Agrotera ( Gr. , "the huntress") was an

epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...

of the

Greek goddess A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities of d ...

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, Kourotrophos, care of children, and chastity. ...

, the most important goddess to

Attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a ''loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the ...

hunters. At

Agrae Agryle ( grc, Ἀγρυλή, Ἀραυλή, or Ἀγροιλή) was the name of two demoi In Ancient Greece, a deme or ( grc, δῆμος, plural: demoi, δημοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Classical Athens, Athens and other city-stat ...

on the

Ilissos The Ilisos or Ilisus ( el, Ιλισός, ) is a river in Athens, Greece. Originally a tributary of the Kifisos, it has been rechanneled to the sea. It is now largely channeled underground, though as of June 2019 there are plans to unearth the ...

, where she was believed to have first hunted after her arrival from

Delos The island of Delos (; el, Δήλος ; Attic: , Doric: ), near Mykonos, near the centre of the Cyclades archipelago, is one of the most important mythological, historical, and archaeological sites in Greece. The excavations in the island ar ...

, Artemis Agrotera had a temple, dating to the 5th century BC, with a statue carrying a bow. During the

Boedromia The Boedromia (Βοηδρόμια) was an ancient Greek festival held at Athens on the 7th of Boedromion (summer) in the honor of Apollo ''Boedromios'' (the helper in distress). Though Apollo was referred to as Boedromios by the Boeotians as well a ...

, on the seventh day of

Boedromion The Attic calendar or Athenian calendar is the lunisolar calendar beginning in midsummer with the lunar month of Hekatombaion, in use in ancient Attica, the ancestral territory of the Athenian polis. It is sometimes called the Greek calendar beca ...

(roughly, the beginning of September), an armed procession would take 600 goats to this temple, where they would all be sacrificed by the

polemarch A polemarch (, from , ''polemarchos'') was a senior military title in various ancient Greek city states (''poleis''). The title is derived from the words '' polemos'' (war) and ''archon'' (ruler, leader) and translates as "warleader" or "warlor ...

in honor of the victory at the

Battle of Marathon The Battle of Marathon took place in 490 BC during the first Persian invasion of Greece. It was fought between the citizens of Athens, aided by Plataea, and a Persian force commanded by Datis and Artaphernes. The battle was the culmination ...

. This rite derived from a vow made before the Battle of Marathon, which in turn derived from the custom of making a "slaughter sacrifice", or ''sphagion'' (), to Artemis Agrotera before a battle. The temple was destroyed in 1778, when the

Ottoman Ottoman is the Turkish spelling of the Arabic masculine given name Uthman ( ar, عُثْمان, ‘uthmān). It may refer to: Governments and dynasties * Ottoman Caliphate, an Islamic caliphate from 1517 to 1924 * Ottoman Empire, in existence fro ...

forces occupying Athens set about demolishing ancient sites for building material to construct a wall around the city. The ruins of the temple survive today on Ardettou Street, tightly surrounded by modern buildings. There is an ongoing campaign for the expropriation of adjacent buildings and the restoration of the temple. Under this name Agrotera was also worshiped at

Aigeira Aigeira ( el, Αιγείρα) (, grc, Αἰγείρα or Αἴγειρα, la, Aegeira) is a town and a former municipality in northeastern Achaea, West Greece, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it has been a municipal unit of the ...

Sparta Sparta (Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referred ...

, and elsewhere. The name Agrotera is synonymous with the epithet Agraea, but Eustathius derives it from the town of Agrae. The epithet Agrotera was also sometimes applied to the

nymph A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ty ...

Cyrene.

Pindar Pindar (; grc-gre, Πίνδαρος , ; la, Pindarus; ) was an Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar i ...

, ''Pythian Odes'' 9.6

References

External links

ArtemisAgrotera.org
- information on the archaeological site of the temple of Artemis Agrotera {{SmithDGRBM, title= Agrotera Epithets of Artemis Religion in ancient Athens Religion in ancient Sparta Battle of Marathon Greek animal sacrifice