The streets of Athens were generally dirty and noisy places. Most were unpaved and littered along them would have been much human and animal waste. Fortunately, thanks to Athens' drainage system much of this garbage would have been washed away into the River Eridamous at fairly regular intervals, though public areas, such as the agora, also had their own special officials who ensured they were kept clean.

A special class of elite slaves policed the streets, while magistrates checked that building regulations were properly followed.

Most remarkable of all would have been the attitude of those walking the streets. Unique among Greek cities, Athens' reliance upon both slaves and metics gave birth to a 'street culture' in which everyone of any rank could walk about freely - a marked departure from other Greek cities which prompted Plato to remark that in a democracy even dogs and donkeys were accustomed 'to keep walking straight ahead freely and unabashedly'.

The city's most important thoroughfare was the Panathenaic Way that ran from the foot of the Acropolis, past the Colonus Agoraeus to the Thriasian Gate.