Known from over 50 literary testimonia, and excavated from 1981, it lies in the NW part of the Athenian Agora; see athens, topography. It measures 12.5 by c.36 m., made of various limestones, with Doric exterior columns, and Ionic interior columns with marble capitals (see orders, architectural), and is finely jointed. It dates from c.475–450, part of the Cimonian improvement of the area; see cimon. The name ‘Poecile’ (first attested in the 4th cent.), derived from the panel paintings it housed. Pausanias (1. 15. 1–4) gives the fullest account, mentioning scenes of the Athenians arrayed against the Spartans at Oenoe near *Argos (1) (perhaps an error for one of the *Attic*demes called Oenoe and preparations for Marathon; see marathon, battle of), the Amazonomachy, Greeks at Troy, and the battle of *Marathon. Sources name the painters as *Micon, *Polygnotus, and *Panaenus.
