Gr. Antiq. Pl. stoas, stoai. [Gr. στοά.] A portico, roofed colonnade; spec. the great hall at Athens (adorned with frescoes of the battle of Marathon), in which Zeno lectured, and from which his disciples were called Stoics; by Milton called ‘the painted Stoa’ (transl. of Gr. ἡ στοά ἡ ποικίλη: see PŒCILE).
1603. Holland, trans. Plutarch’s Mor., 279. Call to minde … the … famous Philosophers, either in Lycæum or the Academie: go to the gallerie Stoa [etc.].
1671. Milton, P. R., IV. 253. His who bred Great Alexander to subdue the world, Lyceum there, and painted Stoa next.
1775. R. Chandler, Trav. Asia Minor, xviii. 59. Large quadrangular stoas or porticoes.
1842. W. C. Taylor, Anc. Hist., ix. § 3 (ed. 3), 230. At the east were erected two splendid stoai, or porticoes.
1898. Edin. Rev., Oct., 359. Temples and stoas were still standing.
