| Building Delta was discovered by the American School of Classical Studies during the excavations of the Athenian Agora's northeastern corner in 1971. This vernacular structure was erected just after 480 B.C. and stood through the early second century A.C. During its six hundred year existence, Building Delta underwent three major renovations to its plan and superstructure: in the first quarter of the third century B.C., in the middle of the second century B.C., and just after the Sullan destruction in 86 B.C. Its architectural history demonstrates a fluid relationship between structure and function. And it shows that while an architectural plan cannot be relied upon to identify a particular trade, it can be relied upon to convey information about the architectural features characteristic for a trade.;Building Delta appears to have been a publicly held synoikia , a single structure within which separate units were leased as shops to a variety of tradesmen. Merchants were active in the building at least from the second half of the fourth century B.C., with foodstuffs being sold out of at least one one-roomed unit. Marble and metal workers opened up shop alongside the merchants from the start of the third century B.C. A two-roomed unit was used for the production of metal vessels in the second century B.C. This shop not only demonstrates the practice of working metal indoors, but also provides evidence for expanding the distribution of metal working about the Athenian Agora as well as the first evidence from the Agora for the use of piece molds in casting. |
