STATE AGORA    The square structure built immediately alongside the Basilica is the State Agora of Ephesus which is reached from the Basilica by four steps. This Agora, which was built during the Roman Period over the existing 2nd century B.C Agora, was where all the city's business other than commerce was conducted. Exploratory excavations made in the northeast corner of the Agora have turned up a great number of graves from the.7th through 6th centuries B.C and a stone-paved road, and a archaic sarcophagus of terra cotta was found here. From this it is understood that in the archaic period this section served as the necropolis of Ephesus. Model of the State Agora: 1- Baths of Vedius, 2- Basilica, 3- Odeion, 4- Temple of Divus Julius, 5-Prytaneion, 6- Memmius Monument, 7- Garland frieze, 8-Fountain of Pollio, 9- Temple of Isis, 10- South hall, 11- Fountain of Laecanius Bassus, 12- Temple of Domitian, 13- Fountain.    The Agora is 160 metres long and 73 metres wide and appears to have been constructed during the reigns of Augustus and Claudius, that is, during the 1st century A.D. In the center of the Agora, a temple in a somewhat different style was unearthed in 1970. This structure, also from the 1st century A.D. appears to have been a Temple to Isis. Constructed on a 10 by 6 column plan, only the foundations of this temple have been located. The superstructure of the temple was torn down on the orders of the Emperor Theodosius in the 4th century in the course of alterations which were made in the Agora.        <<<BACK     NEXT>>>