A stoa was a covered walkway lined with columns, one of the most characteristic structures of Greco-Roman public architecture. The most famous was Athens's Stoa Poikile ('Painted Porch'), where Zeno taught and gave the Stoic school its name. In the New Testament, Solomon's Colonnade along the east side of the Jerusalem temple serves as the recurring setting. It sheltered the pool of Bethesda with its five porticoes (John 5:2) and was the place where Jesus walked during the Feast of Dedication (John 10:23). The early church gathered there (Acts 3:11; 5:12), making this architectural feature a stage for some of the gospel's most dramatic public moments.