Of course, the agora needed its own patron deity. This was Zeus Agoraios, the supposed inspirer of oratory to whom an embellished altar carved out of precious Pentelic marble was dedicated. (Compare Acts 14:11, 12.)

Immediately to the north, we see the limestone remains of a smaller temple, built during the middle of the fourth century B.C.E. Worshiped here were Zeus and Athena Phatrios, the principal deities of the ancestral religious brotherhoods. Membership in these was almost a prerequisite of Athenian citizenship.

In the nearby Stoa of Zeus Eleutherios, the chief Greek deity was again honored, this time as the god of freedom and deliverance.