Another temple that can be more firmly dated to the Augustan period is the recently discovered Early Roman Podium Temple (fig. 3), north of Hadrianou Street.   The temple was built on the site of an ancient sanctuary thought to be that of Aphrodite Ourania because of Pausanias' itinerary through the Agora, but it is not known if the Roman temple retained that designation.  The orientation, roughly north to south, is unusual.  The most recent excavations have shown that although the altar south of the temple is archaic, the building itself, constructed during the Augustan period, rests on the remains of a classical house.   The foundations and dimensions of the late Roman colonnade covering the temple make it possible to arrive the porch width, ca. 14.50 meters east to west, with six Ionic columns, comparable in size to the other Roman temples of the Agora.

The Ionic order, its dimensions and the foundations are three-quarter reproductions of those of the Erechtheion, and T.L. Shear Jr. notes that the delicate carvings of some of the temple’s column pieces compare very closely to the Roman repairs on the Erechtheion.   Not only were the dimensions of the Erechtheion's capitals and bases carefully studied by the stonemasons who created these Roman columns, but also the minute details of its decoration.   A visual relationship with the Erechtheion, later discussed with respect to the Northeast Stoa,  may have contributed to the use of this particular style, and at the very least the building enhanced a focal point in the Agora where, after rounding the Double Stoa, a visitor was confronted by the Odeion, Temple of Ares, the other classical buildings, and the Acropolis itself.

The stylistic correspondences with the Erechtheion may help us date the construction of the Podium Temple, since the masons who constructed the Roman temple had such a thorough knowledge of the columns already carefully studied and copied (in the Temple of Roma and Augustus) ca. 25 B.C.E.  Yet, a date too close to the Temple of Roma and Augustus might seem odd since the differences in the two temples' decorations, though both copy the Erechtheion, are quite considerable.  A date somewhat later than the Temple of Roma and Augustus, while still during the reign of Augustus, would be preferable, given the styles and circumstances of the building.   Still, the preliminary dating of the temple was based on ceramic evidence from the fill supplied to level the sanctuary.  Most of the pottery was dated to the end of the first century B.C.E., with a few pieces possibly stretching into the early years of the first century C.E., a date comparable with some of the other temples erected in the Agora.

No firm evidence is available on the benefactor of the temple, though with a date somewhat later than the construction of the Temple of Roma and Augustus, a member of the imperial family should be considered, or it might be a dedication by someone else in conjunction with an imperial visit.

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