Greetings History-Lovers and Hellenophiles!
Eagles and Dragons Publishing is proud to present a new video tour on our YouTube and Rumble pages.
The Temple of Artemis Agrotera was a small Ionic temple that once sat on the hill the other side of the sacred Ilissos river
This is a site that most visitors to Athens never see, and also one which many locals don’t even know about. It is also one of the settings in An Altar of Indignities, Book II in our award-winning series, The Etrurian Players.
This beautiful temple on the lower slopes of Hymettos, beside the Hill of Ardittos, was built by the Athenians between c.435-430 B.C.E. in honour of the Goddess Artemis Agrotera (Artemis the Huntress) in thanks for their mighty victory at the battle of Marathon years before, in 490 B.C.E.
For when the Persians and their followers came with a vast array to blot Athens out of existence, the Athenians dared, unaided, to withstand them, and won the victory. And while they had vowed to Artemis that for every man they might slay of the enemy they would sacrifice a goat to the goddess, they were unable to find goats enough; so they resolved to offer five hundred every year, and this sacrifice they are paying even to this day.
(Xenophon, Anabasis, 3.2)
This temple was of the same order and style as the Temple of Athena Nike on the Acropolis of Athens for both of them were designed and built by the architect, Callicrates.
It occupied a prominent position on the other side of the Ilissos river as Plutarch relayed in the first century C.E…
Across the Ilisos is a district called Agrae and a temple of Artemis Agrotera the Huntress). They say that Artemis first hunted here when she came from Delos, and for this reason the statue carries a bow. A marvel to the eyes, though not so impressive to hear of, is a race-course of white marble, the size of which can best be estimated from the fact that beginning in a crescent on the heights above the Ilisos it descends in two straight lines to the river bank. This was built by Herodes, an Athenian, and the greater part of the Pentelic quarry was exhausted in its construction.
(Plutarch, Description of Greece, 1.19)
In the 5th century C.E. the temple was converted into a Christian basilica. Centuries later, it was destroyed by the Turkish invaders for building materials.
Today, on the edge of the neighbourhood of Pangrati, the temple remains are scant and in sad disrepair, but they still have an echo of Athens’ ancient and sacred past.
Now, without further ado, join us on a short tour of the archaeological site of the Temple of Artemis Agrotera.
*Eagles and Dragons Publishing would like to thank Dimitris Tsalkanis & Chrysanthos Kanellopoulos of Ancient Athens 3D for permitting the use of their amazing 3D renderings of this beautiful temple for the video. Visit their website at: www.AncientAthens3d.com
