The Agora was the focal point of public life in ancient Athens. Initially, it was just an ample open space reserved for public functions. Citizens and foreigners would gather here to participate in elections, festivals, athletic contests, assemblies, parades, and markets. Gradually, most primary public buildings were erected here, and the Agora became the administrative, legislative, judicial, commercial, and religious centre of the city. The legislators met in the Boule, the law courts administered justice, and large market buildings or small private shops catered to more than a quarter-million people (citizens, foreigners, and slaves). It was also a meeting place for people to discuss politics, art, business, and philosophy. Socrates, Pheidias, Pericles, Euripides, Praxiteles, Aeschylus, Plato, and Sophocles frequented the Agora.