A Spatial Approach to the Arkteia Ritual at Brauron
This story map will explore how a spatial approach can help us better understand the arkteia ritual at Brauron.
Introduction
Cult activity at Brauron was in particular related to the arkteia, a ritual in which young girls between the ages of 10-14 ‘played the bear’. The arkteia happened every four years at the festival of the Brauronia, which took place at the sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron. The festival of Brauronia was also associated with a ritual procession from Athens to Brauron. Literary evidence from Aristophanes and Euripides demonstrate the cult’s cultural prominence; inventory inscriptions on stelai set up at Brauron and at the acropolis in Athens show that women dedicated clothing and textiles to Artemis; and krateriskoi vases show young female figures performing rituals in the sanctuary. Despite such varied pieces of fragmentary evidence, there is among scholars little consensus on what happened at Brauron and how to interpret the arkteia ritual. Some have interpreted it as a rite de passage bracing girls for puberty and marriage. Others have argued the ritual is best understood as an appeasement to soothe the anger of Artemis rather than as an initiation. Scholarly discussion has made attempts to connect the visual evidence for the arkteia performance with later, written accounts of the cult rituals, resulting in scholarship that regarded these all-female performances as a coming-of-age ritual. [1] This ritual service is generally understood as a rite de passage bracing girls for puberty and marriage. More recently, however, this notion of the arkteia as an initiation ritual has been contested by C.A. Faraone who suggested that the cult activity at Brauron is better defined as “appeasement” to soothe the anger of Artemis rather than as an “initiation.” [2] He argued that the girls did not underwent a qualitative transformation in their public status or were ceremonially marked as having entered into a new group. [3] Following Faraone’s argument, Abbe Lind Walker argued that the arkteia was a possibility to propitiate a goddess. [4] This story map will unify the two interpretations of the arkteia ritual by answering the question to what extent the ritual can both be understood as an appeasement and a rite de passage. The story map will consider Artemis' role in the religious landscape around the 5 th century BCE. Artemis' sanctuaries were usually located in marginal and liminal places, which made her sanctuaries a suitable place for rites of passage. At the same time due to its marginal location of the sanctuary, the cult of Artemis was important for integrating margins and centre. Her cult was therefore also associated with civic values.
Location & Landscape
Artemis' Sanctuary at Brauron
The sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron (modern day Vravrona) lies on the east coast of Attica at the mouth of the river Erasinos, approximately 38 km from Athens. Brauron had a harbour on the Attic border. In the last two millennia the sea levels have changed; the sanctuary used to be located only a few metres from the sea.
Artemis, Goddess of wilderness and childbirth
The character of the goddess Artemis elicits many understandings and interpretations. She is described as a goddess of nature and all things wild, as a goddess of hunting, fertility and birth, and also as a virgin goddess and patroness of the transition from girl to woman. In modern culture Artemis is best described as an outdoorsy goddess known for her huntress’ character in association with wild life. [ 5 ] The sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron emphasized these characteristics of Artemis through the natural surroundings of the site.
The Vravrona Wetlands
The sanctuary looked out over a small harbour where the Erasinos river joins the sea and is surrounded by wetlands. The Wetlands of Brauron is a landscape that has managed to remain almost intact since ancient times. The landscape, the shallow bay on its estuary and the hills surrounding the area make this a unique wildlife ecosystem in Attica. It hosts a large number of different kind of birds, fish, mammals, amphibians, insects and plants. [ 6 ] In ancient Greece people believed that water coming from lakes, marshes and rivers were a source of purification. [ 7 ] On the arid land of Greece humid places like this and the abundant vegetation that grew there incited the belief of fruitful places of life and were thus highly suitable for performing rites de passage of young girls that prepared them to become wives and mothers. [ 8 ] Many of the cult sites of Artemis were located at marshy areas which gave her the additional epithet Artemis Limnatis (limen means “marsh” or “wetland”).
Area of transition
An important feature of Artemis' sanctuary at Brauron was that is situated in an area of transition. Wetlands are transition zones. they are neither completely dry land nor entirely underwater, but have features of both. Worshippers who visited the sanctuary by land or sea had to cross a boundary between water and land. [ 9 ] Such marshy places like at Brauron with dangerous deep waters were also treacherous places where one could easily drown. Therefore, lakes and marches were regarded as places of transition to the underworld. In order to reach the other world, one had to cross a body of water. [ 10 ] Located in the heart of the wild world with its disturbing and hostile nature, Brauron was also a place of conciliation. It integrated Artemis, a potentially hostile goddess, into religious life which made her potentially beneficial for the community. [ 11 ]
Site Plan
1. Remains of the Temple. The small temple for Artemis (c. 20m. x 10m) was built in Doric style and located directly at the foot of the hill where also the chapel is situated. This was framed by the sea on the eastern side and by the river on the western side.
2. This picture show the the large pi-shaped stoa which were created in the fifth century BCE and in Hellenistic times enclosed the whole ritual space.
3. The sanctuary contained a series of dining rooms, but on the north side the temple was flanked by the so-called Parthenon of the Bears, founded in the classical period. The northern colonnade also contained the living quarters for the arktoi, the “bears”. The stoa served as a place of residence for the girls partaking in the artkeia ritual.
3. Reconstruction in the Brauron museum of the living quarters for the young girls who played the bear. It shows a small square room with nine beds for the girls to sleep in.
4. The stoa on the northern section at Brauron housed textiles offerings for the women who died during childbirth. This was separated from the more positive life embracing cult of Artemis. [ 12 ]
6. Sacred spring. The temple is flanked by two other natural features. A spring on the west side and a small ravine on the east. Excavations at Brauron have established that her temple was aligned around a sacred spring. In the area of the spring many votive gifts were found including a great number of krateriskoi.
5. Classical stone bridge. The bridge showed traces of carriages probably of carriages coming from the during the Brauronia festival which included a procession from Athens.
7. St George Church (c. 16th century).
Foundational Myth of Brauron
The image depicts the grave of Iphigenia at Brauron, located at the southeastern part of the sanctuary. It was believed that Iphigenia had a hero cultus at the sanctuary. The clothes that women wore who died during childbirth were dedicated to her at the northern stoa of the sanctuary. [ 13 ]
In the play Iphigenia in Tauris the poet Euripides (c. 480-c. 406 BC) describes the myth of Orestes and Iphigenia. Orestes, the son of the Greek King Agamemnon wanted to steal the wooden statue of Artemis in Scurthian Tauris to bring it to Athens. However, he is caught by the Scythians who took him to Artemis’ temple to be sacrificed to the goddess. Iphiginia, the priestess of Artemis, had to make the sacrifice. But she also happened to be Orestes sister. When the two recognized each other they both agreed to bring the statue to Greece. First the Scythians caught up with them, but in the end they are saved by the goddess Athena who decreed that the Greeks were to honour Artemis in two personifications, one as Artemis Tauropolos and another as Artemis Brauronia. This narrative mythically connects Artemis Brauronia to Artemis Tauropolos kilometers to the north. But also to the city of Athens since it was Athena who ordered Artemis to be worshipped by the Greeks in Brauron. [ 14 ]
Brauronia Festival
Artemis' Sanctuary at the Acropolis
Brauron was not just of interest for the local community but was also of importance for the entire Athenian state. Athens connected itself with the cult at Brauron in the middle of the fifth century by devoting a π shaped stoa to Artemis Brauronia on the acropolis. It is situated on the southeastern area of the Propylaia, gateway to the Athenian acropolis. It was the first building that turned up when visitors passed through the gate.[15]
Festival Brauronia
Every four years the Brauronia was celebrated in the honour of Artemis. This was one of the major festivals of Athens and was probably open for all the members of society to participate in. A part of the festival was a procession from Athens to Brauron. Besides being an important social event, the festival also had an important political meaning. Susan Guettel Cole argued that “by connecting an important outlying sanctuary to the political centre, it emphasized the unity of Attika.”[16] Francois de Polignac showed that ritual procession like that to Brauron were significant in connecting the city of Athens to its larger rural hinterland.[17] The festival probably included agones, sacrifices and a banquet. The animals brought for sacrifice were eaten and the crowd dined at the banqueting building located at the northern stoa at Brauron.[18]
Inscriptions listing the votives dedicated to Artemis
Artemis' Sanctuary at the Acropolis
Brauron was not just of interest for the local community but was also of importance for the entire Athenian state. Athens connected itself with the cult at Brauron in the middle of the fifth century by devoting a π shaped stoa to Artemis Brauronia on the acropolis. It is situated on the southeastern area of the Propylaia, gateway to the Athenian acropolis. It was the first building that turned up when visitors passed through the gate. [ 15 ]
Festival Brauronia
Every four years the Brauronia was celebrated in the honour of Artemis. This was one of the major festivals of Athens and was probably open for all the members of society to participate in. A part of the festival was a procession from Athens to Brauron. Besides being an important social event, the festival also had an important political meaning. Susan Guettel Cole argued that “by connecting an important outlying sanctuary to the political centre, it emphasized the unity of Attika.” [ 16 ] Francois de Polignac showed that ritual procession like that to Brauron were significant in connecting the city of Athens to its larger rural hinterland. [17] The festival probably included agones, sacrifices and a banquet. The animals brought for sacrifice were eaten and the crowd dined at the banqueting building located at the northern stoa at Brauron. [ 18 ]
The trip from Athens to Brauron was approximately 40 kilometres. Given the young age of the girls participating in the rituals at Brauron, many of them would have found themselves physically inadequate. If the long journey to the sanctuary might not have been burdensome enough, the landscape outside the walls of Athens was also plagued by enemy raids. The girl’s passing unprotected through the countryside to an outlying sanctuary is a way of entrusting the most vulnerable members of the community to the protection of Artemis. They were not only vulnerable because of their young age but also because they came from prominent families and were valuable as future mothers of Athenian citizens. [19]
Inscriptions listing the votives dedicated to Artemis
The inscriptions described the votive gifts dedicated to Artemis at Brauron. The gifts included clothing and garments and were often accompanied by the women's name who dedicated the pieces to Artemis. The types of garments show a variety of characteristics. Embroidered luxury garment, fine Amorgian linen, women's chiton, purple robes, ribbons, a man's himation and a child's chlaniskion are some examples of the wide variety of garments dedicated to Artemis. [ 20 ] The garments were mostly dedicated by women but they not only dedicated women's clothing but also those of men and children and were often expensive cloth that have been worn and were often made by the by those who dedicated them. [ 21 ]
Cole argued that because the inscriptions were exhibited in the centre of the city, these inscriptions reflected Attic unity and identified the city with its outer territory. [ 22 ] Whether these inscriptions indeed displayed Attic unity is hard to say. However, the Brauronion on the acropolis, reflected in the Artemis’ epithet, did identify Athens with Brauron.
Sourvinou-Inwood has stressed that listing the names of the girls was a means to present who in the near future would be eligible for marriage. [ 23 ] Gunnel Ekroth added these listings also were a way to demonstrate the proper Athenian ancestry of the girls and thus suitable for becoming future wives and mothers of Athenian citizens. The inscriptions showed the importance Brauron had for Athens because the city depended on the young girls for creating new Athenian families. [ 24 ]
Taken together, it is evident that Artemis was an important deity in the city of Athens. Artemis as a goddess of the wilderness was in the city less significant. In Athens the goddess was associated with civic values like politics and initiation. [ 25 ]
"Playing the Bear"
The ritual stay of the little girls at the sanctuary in Brauron was called arkteia and the girls who served in the rituals were called little bears. Called so because they participated in a rite called mysterion which consisted in “ playing the bear”.[ 26 ] Initially, all the girls of the community must have participated in the rite, but at the end of the 5 th century the festival had grew rather large and as such it were only the daughters of wealthy Athenian families who participated in the rituals and represented their entire age group. According to Inge Nielsen these girls appeared to be 10-14 years old. [27 ]
Votive statues from Brauron representing children. They represented both girls and boys and depicted therefore probably not the girls who "played the bear". It were rather votive gifts from mothers who thanked Artemis for a safe childbirth.
Why were girls supposed to act the she-bear before marriage? The most cited foundation myth for the arkteia is ἄκτος ἢ Βραυρqνίοις. The myth contests that Artemis must be consoled for the loss of her bear otherwise the goddess’ wrath will befall the city. The plague like illness that fell upon the community was only stopped after every young girl substituted for the she-bear during the arkteia rituals. Scholars have argued that “serving as a bear” indicated that the young girls and the she-bear shared the same wild nature. The arkteia ritual can be read as purification of their wildness, the wild girls/bears had to be tamed before they were ready for marriage. [28]
[ 29 ]
However, Walter Burkert had already downplayed initiation to emphasize the strong sacrificial theme in the sources. Burkert commented: “With the arkteia we come as close as possible to female puberty initiation, but we have difficulties finding the expected myth.” [ 30 ] Yet, I would argue that the myth alludes both to the ritual as an appeasement and a as a initiation ritual. The myth relates that Artemis had to be appeased by young girls who substituted for the loss of the goddess' bear. In addition, the fact that the girls were probably unmarried virgins and could not marry until they played the bear point to an initiation rite that was supposed to prepare them for married life.
Krateriskoi Vases
To get a sense of what actually happened at Brauron, the krateriskoi found at the sanctuary are of great interest. This both black-figured and red-figured pottery was found in large numbers at Brauron, most around the temple of Artemis and around the grave of Iphigeneia. These two krateriskoi show girls running towards an altar and a girl running with a torch. The depiction of the altar in the first picture probably forms a spatial indicator for the sacred of this space. Therefore, the scenes depicted on these vases must depict sacred rituals. The second vases depicts a girl running with a torch in her hand. This could be an indicator that the rituals the girls performed at Brauron took place at night and are probably an indicator of the private nature of the rituals. At the same time the torch might be related to the ceremonies that preceded weddings or to the actual wedding. Torch-carriers, which included the mother of the bride, were a part of the procession that brought the bride from her parental home to the home of the groom. There the mother of the groom also awaited the arrival of the bride with a torch. [ 31 ]
From the krateriskoi we can extract that the girls in the arkteia ritual were probably engaged in ritual races and dancing. This krateriskoi shows older girls running naked. R. Hamilton has suggested that these girls might have been naked because they finished the initiation. [32] It is not clear whether a foot race or some kind of ritual hunt is presented on these vases. Scanlon has suggested that the running girls reflected the Brauronian myth. She suggested that one of the girls might have played the bear and the others ran away from her. [33]
On other vases we also see girls wearing bear masks. This might have been a way for substituting for the dead bear. Th girls reenacted the cult myth in their performance of the ritual. In that way myth and ritual were merged. But the masks might also be symbolic for the wild nature of unmarried girls that had to be tamed during the ritual.
A large part of the figural krateriskoi show scenes with running girls, altars and palm-trees. The palm tree often symbolizes birth and reproduction. Sourvinou-Inwood has argued that the the combination ‘altar with palm-tree’ refers to the cult of Artemis and marriage rituals. The altar plus palm-tree is depicted in different myths that represent erotic pursuits or abductions. Given that other krateriskoi found at Brauron depict running girls and were possibly playing some kind of ritual catch, Sourvinou-Inwood argued that these vases represented marriage through erotic pursuit/abduction. The arkteia ritual may also represent marriage as a girl’s forcible removal from Artemis' sanctuary at Brauron in which she had belonged as an unmarried girl. [ 34 ]
Conclusion
How should we interpret the sanctuary at Brauron and the rituals that took place there? The arkteia at Brauron was a ritual in which girls were taken out of their normal state and were separated from the rest of society. The area around Brauron was in itself considered to be marginal and borderline because of its marshy lands and because it was far away from Athens. The time spent at Brauron could be regarded as a liminal phase in the rites of passage of young girls.The landscape and the natural surroundings made it a fruitful place full of life which could make it a suitable place for performing rite de passage of young girls. However, given the nature of the archaeological evidence found at Brauron and Athens we cannot with certainty reconstruct what actually happened at Brauron. The krateriskoi vases confront us with a methodological problem, because it is difficult to ascertain to what extent the vase-paintings correspond to the actual ritual reality. The rituals depicted on the vases were celebrated in secret in the sanctuary and probably during the night indicated by the presence of torches on the vases. Therefore, probably not everything that happened at Brauron was meant to be seen or to be depicted. A problem scholars face is how the depictions on the vases must be interpreted. Given the fact that the arkteia ritual involved young girls soon to be of marriageable age and the importance of votive offerings for a safe childbirth at the sanctuary make it likely that the ritual included some kind of initiation rite. On the other hand, the myth of the arkteia ritual, the inscriptions of votive offerings the sanctuary at the acropolis and the procession from Athens attest to the importance of Brauron for the Athenian community and how valuable it was to be on good terms with a powerful goddess. With more certainty we can conclude that the marginal landscape was an important setting for the rituals and that the rituals and procession were important in connecting Athens with Brauron whether for avoiding the wrath of Artemis or for preparing young girls for becoming respectable Athenian wives and mothers.
Endnotes
[1] See for example: N. Demand, Birth, Death, and Motherhood in Classical Greece (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994).
[2] C. A. Faraone, “Playing the Bear and Fawn for Artemis: Female Initiation or Substitute Sacrifice?,” in Initiation in Ancient Greek Rituals and Narratives: New Critical Perspectives, eds. D. B. Dodd, and C. A. Faraone (New York: Routledge, 2003), 43– 68, at p. 43.
[3] C. A. Faraone, “Playing the Bear and Fawn for Artemis," at p. 44.
[4] Abbe Lind Walker, Bride of Hades to Bride of Christ: The Virgin and the Otherworldly Bridegroom in Ancient Greece and Early Christian Rome (Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2020), 39.
[5] Evgenia Vikela, “The Worship of Artemis in Attica: Cult Places, Rites, Iconography,” in Worshiping Women: Ritual and Reality in Classical Athens (New York: Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation, 2008), 73-81, at p. 73.
[6] Katsavouni Sotiria and Miltiadis Seferlis, “Evaluation of functions and values of Attica wetlands in Greece,” EKBY, Thessaloniki (March, 2014), http://repository.biodiversity info.gr/bitstream/11340/1928/1/1645.pdf .
[7] P. Brulé, La fille d'Athènes: la religion des filles à Athènes à l'époque classique: mythes, cultes et société (Paris: Belles Lettres, 1987), 197-200
8] Ana Isabel Jiménez San Cristobal, “Artemis and Dionysus. Encounters in Natural Settings: Lakes and Marshes,” in Artemis and Diana in ancient Greece and Italy: at the crossroads between the civic and the wild (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2021), 24-46, at p. 26.
[9] Susan Guettel Cole, Landscapes, Gender, and Ritual Space: The Ancient Greek Experience (Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press), 193.
[10] Sourvino-Inwood, Studies in girls´ transitions. Aspects of the Arkteia and age representation in Attic Iconography (Athens: University press, 1988), 60-63, 307-309, 315-316.
[11] François de Polignac, Cults, territory, and the origins of the Greek city-state, trans. Janet Lloyd; with a new forew. by Claude Mossé (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995), 36.
[12] Gunnel Ekroth, "Inventing Iphigeneia? On Euripides and the Cultic Construction of Brauron," Kernos: Revue Internationale et Pluridisciplinaire de Religion Grecque Antique, no. 16 (2003): 59-118, at p. 67.
[13] Gunnel Ekroth, "Inventing Iphigeneia?," 96.
[14] John Papadimitriou, “The Sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron,” Scientific American 208, no. 6 (1963): 110–23.; Euripides, Iphigenia among the Taurians: Bacchae ; Iphigenia at Aulis ; Rhesus, ed. and trans. James Morwood (Oxford World's Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press), 128.
[15] Robin F, Rhodes and John J Dobbins, “The Sanctuary of Artemis Brauronia on the Athenian Akropolis.” Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 4, no. 48 (1979): 325–41, picture a.
[16] Susan Guettel Cole, Landscapes, Gender, and Ritual Space, 195.
[17] François de Polignac, Cults, territory, and the origins of the Greek city-state, trans. Janet Lloyd; with a new forew. by Claude Mossé (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995), 36.
[18] Inge Nielsen, “The sanctuary of Artemis Brauronia. Can Architecture and Iconography help to Locate the Setting of the Rituals?” In From Artemis to Diana: The Goddess of Man and Beast, eds. T. Fischer-Hansen and B. Poulsen (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 2009), 77-109, at p. 105.
[19] Lisa C. Nevett, “Towards a Female Topography of the Ancient Greek City: Case Studies from Late Archaic and Early Classical Athens (c.520-400 BCE),” Gender & History 23, no. 3 (November 2011): 576–596, at p. 588.
[20] Liza Cleland, The Brauron Clothing Catalogues: Text, Analysis, Glossary and Translation ( Oxford: John and Erica Hedges, 2005), 132-147.
[21] Liza Cleland, The Brauron Clothing Catalogues: Text, Analysis, Glossary and Translation ( Oxford: John and Erica Hedges, 2005), 6.
[22] Cole, 196
[23] Sourvino-Inwood, Studies in girls´ transitions, 111-113.
[24] Gunnel Ekroth, “Inventing Iphigeneia?," 93.
[25] Jorgen Mejer, "Artemis in Athens," in Artemis to Diana : The Goddess of Man and Beast, eds. Tobias Fischer-Hansen and Birte Poulsen, pp. 61-78 (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum, 2009), 67.
[26] Inge Nielsen, "The Sanctuary of Artemis Brauronia," 78.
[27] Inge Nielsen, 79
[28] Nielssen, at p. 80; Diana Guarisco, in “ Acting the She-bear: Animal Symbolism and Ritual in Ancient Athens, in Animals in Greek and Roman Religion and Mythin (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK : Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016), 419-430, at p. 422-423.
[29] Translation by Diana Guarisco, in “Acting the She-bear: Animal Symbolism and Ritual in Ancient Athens, in Animals in Greek and Roman Religion and Mythin (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK : Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016), 419-430, at p. 422-423. In Schol. Ar. Lys. 645 a-b, attested only in G (the codex Laurentianus plut. 31, 15 and Leidensis Voss. Gr. F. 52)
[30] Burkert Walter, Creation of the Sacred: Tracks of Biology in Early Religions (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press), 75.
[31] J.H. Oakley and R.H. Sinos, The Wedding in Ancient Athens, (Madison [etc.] : University of Wisconsin Press, 1993), 34-35; H.Killet, Zur Ikonographie der Frau auf attischen Vasen archaischer und klassischer Zeit (Berlin : Köster, 1994), 88-99.
[32] R. Hamilton, "Alkman and the Athenian Arkteia," Hesperia, no. 5 (1989), 449-472.
[33] T.F. Sanlon, “Race or chase at the Arkteia of Attica?”, Nikephoros (1990), 73-120.
[34] Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood, “Altars with Palm-Trees, Palm-Trees and ‘Parthenoi,’” Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies 32 (1985): 125–148, at p. 126-127.
Images
Fig. 1. “Votive relief at Brauron”, Wikimedia Commons, by George E. Koronaios, Accessed 29-04-202, CC BY-SA 4.0 .
Fig. 2. "Sanctuary at Brauron," picture by author.
Fig. 3. "Artemis with a Doe, known as the 'Diana of Versailles," Date of creation/manufacture: 2nd quarter 2nd c. ap. AD (?) (time of Hadrian?) (125 - 150), Louvre, Paris, Room 348, Sully wing, Level , Accessed 29-04-2022, https://www.louvre.fr/en/explore/the-palace/at-the-heart-of-the-renaissance-palace.
Fig. 4. "Erasinos river estuary", Wikimedia Commons, by Eftychia Zerde, originally posted to Flickr as Vravrona - Erasinos river, Accessed 29-04-202, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5080859.
Fig. 5. "Classical Bridge," picture by author.
Fig. 6. "Brauron Site Plan," Wikimedia Commons, by Emma Burkhardt, Accessed 29-04-2022, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Fig. 7. "Remains of the Temple at Brauron," Pausanias Footsteps, Accessed 29-04-2022, https://pausanias footsteps.nl/regios/attika/brauron/.
Fig. 8. "Pi-shaped Stoa," picture by author.
Fig. 9. " Dining rooms and Parthenon of the bears," Pausanias Footsteps, Accessed 30-04-2022, https://pausanias-footsteps.nl/regios/attika/brauron/.
Fig. 10. "Reconstruction of the living quarters of the "little bears," Brauron museum, picture by author.
Fig. 11. "The northern section of the stoa at Brauron," by Charalambos Bouras, in Η Αναστήλωσις της Στοάς της Βραυρώνος (Athens, 1967), 96.
Fig. 12. "Sacred spring", picture by author.
Fig 13. "Classical bridge," picture by author.
Fig. 14. "St George chruch," Wikimedia Commons, by Ava Babili, CC BY-SA 4.0 .
Fig. 15. "Grave of Iphigenia," Wikimedia Commons, by Napoleon Vier, CC BY-SA 3. .
Fig. 16. "General of the view Artemis' sanctuary acropolis," in Robin F. Rhodes and John J. Dobbins, “The Sanctuary of Artemis Brauronia on the Athenian Akropolis.” Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 4, no. 4 (1979): 325–4, picture a.
Fig. 17. "Sanctuary of Brauron," Wikimedia Commons, by Kritheus,CC BY-SA 4.0 .
Fig. 18. "Inventories of the treasury of the Sanctuary of Artemis Brauronia," 353-334 BC, ΕΜ 7932 the Acropolis museum, https://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/en/inventories-treasury-sanctuary-artemis-brauronia.
Fig. 19. "Votive statues from Brauron representing children," Brauron museum, picture by author.
Fig. 20. "Krateriskoi depicting altar and girl running with torch," Brauron museum, picture by author.
Fig. 21. "Krateriskos depicting girls running," Brauron museum, picture by author.
Fig. 22. "Drawing after a red-figure krateriskos? (C) in a Swiss private collection," by L. Kahil, L'Artemis de Brauron, Rites et mystère," AntK 20 (1977) 86-98, fig. C.
Fig. 23 "Krateriskos depicting altar plus palm-tree," Brauron museum, picture by author.
