'Cicero Denounces Catiline' by Cesare Maccari depicted a Senate meeting (Credit: Wikipedia) Meetings can also be held on the Pync and the Theater of Dionysus, but overall, the places are all very dedicated. There is even a building called an 'ekklesiasterion' built specifically to hold these supreme meetings. This popular council established the agenda and met once a month. As the establishing place of democracy, ‘ecclesia’ was created - the principal assembly of the democracy in ancient Athens. The first acts of democracy were also exercised there, by which the majority vote won. Topics like philosophy, business, politics, and even town gossip were discussed in those meetings. Merchants would sometimes sell their goods there, hence, it also served as a marketplace.įamous philosophers such as Aristotle and Socrates are frequent attenders of the Agora. It has twin functions as a political and a commercial space. The literal definition of the word Agora is ‘gathering place’. Ancient Greece, Rome and China: First Accounts of ‘Meetings’ The Agora:īefore the word ‘meeting’ was invented in the 14th century, the ancient Greeks (8th-10th centuries BC) would gather in the Agora for statements of the king or council. Hopefully, we can understand the ‘meeting’ to not be a necessary evil, but simply as necessary. However, 47% consider excessive meetings as a waste of time, so much so that they might go back in time to abolish the seed from which the idea sprung.Įxploring the origins of meetings, we can see the radical changes meetings have endured through (just like how you endure through meetings) to reach its current form. According to the National Statistics Council, 37% of employee time is spent in meetings.