English: “CURRENT EXCAVATIONS AT THE NORTH SIDE OF THE ANCIENT ATHENIAN AGORA

The remains you see in front of you are tentatively identified as those of the Stoa Poikile (Painted Stoa), dating to ca. 475-465 B.C. In Greek architecture a stoa was any long colonnaded building; this one had Doric columns outside and Ionic columns within.

It was named from the handsome wooden panel paintings, among the most famous in antiquity, which were hung on its walls soon after its construction. A description written by the traveler Pausanias in ca. 150 A.D. tells us that they showed Athenian military triumphs, both mythological and historical. By 400 A.D. a Roman proconsul had removed the paintings and they do not survive.

The building was also famous as the classroom of the philosopher Zeno, who came to Athens in the years around 300 B.C. Meeting here regularly, he and his followers became known as the Stoics.

Behind is a shop building originally built in the years around 420 B.C. and used with alterations, until the 5th century A.D. Both the stoa and the shops were abandoned by the 6th century A.D. and after several centuries their remains were covered by a neighborhood of houses and shops dating from the 10th to the 12th centuries A.D.

The area is part of the ancient Athenian Agora, which has been under excavation since 1931 by the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, in cooperation with the Ephorate of Antiquities of Athens and the Hellenic Ministry of Culture. Funding comes largely from private American sources, especially the Pachard Humanities Institute.”

Text: Site marker on Adrianou Street.