Stoa Emporon (Passage of the Merchants)

The Stoa Emporon stands as a long, narrow rectangle of columns running parallel to the Sacred Way, distinguished by its foundation of poros stone and the dense, rhythmic spacing of its base. Built in the second century before the common era, this was the central clearinghouse for merchants arriving at the Athenian Agora. Traders kept their goods here under the cool shelter of the colonnade, waiting for inspectors to verify weights and measures before setting their prices for the day's market.