Stoa Basileios

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]

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

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

References
  1. R. E. Wycherley. "The Stoa Basileios." The Journal of Hellenic Studies Vol. 60 (1940), pp. 95-96
  2. The Cambridge Ancient History. Cambridge University Press. 1994. pp. 114–. ISBN 978-0-521-23349-1.
  3. Noel Robertson. "The Stoa of the Herms." Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik Bd. 127 (1999), pp. 167-172
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. Mabel L. Lang (1978). Socrates in the Agora. American School of Classical Studies at Athens. ISBN 978-0-87661-617-8.
  8. Cf. e.g. Tom Garvey, "Stoa," in Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome, ed. Michael Gagarin (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2010)


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.