Stoa Basileios

Plan of the Athenian Agora in the fifth century BC; the Royal Stoa is no. 17

Stoa Basileios (Greek: στοά βασίλειος), meaning Royal Stoa, was a stoa constructed in Ancient Athens in the 6th century BC and substantially altered in the 5th century BC.^[1] It was located in the northwest corner (known as "the Herms" because of the great number of Hermae set up there) of the Athenian Agora.^[2]^[3]

The stoa was built in the Doric order and it measures 18 by 7.5 meters. Its facade carries a plain Doric frieze. Its Doric exterior includes 8 columns, while its interior space includes four columns. The modifications of the fifth century BC add two small porches to the archaic structure.^[4]

The Royal Stoa was the headquarters of the King Archon and of the Areopagos council (in charge of religious affairs and crime).^[5] A statue of Themis (representing Justice) stood in front of the building. Copies of some of the city laws were kept in the Stoa.^[6]

The front of the building was where Socrates met Euthyphro and had the conversation which Plato recreated in his Euthyphro.^[7] It was where Socrates was formally charged with impiety by Meletus. Historians believe that the voting for ostracism, a political practice in Athens during the 5th century BC, may have taken place in front of the Royal Stoa.^[8]

Online Resources[]

Agathe.gr: the Royal Stoa

References[]

^ R. E. Wycherley. "The Stoa Basileios." The Journal of Hellenic Studies Vol. 60 (1940), pp. 95-96
^ The Cambridge Ancient History. Cambridge University Press. 1994. pp. 114–. ISBN 978-0-521-23349-1.
^ Noel Robertson. "The Stoa of the Herms." Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik Bd. 127 (1999), pp. 167-172
^ William Bell Dinsmoor; William James Anderson (1973). The Architecture of Ancient Greece: An Account of Its Historic Development. Biblo & Tannen Publishers. pp. 206–. ISBN 978-0-8196-0283-1.
^ John McK. Camp; Craig A. Mauzy (28 February 2010). The Athenian Agora: Site Guide (5th ed.). American School of Classical Studies at Athens. pp. 75–. ISBN 978-1-62139-016-9.
^ James P. Sickinger (1 February 2018). Public Records and Archives in Classical Athens. University of North Carolina Press. pp. 30–. ISBN 978-0-8078-6116-5.
^ Mabel L. Lang (1978). Socrates in the Agora. American School of Classical Studies at Athens. ISBN 978-0-87661-617-8.
^ Cf. e.g. Tom Garvey, "Stoa," in Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome, ed. Michael Gagarin (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2010)