The new 'Roman Agora' was a large peristyle court with Ionic marble colonnades. Its main propylon (gateway) faced westwards, towards the old Agora, and consisted of four Doric columns with a pediment, carrying a dedicatory inscription to Athena Archegetis ('the founder').

The laying out of Athens' civic centre, the Agora also dates from the Archaic period. Lying on gently sloping ground north-west of the Acropolis, this vast square served a wide variety of public functions and, from the early 6th century BC onwards, became the location of the principal civic buildings. After the Persian Wars, Athenians rebuilt civic buildings, such as the tholos (c. 470 BC) and the Royal Stoa (6th century and late 5th century BC), and added new ones, such as the Painted Stoa (c. 460 BC). Among the earliest benefactions by a Roman was a gift (ca. 50 BC) of money by Julius Caesar, which the Athenians used to start construction of a new market east of the Greek Agora, the 'Roman Agora'.