State Agora
The agora located on the southern part of the Basilica is the State Agora, built in the Roman Period in the first century B.C. This agora was used as a meeting place for the governmental discussions. During the excavations in the northeast corner of the Agora were found a number of graves from the 7th-6th centuries B.C, a stone-paved road and an archaic sarcophagus of terra cotta. From this it is clear 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. The water was brought to the city through the Pollio Aqueduct, the remains of the this Aqueduct can be seen 5 kilometers away, along the Seluk-Aydin highway.

The agora is 160x73 meters, with a temple in the center and stoas on three sides, dating from the 1st century A.D The temple was dedicated to Isis, it was surrounded by ten columns on the long side and 6 on the short side. It was collapsed during the reign of Augustus and not re-built again, as Emperor Augustus did not like anything connected with 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.

The first agora was built in the 6th century B.C. in Hellenistic style which is buried approximately 2m below the present Agora today. The information about this fact was obtained from drillings. The present one was also built during the Hellenistic ages together with the square shaped temple. The temple was demolished totally during the following ages and never being built again.
 
The place mainly consisted of a large open space (160m x 56m) on the right hand side of the museum entrance. It was located next to a marble road on the mountain side. This large space was surrounded by the Varius Bath, the Basilica, the Odeion, the Prytaneion, Pollio Fountain, Gaius Laecanius Fountain and the Domitian Temple.

The temple in the middle was suggested to be Isis temple but recent findings suggest that it was most likely Augustus temple.

About 3m below the surface a road surrounding the Panayir mountain was found alongside the tombs. One of these tombs are on display in the Ephesus museum today.

The north and eastern stoas remained in good shape till today.

The final renovations were done by Emperor Theodusius between 379-395 A.D.