File:Priene North of Sacred Hall 2007 4821.jpg

English: Descending from the Athena Temple one gest into a complicated area. First there is an area, called Sacred Hall. Then there is the agora. But the Sacred Hall has been changed repeatedly, and now looks partly as a range of shops. Its southern part seems to have remains from earlier functions, but it can also be interpreted as the north edge of the agora. This picture is one of what seem to be remains of the Sacred Hall and its later shops. A notice explains more: The main public square, the Agora, measured c. 75 x 46 meters. It was surrounded by porticoes on all side, which were successively added in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. The public nature of the square is emphasized by the foundations and bases of numerous honorary monuments in front of the porticoes. A food market adjoined the Agora to the northwest. A stepped slope led to the northern portico (Sacred Hall). It was nearly 120 meters long and was constructed in the 2nd century BC, replacing an earlier structure which was not so deep. The external columns of the {“Sacred Hall: were of the Doric order, the internal columns were Ionic with a range of rooms behind. Official documents and decrees of the City of Priene were displayed on the walls at either end of the colonnade. During the early Byzantine period the rooms in the north aisle were converted into a row of shops.