http://agathe.gr/democracy/the_ekklesia.html
The Ekklesia (Citizens' Assembly) All Athenian citizens had the right to attend and vote in the Ekklesia, a full popular assembly which met about every 10 days. All decrees (psephismata) were ratified ... The natural hill slope was used to form an auditorium, and there was a retaining wall at the bottom which supported the terrace where speakers stood. ... Two large stoas were begun but never finished on the south side of the Pnyx adjacent to the city wall. Visible today are the foundation of the curved retaining wall of the auditorium of phase III and the rock-cut bema (stand for speakers), which projects from the scarp. ... The excavators associated this passage with a large stepped retaining wall designed to support a seating area that no longer followed the natural slope and that had the bema to the south, facing inland.
