THE AGORA - TEMPLES OF ZEUS SOTER AND POSEIDON
Fragments of a balustrade slab of local sandstone faced with poros, with a representation of winged thunderbolt of Zeus set in a lozenge-shaped border are connected with the Agora and the temple of Zeus Soter, whose statue is mentioned by Pausanias (4.31.6). The Doric temple of Zeus Soter has been recently uncovered. A number of scattered Doric architectural members and relief metopes come from the temple of Poseidon mentioned by Pausanias. One of them, dating from the 3rd century B.C, depicts Andromeda tied to a rock and the dragon guarding her. Another, also of the 3rd c. BC, is carved in high relief with a representation of a sea-horse with a huge twisted fishtail, carrying a Triton or a Nereid on its back. The Agora covers a huge area of about 40 acres; it is surrounded by stoas on all its four sides. Only the western part of the North long stoa has been brought to light.

THE SANCTUARY OF DEMETER AND THE DIOSKOUROI
To the SW of the Agora a building has been discovered with dimensions of 24 X 24 m. Excavation brought to light the foundations of a cult building of the 4th-3rd century BC, surrounded by annexes. A vast number of terracotta votive plaques and figurines was found beneath the floor of the main building, where they had been thrown along with fragments of pottery and animal bones in hollows in the bedrock. A wide variety of subjects is depicted on them, including funerary banquets, horsemen, seated or standing female or male figures, warriors, and three frontal female figures. Pausanias (4.31.10) mentions a sanctuary of Demeter and statues of the Dioskouroi in Messene which, according to the order that he follows in his description of the monuments, these should be located to the south of the agora near the Asklepieion, where the sanctuary described above is located. The sanctuary of Demeter is also mentioned among the buildings that were to be repaired in the inscription from the Sebasteion of the Tiberan period.