The Stoa of Attalos is located on the Ancient Agora of Athens, at the foot of the Acropolis. It is not just an archaeological monument, but a building unique for Greece — a full-scale and precise reconstruction of an ancient structure, carried out in the mid-20th century. Unlike most ancient buildings, of which only ruins remain, the Stoa of Attalos has been restored in its entirety and today appears before visitors exactly as it was more than two thousand years ago.
The Stoa of Attalos building (also known as the Stoa of Attalos) is a two-story covered gallery-portico — a structure typical of the Hellenistic era, which served simultaneously as a shopping center, a place for walks, and a public space. Today, it houses the Museum of the Ancient Agora, which contains thousands of artifacts telling the story of the birth of Athenian democracy and the daily life of the ancient Athenians.
History of the Stoa of Attalos: Gratitude of a King to Athens
The Stoa of Attalos was built in Athens around 150 BC by the Pergamene king Attalos II (reigned 159–138 BC) and named in his honor. Attalos received the nickname "Philadelphus" (Brother-loving) and is known as a wise ruler who preferred patronage of the sciences and arts to military campaigns.
The king decided to erect this majestic structure as a sign of gratitude to the city where he once studied under the philosopher Carneades, the founder of the New Academy. An inscription carved on the architrave of the building states that the Stoa was a gift to Athens from Attalos II. His father Attalos I and older brother Eumenes II had also previously made generous offerings to the Athenian people.
In antiquity, the Stoa of Attalos building was used for a variety of purposes: it housed 42 shops (21 on each floor), and the spacious covered colonnades served as a place for walks and meetings. In essence, it was an ancient shopping and entertainment center — something between a modern mall and a public space.
Architecture of the Stoa of Attalos: Grandeur of Hellenism
The Stoa of Attalos is a vivid example of Hellenistic architecture, which differed from the earlier classical buildings of Athens in its grandeur and scale. The dimensions of the building are impressive even today: its length is 115 meters and its width is 20 meters.
• The building has two floors — in antiquity, two-story stoas were rare. The architects skillfully used a combination of different architectural orders:
• First floor: the external colonnade is executed in the Doric order (more severe and massive), while the internal one is in the Ionic order (more elegant).
• Second floor: the external colonnade is executed in the Ionic order, while the internal one is in the Pergamene order (a variant of the Corinthian).
Each floor had two aisles, and along the western wall there were 21 shop rooms. Each room had door and window openings for lighting and ventilation. At each end of the building there were staircases leading to the upper floor.
Destruction and Oblivion
The Stoa of Attalos served the inhabitants of Athens for about 400 years. In 267 AD, the city was invaded by the Germanic tribe of the Heruli. The barbarians looted and burned Athens, and the wooden structures of the Stoa burned in the fire. After this, the building turned into ruins.
In subsequent centuries, the ruins of the Stoa were incorporated into the city`s defensive fortifications — they were used as a ready-made stone wall. Over time, the very existence of the majestic building was forgotten, and its ruins lay hidden underground for almost a millennium and a half.
Archaeological Excavations of the Stoa of Attalos
Traces of the existence of the Stoa of Attalos on the Ancient Agora of Athens were discovered during excavations carried out by the Greek Archaeological Society in two phases: between 1859–1862 and 1898–1902. However, it was only the American School of Classical Studies at Athens that managed to fully excavate and identify the building, which began systematic excavations of the Agora in May 1931 under the direction of T. Leslie Shear.
By 1948, the excavations were largely completed, and archaeologists faced the question: what to do with the ruins? That same year, Homer Thompson (excavation director from 1946 to 1967) proposed reconstructing the Stoa of Attalos to use it as a museum to house the thousands of artifacts discovered during the Agora excavations.
Thompson`s proposal was accepted, and in 1953, a large-scale reconstruction of the Stoa of Attalos on the Athenian Agora began. The work was funded by American donors, including John D. Rockefeller Jr., who donated 1 million dollars.
Precision of the Stoa of Attalos Reconstruction
The reconstruction was carried out under the general supervision of the Greek Ministry of Education, specifically the Department of Restoration of Ancient and Historical Monuments headed by Anastasios Orlandos. The plans were developed by John Travlos — the architect of the Agora excavations in Athens — and the construction was overseen by the New York architectural firm W. Stuart Thompson & Phelps Barnum.
The Stoa of Attalos building was recreated on the original foundations. For maximum accuracy, surviving original elements were used — the north end of the building, the southern shops, part of the southern wall, and the south end of the exterior steps were preserved and incorporated into the reconstruction.
To produce new materials, quarries at Piraeus and Mount Pentelicus were reopened to extract stone similar to the original. The walls were built of Piraeus limestone, the facade, columns, and interior finishes were made of Pentelic marble, and the roof tiles were made of Attic clay.
The reconstruction was completed in 1956 and became the most ambitious recreation of a freestanding ancient building in Athens since the reconstruction of the Panathenaic Stadium for the 1896 Olympic Games. The grand opening of the Stoa took place on September 3, 1956. The ceremony was attended by members of the Greek royal family, the Archbishop of Athens, politicians, and many citizens.
Museum of the Ancient Agora: Treasury of Athenian Democracy
Today, the Stoa of Attalos houses the Museum of the Ancient Agora. The main feature of the museum is that most of its exhibits are closely related to Athenian democracy, since the Agora was the center of public life in ancient Athens — the assembly gathered here, courts operated, and officials were elected.
The museum`s collection covers the period from the 4th millennium BC to the Byzantine era and includes thousands of unique items:
• Ostraca — clay shards on which Athenians wrote the names of politicians subject to exile (ostracism). Among the names discovered are Themistocles and Aristides.
• Clepsydra — a unique clay water clock used to limit speaking time in court.
• Kleroterion — a device for randomly selecting jury judges.
• Athenian law against tyranny — a marble stele with a relief depicting Demos of Athens crowned by Democracy (337/6 BC).
• Statue of the goddess Aphrodite (early 4th century BC).
• Acroterial statue of winged Nike (c. 415 BC) — adorned the roof of the Stoa of Zeus Eleutherios.
• Apollo Patroos — a colossal cult statue of the god by the famous sculptor Euphranor (c. 330 BC).
• Bronze head of Nike (c. 425 BC) — was covered with silver and gold leaf.
View from the Second Floor
Go upstairs: from there, a magnificent view opens up of the Agora, the Acropolis hill, and the Temple of Hephaestus (Theseion), which is considered the best-preserved ancient Greek temple. Be sure to look for the original fragments of ancient masonry incorporated into the reconstruction — they are visible in the northern part of the building.
The Stoa of Attalos is a triumph of archaeological reconstruction. Recreated on its original foundations using Pentelic marble and Piraeus limestone, it gives the researcher and simply the curious tourist a rare opportunity to see not ruins, but precisely the building that stood here 2,150 years ago. And the museum inside it houses ostraca, a clepsydra, and a bronze Spartan shield — artifacts that tell of the birth of democracy, judicial processes, and military victories of Athens. This is a mandatory stop for anyone who wants to understand how the ancient polis worked.
