Destroyed by the Persians in 480 B.C., the great Telesterium at Eleusis was rebuilt fairly quickly. A nearly square building, it had three seven-column colonnades inside, and (on three of the four sides) seven steps for spectators to sit on. In Ictinus' plan, there was provision for an extension of the Hall (to make it exactly square), and for a grand portico. Ictinus had originally intended there to be five four-column colonnades inside; but the spans of the interior columns (intercolumnia) were over-large and this caused roofing problems. A generation later the work brought to completion, at the cost of making changes to the original plan. The Telesterium in its final Classical form had seven six-column colonnades inside, and a row of seven tiers of seats on its perimeter.

The earliest evidence we have of circular structures at Athens comes from two particular buildings, one from the early and one from the late Classical period. The first is a very simple circular structure of about 18 metres across, in the Agora. It was built in 470 B.C. or thereabouts, and has been identified as the Thoplos which housed the Prytaneum. Its entrance faced east. Inside it had six pillars (unfluted) that stood in two ellipsoid groups of three, at the entrance and facing the entrance respectively. A much smaller-scale tholos was the choregic monument of Lysicrates, with a diameter of no more than 2.1 metres and a height of 16.2 metres. A fully-fledged specimen of the Corinthian order, it had an even ring of six columns set on a rectangular base. The spaces between the columns were infilled with convex monolithic blocks with reliefs of tripods on the upper part. The architrave had a frieze of sculpture round its perimeter. The slightly convex roof was likewise monolithic. It blossomed into a threefold posy of acanthus leaves. On top of these stood a bronze tripod - Lysicrates' prize from the drama festival of 334 B.C.
There are other 4th century tholoi at Delphi, Olympia and Epidaurus.

The earliest building classifiable as a theatre is the Theatre of Dionysus. It was very likely inspired by the Pnyx, with the latter's semicircular arrangement on a hillside being transferred to the former's structure. Architectural changes in the evolution of the Greek theatre was mainly dictated by the changes to the structure of the theatrical enactment. It is far from easy to follow the changes to the Theatre of Dionysus between the middle and the end of the 5th century. There was still no stage, but the chorus performed its movements in the circular area, which was therefore known as orchestra (the dancing floor). The sets originally had simply a wall to rest against; later on, this became the reverse side of a stoa. The actors had "their exits and their entrances" by openings at either side: these were called parodoi.

It was not long after the Persian wars that the Stoa of Herms and Stoa of Pisianax (commonly known as the Painted Stoa) were built. The second of these was embellished with pictures by Polygnotus, Mikon, and Panaenus. At the foot of the hill of Colonos-in-the-Agora there was the Stoa of Zeus Eleutherius. His statue towered in front of the stoa. In the south part of the Agora was the 'Southern Stoa', a thoroughfare of trapezai (tables for public meals), built at the very end of the 5th century B.C.,. Of much the same date was the Stoa of Dionysus Eleuthereus. Scholars differ on the exact function of this stoa, but it had some close link with the Theatre of Dionysus.