remnants of ancient power gleaming above, the sense that you’re in the ordained centre of the universe is visceral.