Myrrhinus or Myrrinous () was a
deme
In Ancient Greece, a deme or (, plural: ''demoi'', δήμοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Classical Athens, Athens and other city-states. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside existed in the 6th century BC and earlier, bu ...
of
ancient Attica
The regions of ancient Greece were sub-divisions of the Hellenic world as conceived by the ancient Greeks, shown by their presence in the works of ancient historians and geographers or in surviving legends and myths.
Conceptually, there is no cl ...
which belonged to the ''
phyle
''Phyle'' (, ; pl. ''phylai'', ; derived from Greek , ''phyesthai'' ) is an ancient Greek term for tribe or clan. Members of the same ''phyle'' were known as ''symphyletai'' () meaning 'fellow tribesmen'. During the late 6th century BC, Cleist ...
'' (clan) of
Pandionis
Pandionis () was an ancient ''phyle'' (tribe or clan) of Attica. It was one of the original ten tribes in which Athenian citizens were divided after the late 6th century BC reforms of Cleisthenes. The citizens of Pandionis were known as Pandionidae ...
. It lay to the east of
Prasiae.
Artemis Colaenis was worshipped at Myrrhinus; and in one of the inscriptions recovered at
Merenda mention is made of a temple of Artemis Colaenis.
The site of Myrrhinus is located near modern
Merenda. The recent excavation at the new Equestrian Centre at Merenda, Markopoulo, where the ancient ''demos'' of Myrrhinous is located, gives some idea of the aspect of the centre of the aforesaid ''demoi''. Here, in the middle of the flat space lying between the foothills of the homonymous mountain and the low vine-planted hills, a peripteral temple, probably dedicated to
Artemis
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Artemis (; ) is the goddess of the hunting, hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, transitions, nature, vegetation, childbirth, Kourotrophos, care of children, and chastity. In later tim ...
Kolainis, one of the most important in the city, and a sanctuary of
Aphrodite
Aphrodite (, ) is an Greek mythology, ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretism, syncretised Roman counterpart , desire, Sexual intercourse, sex, fertility, prosperity, and ...
have been brought to light at the crossroad of the two central arteries of the 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘴, which are lined at intervals by cemeteries, classical tomb enclosures and two sanctuaries. Identified and excavated around the temple, at some distance, were three porticoed buildings of public character, in no particular order, the sanctuary of a phratry, and very close behind it, a monumental fountain that had been reconstructed in
Roman times
In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman civilisation from the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingd ...
, while farmhouses extended on the small hills around.
People
*
Eurymedon of Myrrhinus
Eurymedon of Myrrhinus () married Plato's sister, Potone
Plato ( ; Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy an ...
, brother-in-law of
Plato
Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...
*
Phaedrus (Athenian)
Phaedrus (), son of Pythocles, of the Myrrhinus deme (Ancient Greek language, Greek: Φαῖδρος Πυθοκλέους Μυῤῥινούσιος, ''Phaĩdros Puthokléous Murrhinoúsios''; c. 444 – 393 BC), was an Classical Athens, ancient ...
, aristocrat depicted in the dialogues of Plato
*
Speusippus
Speusippus (; ; c. 408 – 339/8 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek philosopher. Speusippus was Plato's nephew by his sister Potone. After Plato's death, c. 348 BC, Speusippus inherited the Platonic Academy, Academy, near age 60, and remai ...
, philosopher and Plato's nephew
* Tettigidaea () of Myrrhinus,
Nicostratus (comic poet) was in love with her, and he jump from the Leucas Rock in order to be cured from the love.
Photius, Bibliotheca excerpts, 190.52
/ref>
References
Populated places in ancient Attica
Former populated places in Greece
Demoi
{{AncientAttica-geo-stub