The
agora on the southern part of the Basilica
is the State Agora, and was built in the
Roman Period in the first century B.C.
This agora was used not for commerce but
for business, it played an important role
as a meeting place for the governmental
discussions. During the excavations in
the northeast corner of the Agora were
found a great number of graves from the
7th-6th centuries B.C and a stone-paved
road, and a archaic sarcophagus of terra
cotta. From this it is understood that
in the archaic period this part of the
Agora was used as the necropolis of Ephesus.
There is a water reservoir at the corner
of the Agora, which played an important
role in Ephesus. Its water was brought
to the city through the Pollio Aqueduct,
the remains of the Pollio Aqueduct can
be seen 5 kilometers away, along the Selçuk-Aydin
highway.
The agora is 160x73 meters, with stoas
on three sides and a temple in the center,
dating from the 1st century A.D The temple
was dedicated to Isis, surrounded by ten
columns on the long side and 6 on the
short side. It was collapsed during the
reign of Augustus and was not re-built
again, as Emperor Augustus' dislike of
anything Egyptian. On the facade of the
Temple, there were group of statues describing
the legend of Odysseus and Polyphemos
which are now displayed in the Ephesus
Museum.
