TheBrauroneion was the sanctuary ofArtemis Brauronia on theAthenian Acropolis, located in the southwest corner of the Acropolis plateau, between theChalkotheke and thePropylaea inGreece. It was originally dedicated during the reign ofPeisistratos.Artemis Brauronia, protector of women in pregnancy and childbirth, had her main sanctuary atBrauron, ademos on the east coast ofAttica.
The sanctuary on the Acropolis was of an unusual trapezoidal shape and did not contain a formaltemple. Instead, a portico orstoa served that function. Thestoa measuredcirca 38 by 6.8 m; it stood in front of the southern Acropolis wall, facing north. At its corners, there were tworisalit-like side wings, each about 9.3 m long, the western one facing east and vice versa. North of the east wing stood a further short west-facingstoa. All of the sanctuary's western part, now lost, stood on the remains of theMycenaean fortification wall. All that remains of the eastern pare are foundations for walls, cut into the bedrock, as well as some very few architectural members of limestone.
One of the wings contained the woodencult statue (xoanon) of thegoddess. Women who petitioned Artemis for help habitually dedicated items of clothing, which were draped around the statue. In 346 BC, a second cult statue was erected. According toPausanias, it was a work byPraxiteles.[1]
Pausanias wrote:
There is also a sanctuary [at Athens] of Artemis Brauronia (of Brauron); the image is the work of Praxiteles, but the goddess derives her name from the parish of Brauron. The old wooden image is in Brauron, Artemis Tauria (of Tauros) as she is called.[2]
Pausanias also records the presence of an over-life-sized bronze horse representing theTrojan Horse.
Then there is a sanctuary of the Brauronian Artemis... The horse one sees here, referred to as wooden, is in bronze... But tradition has it that inside that horse were hidden the most valiant of the Greeks, and indeed the design (schema) of the bronze figure fits in well with this story. Menestheus and Teucer are peeping out of it, and behind them also the sons of Theseus.[3]
Further evidence is provided by thescholion toAristophanes mentioning the name of the dedicator, Chairedemos.[4] This is corroborated by the survival of the base of the sculpture on the Acropolis, which is inscribed with the names of Chairedemos and its sculptorStrongylion.[5] The reference in Aristophanes allows for aterminus ante quem of the statue of 415/414.[6]
The entrance to the small sacred precinct, near its northeast corner, is still marked by seven rock-cut steps. They, and its northern enclosure, were probably created byMnesicles during the building of the Propylaea. The date of the complex in its final shape is unclear, but a date around 430 BC, similar to that of the adjacent Propylaea, is commonly assumed.
If still in use by the 4th-century, the temple would have been closed during thepersecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire, when the Christian Emperors issued edicts prohibiting non-Christian worship.
37°58′17″N23°43′32″E / 37.9715°N 23.7255°E /37.9715; 23.7255
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