Library of Pantainos

Plan of the library

Library of Pantainos, view from the Panathenaic Way. The two columned stoas front the library on the north and east.

Reconstruction of the library from Athens 3D: looking down at the library from the corner of the Panathenaic Way and the street leading to the Roman agora

Library of Pantainos from the Panathenaic Way, at street level.

Reconstruction of the library from Ancient Athens 3D: on the Panathenaic Way facing the library, where the steps are up to the street that leads to the Roman market

Library of Pantainos, the north stoa, on the left, the Stoa of Attalos on the right. View from the Roman road, looking back towards the ancient agora.

Reconstruction of the library from Athens 3D: looking down the street to the Roman agora towards the Panathenaic Way, with the library's stoa columns running along the street on the left

Built around 100 A.D., the Library of Pantainos faced the East Building of the South Square across the Panathenaic Way and was located opposite the Stoa of Attalos, across the narrow road separating the two buildings that led to the Roman agora. On the other side of the library, an as-yet unidentified (and not fully excavated) building had a stoa that matched the library’s. The library was six rooms, with one having a peristyle and open to the sky in order to let in natural light and to provide a “reading room” area.

The Panathenaic Way begins its descent roughly where the library was built, heading towards the Acropolis. Therefore, the terrain becomes very hilly, thus necessitating a split floor. The top floor probably had an opening that looked down over the lower floor. This partly would have allowed some natural light from the peristyle to illuminate the top floor.

Library of Pantainos Historians have suggested that Pantainos turned his school into a library. The inscription in the lintel over the main door was carved into the decorative features, suggesting reuse of an already existing structure. The triangular design of the library, which does not contain any evidence of where the bookcases were kept, does not match the normal shape of Roman libraries. However, the archaeological record suggests otherwise.

Sulla’s sack of Athens in 86 B.C. completely destroyed the buildings in this area of the agora. The archaeological record proves that the site of the library was abandoned for over a century until Pantainos built his library. The library was built from spoila, which would have been plentiful in areas of the agora from the sack of 86. Therefore, it is quite possible that the building was constructed as a library from reused materials. It is believed that the stoas were the only parts of the library that were new.

The library would survive for roughly a century and a half before being destroyed in the Heruli sack of Athens in 267.