South Stoa II (Athens)

The west side was closed off by the pre-existing Aiakeion and Southwest Fountain House, which also set the orientation for the rest of the complex.

[5] At the east and west ends there was a screen wall running between the columns, as was common in Hellenistic stoas.

[5][3] There was a fountain in a vaulted niche in the back wall of the stoa, in line with the 12th intercolumnation from the east end.

It was built on a different orientation (determined by the Aiakeion) and at a lower level, so that its construction involved cutting into the bedrock and destroyed all traces of the western portion of South Stoa I.

[5][6] The columns, steps and entablature of the facade, as well as the facing of the back wall, the roof tiles, and probably the roof timbers, were recycled from the Square Peristyle, which had been built in the northeast corner of the Agora around 300 BC and demolished in the early second century BC.

[8] This argument is strengthened by the discovery of several allotment machines in the nearby Middle Stoa and the likelihood that the Square Peristyle had also served as lawcourts.

[4] Camp prefers an early argument that the area was intended as a dedicated commercial space, in which case the stoa may have contained shops.