Stoa Basileios
Stoa Basileios (Ancient Greek: στοὰ βασίλειος), meaning Royal Stoa,[1] was a Doric stoa in the northwestern corner of the Athenian Agora, which was built in the 6th century BC, substantially altered in the 5th century BC, and then carefully preserved until the mid-second century AD. It is among the smallest known Greek stoas, but had great symbolic significance as the seat of the Athenian King Archon, repository of Athens' laws, and site of "the stone" on which incoming magistrates swore their oath of office.
Function[edit]
The Stoa Basileios was the headquarters of the King Archon (basileus), who was responsible for organising various festivals, conducting some sacrifices on behalf of the city, and hearing the initial indictments for some types of lawsuit.[28] In the 5th century BC, the Areopagos council (in charge of religious affairs and murder trials) sometimes met in the Stoa as well and a rope would be set up to keep people from interrupting its proceedings.[29][30][31][32]
The building was closely associated with law and justice. The laws of Draco and Solon written on wooden pillars called axones and kyrbeis were probably moved to the Stoa by Ephialtes in the 460s BC,[28][33] perhaps on the low platforms on the inside walls.[34] When the laws were revised at the end of the fifth century BC, inscribed copies of them were erected in the porches at the ends of the Stoa.[35][19][28] The limestone block located on the steps of the Stoa is probably to be identified with "the stone" (ho lithos) mentioned by Aristotle, Plutarch, and Julius Pollux, who explain that Athens' nine annual archons (the eponymous archon, King Archon, Polemarch, and Thesmothetai) swore their oaths of office on it, as did official arbitrators, and witnesses in trials.[36][30][37][34]
After the suppression of a revolt in Chalcis in 446 BC, the Athenians confiscated the Chalcideans' land and leased it out. The contracts were inscribed on stelae in the Stoa.[38][39]
In the Classical and Hellenistic periods, the King Archons often dedicated herms in and around the Stoa. Several bases have survived, three of which are inscribed with the names of their dedicators (IG II3 4 41, 95, and 113).[40][41]
Since the King Archon was responsible for trials on religious matters, it was at the Stoa Basileios that Socrates was formally charged with impiety by Meletus.[42][43] Plato's Euthyphro, a dialogue between Socrates and Euthyphro about the nature of piety, is set in front of the Stoa.[43][44]
According to Philostratus, an overturned statue near the Stoa was knocked over by an evil spirit in the late first century AD, when it was exorcised by the holy man Apollonius of Tyana.[45][46]