In 1970, a strip of land excavated in the middle part of the north side of the Agora revealed a stoa facing south, commonly referred to as the "Northeast Stoa" (fig. 3), dated to the Augustan period.   It was part of a larger, "Northeast Complex" that now is better known for its huge Hadrianic basilica.  The stoa filled a space that had been previously occupied by a row of small houses and shops on the side of an old road that entered the Agora from the north.

 The portico itself was about 26 meters long and seven meters deep, and while the steps and walls were built and veneered with Hymettian marble, the eight surviving monolithic columns were made of greenish-white Carystian marble (commonly called cipollino) from Euboea creating an impressive appearance.  Few fragments of the facade remain however, and a few small pieces of the Pentelic entablature provide the only basis for surmising the rest of the elevation.  The Ionic capitals closely matched those of the Erechtheion, and likewise are very similar in size and style to those of the Early Roman Podium Temple found nearby, as well as the capitals of the Temple of Roma and Augustus on top of the Acropolis. A visual relationship with the Erechtheion might have been an important factor in the building’s design, as the North Porch of the Erechtheion looked down upon the structure from the Acropolis, with a line of sight past the Odeion of Agrippa, down the Panathenaic Way.  Moreover, the stoa, along with the Early Roman Podium Temple, is one of the few buildings in the Agora which faced south, towards the Acropolis.

 The substantial use of Carystian marble also gives a clue as to the benefactor of the building.  Schmalz has postulated a wealthy private donor, possibly one from outside the province.  Although he also notes that the cipollino quarries on Euboea had been under imperial control for some time,  Schmalz considers the likelihood of the building being a donation from Augustus or Agrippa, but does not support the idea.  Instead, he believes it just as likely that a foreign, possibly eastern, ruler created the building.   The possibility that the stoa was donated by a member of the imperial family, possibly Agrippa, should not be ruled out.   The quarries at Carystos were definitely under imperial control at a later date,  and military personnel were involved in the quarrying process there at some level,  but it is possible that Agrippa or some other member of the imperial family had earlier ties to them.  Augustan builders used cipollino in refurbishing the Basilica Aemilia (after 14 B.C.E.) and in constructing the Forum Augustum (completed in 2 B.C.E.), and it remained a popular marble in later constructions (Temple of Concordia Augusta, restored 10 C.E.).   A portico encrusted with cipollino at the opposite end of the area now enclosed by the Odeion, the Temple of Ares, and the Stoa of Attalos would have appealed to the taste of a Roman benefactor.

 In its day, the Northeast Stoa was possibly an important civic structure and probably the first administrative building constructed in the city after Sulla's attack.  Though no new buildings had been erected, as far as we know, for the magistrates, prytaneis, or boule in Hellenistic or Roman times,   housing was needed for military offices, such as the newly important hoplite general, after the Sullan destruction of buildings like the Arsenal and the Strategeion.   The placement of civic offices in shops or rooms facing onto a forum is common in Roman public architecture.  These sites were the favored homes for such "offices" and examples survive from the second century B.C.E. to the fourth century C.E.   The dating of the construction has been mentioned above, and in the excavation reports, Shear notes that pottery from the foundation’s fill dates to the last years of the reign of Augustus.   To supplement this evidence for dating, the use of a certain type of mortar suggests a date in the early Roman period.   The further excavation of this building should answer more questions about the precise dating and purpose of this building which, for now, are only theories.
 

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