Listed 37 sub titles with search on: Mythology for wider area of: "ATTICA, EAST Prefectural seat ATTIKI" .
IKARIA (Ancient demos) DIONYSSOS
When Erichthonius died and was buried in the same precinct of Athena, Pandion became king, in whose time Demeter and Dionysus came to Attica. But Demeter was welcomed by Celeus at Eleusis, and Dionysus by Icarius, who received from him a branch of a vine and learned the process of making wine. And wishing to bestow the god's boons on men, Icarius went to some shepherds, who, having tasted the beverage and quaffed it copiously without water for the pleasure of it, imagined that they were bewitched and killed him; but by day5 they understood how it was and buried him. When his daughter Erigone was searching for her father, a domestic dog, named Maera, which had attended Icarius, discovered his dead body to her, and she bewailed her father and hanged herself.
MARATHON (Ancient demos) ATTICA, EAST
The seventh labour he (Eurystheus) enjoined on him (Hercules) was
to bring the Cretan bull. Acusilaus says that this was the bull that ferried across
Europa for Zeus; but some say it was the bull that Poseidon sent up from the sea
when Minos promised to sacrifice to Poseidon what should appear out of the sea
(see Apoll.
3.1.3 & 3.1.4).
And they say that when he saw the beauty of the bull he sent it away to the herds
and sacrificed another to Poseidon; at which the god was angry and made the bull
savage. To attack this bull Hercules came to Crete, and when, in reply to his
request for aid, Minos told him to fight and catch the bull for himself, he caught
it and brought it to Eurystheus, and having shown it to him he let it afterwards
go free. But the bull roamed to Sparta and all Arcadia, and traversing the Isthmus
arrived at Marathon in Attica and harried the inhabitants. (Apoll.
2.5.7)
...Athens celebrated the games of the Panathenian festival, in which Androgeus,
son of Minos, vanquished all comers. Him Aegeus sent against the bull of Marathon,
by which he was destroyed. But some say that as he journeyed to Thebes to take
part in the games in honor of Laius, he was waylaid and murdered by the jealous
competitors.(1) But when the tidings of his death were brought
to Minos, as he was sacrificing to the Graces in Paros, he threw away the garland
from his head and stopped the music of the flute, but nevertheless completed the
sacrifice; hence down to this day they sacrifice to the Graces in Paros without
flutes and garlands.(Apoll.
3.15.7)
But not long afterwards, being master of the sea, he attacked Athens
with a fleet and captured Megara, then ruled by king Nisus, son of Pandion, and
he slew Megareus, son of Hippomenes, who had come from Onchestus to the help of
Nisus. Now Nisus perished through his daughter's treachery. For he had a purple
hair on the middle of his head, and an oracle ran that when it was pulled out
he should die; and his daughter Scylla fell in love with Minos and pulled out
the hair. But when Minos had made himself master of Megara, he tied the damsel
by the feet to the stern of the ship and drowned her. When the war lingered on
and he could not take Athens, he prayed to Zeus that he might be avenged on the
Athenians. And the city being visited with a famine and a pestilence, the Athenians
at first, in obedience to an ancient oracle, slaughtered the daughters of Hyacinth,
to wit, Antheis, Aegleis, Lytaea, and Orthaea, on the grave of Geraestus, the
Cyclops; now Hyacinth, the father of the damsels, had come from Lacedaemon and
dwelt in Athens.3 But when this was of no avail, they inquired of the oracle how
they could be delivered; and the god answered them that they should give Minos
whatever satisfaction he might choose. So they sent to Minos and left it to him
to claim satisfaction. And Minos ordered them to send seven youths and the same
number of damsels without weapons to be fodder for the Minotaur...(Apoll.
3.15.8)
...Medea, being then wedded to Aegeus (see
Apoll. 1.9.28), plotted against him (Theseus) and persuaded Aegeus to beware
of him as a traitor. And Aegeus, not knowing his own son, was afraid and sent
him against the Marathonian bull. And when Theseus had killed it, Aegeus presented
to him a poison which he had received the selfsame day from Medea. But just as
the draught was about to be administered to him, he gave his father the sword,
and on recognizing it Aegeus dashed the cup from his hands. And when Theseus was
thus made known to his father and informed of the plot, he expelled Medea. And
he was numbered among those who were to be sent as the third tribute to the Minotaur...
(Apoll. E.1.5 & E.1.6)
The land of the Cretans and especially that by the river Tethris was
ravaged by a bull. It would seem that in the days of old the beasts were much
more formidable to men, for example the Nemean lion, the lion of Parnassus, the
serpents in many parts of Greece, and the boars of Calydon, Eryrmanthus and Crommyon
in the land of Corinth, so that it was said that some were sent up by the earth,
that others were sacred to the gods, while others had been let loose to punish
mankind. And so the Cretans say that this bull was sent by Poseidon to their land
because, although Minos was lord of the Greek Sea, he did not worship Poseidon
more than any other god. They say that this bull crossed from Crete to the Peloponnesus,
and came to be one of what are called the Twelve Labours of Heracles. When he
was let loose on the Argive plain he fled through the isthmus of Corinth, into
the land of Attica as far as the Attic parish of Marathon, killing all he met,
including Androgeos, son of Minos. Minos sailed against Athens with a fleet, not
believing that the Athenians were innocent of the death of Androgeos, and sorely
harassed them until it was agreed that he should take seven maidens and seven
boys for the Minotaur that was said to dwell in the Labyrinth at Cnossus. But
the bull at Marathon Theseus is said to have driven afterwards to the Acropolis
and to have sacrificed to the goddess; the offering commemorating this deed was
dedicated by the parish of Marathon.(Paus.
1.27.9)
Commentary:
(1) This account of the murder of Androgeus is repeated almost
verbally by the Scholiast on Plat. Minos 321a. Compare Diod. 4.60.4ff.; Zenobius,
Cent. iv.6; Scholiast on Hom. Il. xviii.590. All these writers mention the distinction
won by Androgeus in the athletic contests of the Panathenian festival as the ultimate
ground of his undoing. Serv. Verg. A. 6.14 and Lactantius Placidus on Statius,
Achill. 192 say that, as an eminent athlete who beat all competitors in the games,
Androgeus was murdered at Athens by Athenian and Megarian conspirators. Paus.
1.27.10 mentions the killing of Androgeus by the Marathonian bull. According to
Hyginus, Fab. 41, Androgeus was killed in battle during the war which his father
Minos waged with the Athenians.
Kylix: Theseus and the Bull of Marathon. Collection: Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Cup. Theseus captures the Bull of Marathon, looping a rope around the bull's horns and feet; the bull is collapsing forwards onto its face. As in the other scenes, Theseus has hung his clothing and sword in a tree, and fights in heroic nudity; his traveler's cap is shown in the field. Collection: Paris, Musee du Louvre
Stamnos: Theseus and the bull. Collection: University Museum, University of Pennsylvania
Cup: In a rocky landscape, Theseus dressed in chitoniskos and fillet with petasos at the back, runs to the right with his club, approaching the bull of Marathon, which is being held back by a satyr. Collection: Paris, Musee du Louvre
Hydria: On the shoulder of the vase, Theseus binds the bull of Marathon. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Stemless cup: The exploits of Theseus. Nude Theseus advancing 3/4-view to the right, leaning back, with his left leg bent and raised, and his weight on his straight right leg, wearing a scabbard band over his right shoulder, wields an axe in his right hand and reaches out his left arm to the right, to restrain the Marathonian bull; the bull is rearing profile to the right, and raises its head and left foreleg; a female figure. Collection: Verona, Museo Archeologico al Teatro romano (Museo Civico)
Attic Red-Figure Bell-Krater Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Edward L. Diefenthal, Metairie, Louisiana
THORIKOS (Ancient city) ATTICA, EAST
Cephalus (Kephalos). The son of Deion, and a grandson of Aeolus, married to Procris, the
eldest daughter of Erechtheus. They dwelt at Thoricos in Attica, and lived happily
together till curiosity to try the fidelity of his wife entered the mind of Cephalus.
Feigning a journey of eight years, he disguised himself and came to Procris with
a splendid jewel, which he offered to her on dishonourable terms. After much hesitation
she yielded, when her husband discovered himself and reproached her with her conduct.
She fled from him in shame, but they were soon after reconciled. Cephalus went
constantly to the chase; and Procris growing suspicious, as she had failed herself,
fancied that he was attracted by the charms of some other fair one. She questioned
the slave who used to accompany him; and he told her that his master used frequently
to ascend the summit of a hill and cry out, "Come, Nephele, come!" Procris
went to the designated hill and concealed herself in a thicket; and on her husband's
crying, "Come, Nephele, come!" (which was nothing more than an invocation
for some cloud, Wephele, to interpose itself between him and the scorching beams
of the sun), she rushed forward towards her husband, who, in his astonishment,
threw his dart and unwittingly killed her. (See Hyg. 189; cf. Ovid, Met. vii.
661 foll.) This legend is told with great variations. Cephalus, for his involuntary
crime, was banished. He went to Thebes, which was at that time ravaged by a fox
which nothing could overtake, and he joined Amphitryon in the chase of it. His
dog Laelaps ran it down; but, just as he was catching it, Zeus turned them both
to stone. Cephalus then aided Amphitryon against the Teleboans, and on their conquest
he settled in the island named from him Cephallenia.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Cephalus and Procris: P. Ovidius Naso, History of Love, by Charles Hopkins
Cephalus, a son of Deion, the ruler of Phocis, and Diomede, was married to Procris or Procne, by whom he become the father of Archius, the father of Laertes. He is described as likewise beloved by Eos (Apollod. i. 9.4; Hygin. Fab. 125; Schol. ad Callim. Hymn. in Dian. 209), but he and Procris were sincerely attached, and promised to remain faithful to each other. Once when the handsome Cephalus was amusing himself with the chase, Eos approached him with loving entreaties, which, however, he rejected. The goddess then bade him not break his vow until Procris had broken hers, but advised him to try her fidelity. She then metamorphosed him into a stranger, and gave him rich presents with which he was to tempt Procris. Procris was induced by the brilliant presents to break the vow she had made to Cephalus, and when she recognized her husband, she fled to Crete and discovered herself to Artemis. The goddess made her a present of a dog and a spear, which were never to miss their object, and then sent her back to Cephalus. Procris returned home in the disguise of a youth, and went out with Cephalus to chase. When he perceived the excellence of her dog and spear, he proposed to buy them of her; but she refused to part with them for any price except for love. When he accordingly promised to love her, she made herself known to him, and he became reconciled to her. As, however, she still feared the love of Eos, she always jealously watched him when he sent out hunting, but on one occasion he killed her by accident with the never-erring spear (Hygin. Fab. 189). Somewhat different versions of the same story are given by Apollodorus (iii. 15.1) and Ovid. (Met. vii. 394). Subsequently Amphitryon of Thebes came to Cephalus, and persuaded him to give up his dog to hunt the fox which was ravaging the Cadmean territory. After doing this he went out with Amphitryon against the Teleboans, upon the conquest of whom he was rewarded by Amphitryon with the island which he called after his own name Cephallenia (Apollod. ii. 4.7; Strab. x.; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 307, &c.). Cephalus is also called the father of Iphiclus by Clymene (Paus. x. 29.2). He is said to have put an end to his life by leaping into the sea from cape Leucas, on which he had built a temple of Apollo, in order to atone for having killed his wife Procris (Strab. x.; comp. Paus. i. 37.4; Hygin. Fab. 48).
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
EKALI (Ancient demos) GRAMMATIKO
Hecale (Hekale). A poor old woman who hospitably received Theseus when
he had gone out to hunt the Marathonian bull, and offered to Zeus a sacrifice
for the safe return of the hero. As she died before his return, Theseus decreed
that the people of the Attic tetrapolis should offer a sacrifice to her and to
Zeus Hecalesius.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Nov 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
But Theseus, desiring to be at work, and at the same time courting the favour
of the people, went out against the Marathonian bull, which was doing no small
mischief to the inhabitants of the Tetrapolis.1 After he had
mastered it, he made a display of driving it alive through the city, and then
sacrificed it to the Delphinian Apollo. Now the story of Hecale and her receiving
and entertaining Theseus on this expedition seems not to be devoid of all truth.
For the people of the townships round about used to assemble and sacrifice the
Hecalesia to Zeus Hecalus, and they paid honors to Hecale, calling her by the
diminutive name of Hecaline, because she too, when entertaining Theseus, in spite
of the fact that he was quite a youth, caressed him as elderly people do, and
called him affectionately by such diminutive names.And since she vowed, when the
hero was going to his battle with the bull, that she would sacrifice to Zeus if
he came back safe, but died before his return, she obtained the above mentioned
honors as a return for her hospitality at the command of Theseus, as Philochorus
has written.
Commentary
1. An early name for a district of Attica comprising Marathon
and three other adjacent townships.
FILAIDES (Ancient demos) MARKOPOULO MESSOGEAS
Philaeus (Philaios), a son of the Telamonian Ajax and Tecmessa, from whom the Attic demos of Philaidae derived its name. (Herod. vi. 35 ; Plut. Sol. 10; Paus. i. 35.2, who calls Philaeus a son of Eurysaces.)
An Athenian, receives Dionysus, and learns winebrewing from him, murdered by drunken shepherds, mourned by his daughter Erigone.
Icarius (Ikarios), also called Icarus and Icarion. An Athenian, who lived in the reign of Pandion, and hospitably received Dionysus on his arrival in Attica. The god showed him his gratitude by teaching him the cultivation of the vine, and giving him bags filled with wine. Icarius now rode about in a chariot, and distributed the precious gifts of the god; but some shepherds whom their friends intoxicated with wine, and who thought that they were poisoned by Icarius, slew him, and threw his body into the well Anygrus, or buried it under a tree. His daughter Erigone (for he was married to Phanothea, the inventor of the hexameter, Clem. Alex. Strom. i.), or as some call her Aletis, after a long search, found his grave, to which she was conducted by his faithful dog Maera. From grief she hung herself on the tree under which he was buried. Zeus or Dionysus placed her, together with Icarius and his cup, among the stars, making Erigone the Virgin, Icarius Bootes or Arcturus, and Maera the dog-star. The god then punished the ungrateful Athenians with a plague or a mania, in which all the Athenian maidens hung themselves as Erigone had done (Comp.Gellius, xv. 10). The oracle, when consulted, answered, that Athens should be delivered from the calamity as soon as Erigone should be propitiated, and her and her father's body should be found. The bodies were not discovered, but a festival called aiora or aletides, was instituted in honour of Erigone, and fruits were offered up as a sacrifice to her and her father. The askoliasmos, or dancing on a leather bag filled with air and smeared with oil, at the festivals of Dionysus, was likewise traced to Icarius, who was said to have killed a ram for having injured the vines, to have made a bag of his skin, and then performed a dance (Hygin. Poet. Astr. ii. 4). Another tradition states that the murderers of Icarius fled to the island of Cos, which was therefore visited by a drought, during which the fields were burned, and epidemics prevailed. Aristaeus prayed to his father, Apollo, for help, and Apollo advised him to propitiate Icarius with many sacrifices, and to beg Zeus to send the winds called Etesiae, which Zeus, in consequence, made blow at the rising of the dog-star for forty days. One of the Attic demi derived its name from Icarius. (Apollod. iii. 14.7; Paus. i. 2.4; Hygin. Fab. 130, Poet. Astr. ii. 4, 25; Serv. ad Virg. Georg. i. 67, 218, ii. 389; Eustath. ad Hom., 1535; Tibull. iv. 1, 9; Propert. ii. 33, 29 ; Ov. Met. vi. 126, x. 451; Pollux, iv. 55; Steph. Byz. s. v. Ikaria; Hesych. s. v. Aiora, Aletis)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited June 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
MARATHON (Ancient demos) ATTICA, EAST
Androgeus. Androgeos. A son of Minos, king of Crete, by Pasiphae. Visiting
Athens at the first celebration of the Panathenaea, he won victories over all
the champions, when King Aegeus, out of jealousy, sent him to fight the bull of
Marathon, which killed him. According to another account he was slain in an ambush.
Minos avenged his son by making the Athenians send seven youths and seven maidens
every nine years as victims of the Minotaur.
More on this article see
Cnosus
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Marathon, the hero eponymus of the Attic town of Marathon. According to some traditions, he was a son of Epopeus; and being driven from Peloponnesus by the violence of his father, he went to Attica. After his father's death, he returned to Peloponnesus, divided his inheritance between his two sons, and then settled in Attica (Paus. ii. 1.1, 15.4, 32,4). According to others, Marathon was an Arcadian, and took part with the Tyndaridae in their expedition against Attica, and in pursuance of an oracle, devoted himself to death before the beginning of the battle (Plut. Thes. 32; comp. Philostr. Vit. Soph. ii. 7).
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited July 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
RAMNOUS (Ancient demos) ATTIKI
A post-Homeric personification of the moral indignation felt at all
derangements of the natural equilibrium of things, whether by extraordinarily
good fortune or by the arrogance usually attendant thereon. According to Hesiod
(Theog. 223) she is the daughter of Night (Nyx), and with Aidos, the goddess of
Modesty, left the earth on the advent of the Iron Age. A legend makes her to have
been by Zeus the mother of Helen and the Dioscuri (Athen. p. 334). As goddess
of due proportion she hates every transgression of the bounds of moderation, and
restores the proper and normal order of things. As, in doing this, she punishes
wanton boastfulness, she is a divinity of chastisement and vengeance. She enjoyed
special honour in the Attic district of Rhamnus (where she was believed to be
the daughter of Oceanus), and is often called the Rhamnusian goddess. Her statue
there (of which fragments were found in 1890) was said to have been executed by
Phidias out of a block of Parian marble which the Persians had brought with them
in presumptuous confidence to Marathon, to erect a trophy of victory there. She
was also called Adrastia, that name appropriate only to the Phrygian Rhea-Cybele,
being interpreted as a Greek word with the meaning, "She whom none can escape".
She was also worshipped at Rome, especially by victorious generals, and was represented
as a meditative, thoughtful maiden with the attributes of proportion and control
(a measuring-rod, a bridle, and a yoke), of punishment (a sword and scourge),
and of swiftness (wings, a wheel, and a chariot drawn by griffins).
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Sep 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Nemesis, is most commonly described as a daughter of Night, though some call her
a daughter of Erebus (Hygin. Fab. praef.) or of Oceanus (Tzetz. ad Lyc. 88; Paus.
i. 33.3, vii. 5.1). Nemesis is a personification of the moral reverence for law,
of the natural fear of committing a culpable action, and hence of conscience,
and for this reason she is mentioned along with Aidos, i. e. Shame (Hes. Theog.
223, Op. et D. 183). In later writers, as Herodotus and Pindar, Nemesis is a kind
of fatal divinity, for she directs human affairs in such a manner as to restore
the right proportions or equilibrium wherever it has been disturbed; she measures
out happiness and unhappiness, and he who is blessed with too many or too frequent
gifts of fortune, is visited by her with losses and sufferings, in order that
he may become humble, and feel that there are bounds beyond which human happiness
cannot proceed with safety. This notion arose from a belief that the gods were
envious of excessive human happiness (Herod. i. 34, iii. 40; Pind. Ol. viii. in
fin., Pytth. x. 67). Nemesis was thus a check upon extravagant favours conferred
upon man by Tyche or Fortune, and from this idea lastly arose that of her being
an avenging and punishing power of fate, who, like Dike and the Erinyes, sooner
or later overtakes the reckless sinner (Apollon. Rhod. iv. 1043; Sophocl. Philoct.
518; Eurip. Orest. 1362; Catull. 50, in fin.; Orph. Hymn. 60).
The inhabitants of Smyrna worshipped two Nemeses, both of whom were
daughters of Night (Paus. vii. 5.1). She is frequently mentioned under the surnames
Adrasteia and Rhamnusia or Rhamnusis, the latter of which she derived from the
town of Rhamnus in Attica, where she had a celebrated sanctuary. Besides the places
already mentioned she was worshipped at Patrae and at Cyzicus. She was usually
represented in works of art as a virgin divinity, and in the more ancient works
she seems to have resembled Aphrodite, whereas in the later ones she was more
grave and serious, and had numerous attributes. But there is an allegorical tradition
that Zeus begot by Nemesis at Rhamnus an egg, which Leda found, and from which
Helena and the Dioscuri sprang, whence Helena herself is called Rhamnusis (Callim.
Hymnn. in Dian. 232; Paus. i. 33.7). On the pedestal of the Rhamnusian Nemesis,
Leda was represented leading Helena to Nemesis (Paus. l. c.) Respecting the resemblance
between her statue and that of Aphrodite, see Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 4; comp. Paus.
i. 33.2; Strab. The Rhamnusian statue bore in its left hand a branch of an apple
tree, in its right hand a patera, and on its head a crown, adorned with stags
and an image of victory. Sometimes she appears in a pensive standing attitude,
holding in her left hand a bridle or a branch of an ash tree, and in her right
a wheel, with a sword or a scourge.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Aug 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
SOUNIO (Cape) ATTIKI
Son of Onetor, pilot of Menelaus, dies at Sunium
VRAVRON (Ancient city) ATTICA, EAST
Brauronia, a surname of Artemis, derived from the demos of Brauron in Attica. Under this name the goddess had a sanctuary on the Acropolis of Athens, which contained a statue of her made by Praxiteles. Her image at Brauron, however, was believed to be the most ancient, and the one which Orestes and Iphigeneia had brought with them from Tauris. (Paus. i. 23. 8)
Artemis Orthia. (Orthias, or Orthosia) a surname of the Artemis who is also called Iphigeneia or Lygodesma, and must be regarded as the goddess of the moon. Her worship was probably brought to Sparta from Lemnos. It was at the altar of Artemis Orthia that Spartan boys had to undergo the diamastigosis (Schol. ad Pind. Ol. iii. 54 ; Herod. iv. 87; Xenoph. de Rep. Lac. ii. 10). She also had temples at Brauron, in the Cerameicus at Athens, in Elis, and on the coast of Byzantium. The ancients derived her surname from mount Orthosium or Orthium in Arcadia.
Artemis Tavrike, " the Taurian goddess," commonly called Artemis. Her image was believed to have been carried from Tauris by Orestes and Iphigenia, and to have been conveyed to Brauron, Sparta, or Aricia. The worship of this Taurian goddess, who was identified with Artemis and Iphigenia, was carried on with or-giastic rites and human sacrifices, and seems to have been very ancient in Greece. (Paus. iii. 16.6; Herod. iv. 103)
Pausanias (1.35.2) makes Philaeus the son of Eurysaces, the only son of Ajax recognized by Sophocles, but Plutarch (Solon 10), with Herodotus, Hellanicus, and Pherecydes, regards him as the son of Ajax. Further, he makes the brothers, Philaeus and Eurysaces, surrender Salamis to Athens, Philaeus settling in Brauron, where the deme Philaidae lay
Artemis. The Taurian Artemis. The legends of this goddess are mystical, and her worship was orgiastic and connected, at least in early times, with human sacrifices. According to the Greek legend there was in Tauris a goddess, whom the Greeks for some reason identified with their own Artemis. and to whom all strangers that were thrown on the coast of Tauris, were sacrificed (Eurip. Iph. Taur. 36). Iphigeneia and Orestes brought her image from thence, and landed at Brauron in Attica, whence the goddess derived the name of Brauronia (Paus. i. 23.9, 33.1, iii. 16, in fin.). The Brauronian Artemis was worshipped at Athens and Sparta, and in the latter place the boys were scourged at her altar in such a manner that it became sprinkled with their blood. This cruel ceremony was believed to have been introduced by Lycurgus, instead of the human sacrifices which had until then been offered to her (Dict. of Ant. s. v. Brauronia and Diamastigosis). Her name at Sparta was Orthia, with reference to the phallus, or because her statue stood erect. According to another tradition, Orestes and Iphigeneia concealed the image of the Taurian goddess in a bundle of brushwood, and carried it to Aricia in Latium.Iphigeneia, who was at first to have been sacrificed to Artemis, and then became her priestess, was afterwards identified with the goddess (Herod. iv. 103; Paus. i. 43.1), who was worshipped in some parts of Greece, as at Hermione, under the name of Iphigeneia (Paus. ii. 35.1). Some traditions stated, that Artemis made Iphigeneia immortal, in the character of Hecate, the goddess of the moon. A kindred divinity, if not the same as the Taurian Artemis, is Artemis tauropolos, whose worship was connected with bloody sacrifices, and who produced madness in the minds of men, at least the chorus in the Ajax of Sophocles, describes the madness of Ajax as the work of this divinity. In the legends about the Taurian Artemis, it seems that separate local traditions of Greece are mixed up with the legends of some Asiatic divinity, whose symbol in the heaven was the moon, and on the earth the cow.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited June 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Image brought from Tauric land to Brauron by Iphigenia.
Brauron, an ancient hero, from whom the Attic demos of Brauron derived its name. (Steph. Byz. s. v.)
MARATHON (Ancient demos) ATTICA, EAST
Corinthus, son of Marathon or Zeus, gives his name to Corinth
Macaria. The daughter of Heracles and Deianira. When Eurystheus, after the death of Heracles, made war upon the Heraclidae and their allies, the Athenians, an oracle declared that the descendants of Heracles would be victorious if one of them should devote himself to death. This lot Macaria voluntarily accepted, and the oracle was fulfilled in the success of the Athenians by whom Macaria was therefore held in great honour. A fountain at Marathon was called by her name.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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