Temple of Artemis Amarynthia

Last updated

The Temple of Artemis Amarynthia was a sanctuary in Amarynthos in Euboea, dedicated to the goddess Artemis. It was a significant shrine of Artemis and arguably the foremost center of her cult in Northern Greece.

Archeological excavations reveal the date of founding to the 6th-century BC. The sanctuary is mentioned by ancient authors from the 3rd-century BC until the 3rd-century AD. According to Callimachus in the 3rd century BC, the temple was established by Agamemnon [1] and often referred to as the temple of Artemis Kolainis (Hornless), "because Agamemnon sacrificed to her a hornless ram made of wax." [2]

Strabo described the sanctuary:

The village Amarynthos, which is seven stadia distant from the walls [of Eretria in Euboia], belongs to this city . . . As for the power the Eretrians once had, this is evidenced by the pillar which they once set up in the temple of Artemis Amarynthia. It was inscribed thereon that they made their festal procession with three thousand heavy-armed soldiers, six hundred horsemen, and sixty chariots. And they ruled over the peoples of Andros, Teos, Keos, and other islands. [3]

The temple was the center for the cult of Artemis in Northern Greece, and the destination for the annual procession from Eretria during festival of Amarysia. Pausanias described the shrine as the place where the main festival of Amarysia took place in the honor of Artemis, though he stated that the Amarysia celebrated in Athens was "no less splendid than the Euboian." [4] Aelian stated in the 3rd-century that "The people of Eretria [in Euboia] sacrifice maimed animals to Artemis at Amarynthos." [5]

If the temple was still in use by the 4th-century, it would have been closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire, when laws against non-Christian religions and their sanctuaries where enacted by the Christian emperors.

Researchers have been trying to locate the remains of the temple since the 19th-century. However, using the description made by Strabo, who claimed the temple to be seven stadia (1.5 kilometers or 1 mile) from the town of Eretria, the temple could not be located until excavations made since 2007 has been confirmed to be of the temple. The site was finally located at the foot of the Palaioekklisies hill near the small fishing town of Amarynthos on the Greek island of Euboea, about 10 km from the place where the temple was wrongly thought to be located. [6] The remains has revealed structures from the 6th-century to the second BC, containing an underground fountain, inscribed bases, sealed tiles, and coins containing the name "Artemis". [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apollo</span> Greek god of music, prophecy and healing

Apollo or Apollon is one of the Olympian deities in classical Greek and Roman religion and Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, music and dance, truth and prophecy, healing and diseases, the Sun and light, poetry, and more. One of the most important and complex of the Greek gods, he is the son of Zeus and Leto, and the twin brother of Artemis, goddess of the hunt. He is considered to be the most beautiful god and is represented as the ideal of the kouros. Apollo is known in Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology as Apulu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artemis</span> Goddess of the hunt and the wild in ancient Greek religion and mythology

In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Artemis is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. In later times, she was identified with Selene, the personification of the Moon. She was often said to roam the forests and mountains, attended by her entourage of nymphs. The goddess Diana is her Roman equivalent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leto</span> Greek goddess and mother of Apollo and Artemis

In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Leto is a goddess and the mother of Apollo and Artemis. She is the daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe, and the sister of Asteria.

In Greek mythology, Otrera was the founder and first Queen of the Amazons; the consort of Ares and mother of Hippolyta and Penthesilea. She is credited with being the founder of the shrine of Artemis in Ephesus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eileithyia</span> Ancient Greek goddess of childbirth

Eileithyia or Ilithyia was the Greek goddess of childbirth and midwifery, and the daughter of Zeus and Hera. In the cave of Amnisos (Crete) she was related with the annual birth of the divine child, and her cult is connected with Enesidaon, who was the chthonic aspect of the god Poseidon. It is possible that her cult is related with the cult of Eleusis. In his Seventh Nemean Ode, Pindar refers to her as the maid to or seated beside the Moirai (Fates) and responsible for the creation of offspring. Her son was Sosipolis, who was worshiped at Elis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple of the Delians</span>

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eretria</span> Town in Euboea, Greece

Eretria is a town in Euboea, Greece, facing the coast of Attica across the narrow South Euboean Gulf. It was an important Greek polis in the 6th and 5th century BC, mentioned by many famous writers and actively involved in significant historical events.

In Archaic Greece, an amphictyony, or amphictyonic league, was an ancient religious association of tribes formed before the rise of the Greek poleis.

Oropus or Oropos was a town on the borders of ancient Attica and Boeotia, and the capital of a district, called after it Oropia This district is a maritime plain, through which the Asopus flows into the sea, and extends for 5 miles (8.0 km) along the shore. It is separated from the inland plain of Tanagra by some hills, which are a continuation of the principal chain of the Diacrian mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lycosura</span> Archaeological site in Greece

Lycosura was a city in the ancient Parrhasia region of south Arcadia said by Pausanias to be the oldest city in the world, although there is no evidence for its existence before the fourth century BCE. Its current significance is chiefly associated with the sanctuary of the goddess Despoina, which contained a colossal sculptural group that Pausanias wrote was made by Damophon of Messene. This group comprises acrolithic-technique statues of Despoina and Demeter seated on a throne, with statues of Artemis and the Titan Anytos standing on either side of them – all in Pentelic marble. The dates of both the temple and the sculptural group have occasioned some dispute. Remains of a stoa, altars, and other structures have been found at the site as well. The Sanctuary of Despoina at Lycosoura is located 9 km WSW of Megalopolis, 6.9 km SSE of Mount Lykaion, and 160 km SW of Athens. There is a small museum at the archaeological site housing small finds as well as part of the cult group, while the remains of the cult statues of Despoina and Demeter are displayed at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amarynthos</span> Place in Greece

Amarynthos, is a coastal town and a former municipality in Euboea, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Eretria, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 109.909 km2. In 2011 its population was 3,672 for the town and 6,723 for the municipal unit. The Amarynthos is 8 km east of Eretria, 27 km southeast of Chalcis, 63 km northwest of Karystos and 10 km north of Kalamos, across the gulf. The Greek National Road 44 passes through the town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claros</span> Ancient Greek sanctuary on Ionian coast

Claros was an ancient Greek sanctuary on the coast of Ionia. It contained a temple and oracle of Apollo, honored here as Apollo Clarius. It was located in the territory of Colophon, which lay twelve kilometers to the north, one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League. The coastal city Notion lay two kilometers to the south. The ruins of the sanctuary are now found north of the modern town Ahmetbeyli in the Menderes district of Izmir Province, Turkey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archaeological Museum of Eretria</span> Archaeological museum in Euboea regional unit, Central Greece.

The Archaeological Museum of Eretria is a museum in Eretria, in the Euboea regional unit of Central Greece.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sanctuary of Asclepius, Epidaurus</span> UNESCO World Heritage Site

The Sanctuary of Asclepius was a sanctuary in Epidaurus dedicated to Asclepius. Especially in the Classical and Hellenistic periods, it was the main holy site of Asclepius. The sanctuary at Epidaurus was the rival of such major cult sites as the Sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia and Apollo at Delphi. The temple was built in the early 4th century BC. If still in use by the 4th century AD, the temple would have been closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire, when the Christian Emperors issued edicts prohibiting non-Christian worship. In 1988, the temple was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List because of its exceptional architecture and its importance in the development and spread of healing sanctuaries (asclepeion) throughout Classical Antiquity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple of Artemis</span> Ancient Greek temple in Ephesus (near present-day Selçuk, Turkey)

The Temple of Artemis or Artemision, also known as the Temple of Diana, was a Greek temple dedicated to an ancient, local form of the goddess Artemis. It was located in Ephesus. By 401 AD it had been ruined or destroyed. Only foundations and fragments of the last temple remain at the site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gryneium</span> Ancient Greek settlement in Turkey

Gryneium or Gryneion, also Grynium or Grynion (Γρύνιον), Grynia or Gryneia (Γρύνεια) and Grynoi (Γρῦνοι), was a city of ancient Aeolis. It was located 40 stadia from Myrina and 70 from Elaea. In early times it was independent, one of the 12 important cities of Aeolis, but afterwards became subject to Myrina. It contained a sanctuary of Apollo with an ancient oracle and a splendid temple of white marble. Pausanias wrote that at Gryneium, where there was an amazing grove of Apollo, with cultivated trees, and all those which, although they bear no fruit, are pleasing to smell or look upon.

The Temple of Demeter Amphictyonis was an extra-urban sanctuary in ancient Anthele in Thermopylae, dedicated to Demeter. It was an important Panhellenic shrine of Demeter and one of her main cult centers in Greece. It was also known as a center of the Amphictyonic League.

Stymphalus or Stymphalos, or Stymphelus or Stymphelos (Στύμφηλος), or Stymphelum or Stymphelon (Στύμφηλον), or Stymphalum, or Stymphala, was a town in the northeast of ancient Arcadia.

References

  1. ↑ Callimachus, Iambi Fragment 6a (trans. Trypanis)
  2. ↑ Callimachus, Iambi Fragment 6b (from Scholiast on Aristophanes' Birds 873)
  3. ↑ Strabo, Geography 10. 1. 10 (trans. Jones)
  4. ↑ Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 31. 5 (trans. Jones)
  5. ↑ Aelian, On Animals 12. 34 (trans. Scholfield)
  6. ↑ "Lost temple of Artemis found on Greek island of Euboea".
  7. ↑ Archaeologists Dig Up The Lost Temple Of Artemis ... - IFLScience
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.