One Saturday, we went for a field trip with my archaeology professor to see a variety of sites in Attica. This trip was originally supposed to happen in October- on the same weekend as the trip to Marathon and Rhamnous, in fact- but because my archaeology professor was ill, we ended up putting it off until a later weekend.
The first site that we went to was the site of Brauron, the location of one of the oldest bridges in existence and an important site for the worship of Artemis. That building you can see isn't a temple. It's actually a stoa, and the area to the left is some sort of complex where people probably slept.
The remains of the temple- not too well preserved, unfortunately- are up on this hill, in front of the small church. At this site, young Athenian girls would act as she-bears, running races and performing sacrifices.
There are the foundations of the temple. At some point, our professor let us wander the site, which meant that Maddie and Kyrie decided that it was time to climb rocks. Or something.
Also present at the site of Brauron was a cult to Iphigenia (you might remember her- the daughter of Agamemnon who may or may not have been sacrificed so he could go to Troy?) If you believe that she didn't die (Artemis saved her at the last minute), there is a story that she ended up in the region of the Black Sea and was involved with bringing a wooden cult statue of Artemis back to Greece. (The source for this, by the way, would be Euripides' play
Iphigenia at Aulis.) The picture below shows the area where the heroon might have been- there was clearly a small shrine there.
The first site that we went to was the site of Brauron, the location of one of the oldest bridges in existence and an important site for the worship of Artemis. That building you can see isn't a temple. It's actually a stoa, and the area to the left is some sort of complex where people probably slept.
The remains of the temple- not too well preserved, unfortunately- are up on this hill, in front of the small church. At this site, young Athenian girls would act as she-bears, running races and performing sacrifices.
There are the foundations of the temple. At some point, our professor let us wander the site, which meant that Maddie and Kyrie decided that it was time to climb rocks. Or something.
Also present at the site of Brauron was a cult to Iphigenia (you might remember her- the daughter of Agamemnon who may or may not have been sacrificed so he could go to Troy?) If you believe that she didn't die (Artemis saved her at the last minute), there is a story that she ended up in the region of the Black Sea and was involved with bringing a wooden cult statue of Artemis back to Greece. (The source for this, by the way, would be Euripides' play Iphigenia at Aulis.) The picture below shows the area where the heroon might have been- there was clearly a small shrine there.
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