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The public realm of the ancient, Western city evolved situationally - over time and in response to the ethos of its citizens. Some of the urban forms that were born within the context of the ancient city are still in use today. These now archetypal forms met the specific needs of the ancient city, and as they were repeated, patterns arose that came to define what a physical city was. The physical form of the city and the citizen body were intrinsically linked in the ancient world - and in ancient Greece were defined by the same word - polis. In Rome, the city and the collective citizenry come to be defined separately - as urbs and civitas, respectively. The Romans continue to use and elaborate upon the urban forms and patterns developed in Greece, in support of the Roman civitas. The development of the public realm and its most archetypal forms, from the stoa to the public plaza, of a selection of ancient cities will be examined in three parts; Greece, Rome, and Roman colonies. Within these three representative examples, a tripartite examination of the myths, rituals, and development of the public realm will give a complete picture of the city - its form and its ethos. First, the Greek city will be discussed using the architectural development of the Athenian agora within its historical and political context. With an understanding of the Greek public realm, specific architectural advancements, including the stoa form, of the Greeks can be better understood. Second, the Roman elaboration of the Greek forms will be traced in the growth of the Forum Boarium in Rome. While situationally-developed, the archetypal urban forms that grew in Greece and Rome came to define urban patterns that could be used in new settings, like those of colonial settlements, while retaining the ethos of the original. From its first colony of Ostia to its exemplary Gallic capital of Lyon, Rome established a codified set of urban patterns that both represented and explained Roman urban values to its expanding populace. Finally, the Roman contributions, particularly the colony and fora patterns that evolved in Gaul, will be examined in detail using the colonial capital of Lyon as the primary example. As new socio-political systems evolved - the polis in Athens and the Empire in Rome - correlating urban forms developed in support of them. In the ancient city, the city and the public realm were the containers for ritual action - and the architecture that developed reflected this basic purpose of the city.

The focus of this dissertation is the design, construction and function of the South Stoa at Corinth in its initial phase. The South Stoa was first published in a monograph by Oscar Broneer in 1954.1 In addition to dealing with the Greek and Roman phases of the building, Broneer’s study also dealt with the “pre-stoa” remains. Certain aspects of the architecture of the stoa, however, were either treated only briefly or were entirely left out of the publication. While it was one of the first attempts at a full study of a secular Greek building, several conclusions deserve re-evaluation, including the date of construction and the design of the building in its initial phase, which has an impact on subsequent phases of remodeling, the function of the building, as well as its place in the historical development of stoas. Re-evaluation of the in situ remains of the stoa combined with newly identified architectural fragments of the building, particularly from the superstructure, provide important evidence to suggest an alternative reconstruction to that previously put forward. This new reconstruction is presented as the most likely solution, in awareness of the possibility that future finds may give rise to modification. As will be shown, the staircases inside the first and last front rooms of the stoa do not belong to the initial building phase as previously thought, but instead date to the Roman period, while evidence in the form of foundations and cuttings for a staircase inside the colonnade at the west end of the stoa, dated prior to 146 B.C., belongs to the initial phase of the building and calls for an entirely different interior reconstruction. The date of the stoa, which has fluctuated from sometime after the middle of the fourth century B.C. (340-320 B.C.) to the early decades of the third century B.C., can now be more precisely determined in view of recent examination of pottery deposits from beneath the stoa terrace, which was built prior to the stoa’s construction. These deposits have been dated between 300-290 B.C., which would push the date of the stoa’s construction to the beginning decades of the third century B.C. This has considerable bearing on the early development of Hellenistic stoas and on the stylistic chronology of several other buildings built around the end of the fourth century B.C. Having resolved aspects of the reconstruction and situated the stoa chronologically, the focus of this study moves on to design considerations, including examination of the proportions and of the ancient foot unit used in the design of the building. Construction and statics of the building are also considered.