Monastiraki

This guide to Monastiraki in Athens follows an Ottoman governor named Mustafa Agha Tzistarakis, who in 1759 had an ancient column torn down and ground to powder for whitewash to finish his new mosque. Athenians, steeped in old beliefs that disturbing pagan ruins woke the fury of the gods, watched in horror as plague swept through the city soon after. The guide also traces the square's older names, from the flea market's Yusurum brothers to the little monastery that gave Monastiraki its own name.