Listed 5 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "AVLIS Ancient city STEREA HELLAS" .
AVLIS (Ancient city) STEREA HELLAS
Eth. Aulideus fem. Aulidis. A town of Boeotia, situated on the Euripus,
and celebrated as the place at which the Grecian fleet assembled, when they were
about to sail against Troy. Strabo says that the harbour of Aulis could only hold
fifty ships, and that therefore the Grecian fleet must have assembled in the large
port in the neighbourhood, called Bathus limen. (Strab. ix. p. 403.) Livy states
(xlv. 27) that Aulis was distant three miles from Chalcis. Aulis appears to have
stood upon a rocky height, since it is called by Homer (Il. ii. 303) Aulis petreessa,
and by Strabo petrodes chorion. These statements agree with the position assigned
to Aulis by modern travellers. About three miles south of Chaletis on the Boeotian
coast are two bays separated from each other by a rocky peninsula; the northern
is small and winding, the southern spreads out at the end of a channel into a
large circular basin. The latter harbour, as well as a village situated a mile
to the southward of it, is called Vathy, a name evidently derived from Bathus
limen. (Leake.) We may therefore conclude that Aulis was situated on the rocky
peninsula between these two bays.
Aulis was in the territory of Tanagra. It is called a kome by Strabo.
In the time of Pausanias it had only a few inhabitants, who were potters. Its
temple of Artemis, which Agamemnon is said to have founded, was still standing
when Pausanias visited the place. (Dicaearch. 88; Paus. ix. 19. § 6, seq.; Plin.
iv. 7. s. 12)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited May 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
A harbour in Boeotia on the Euripus, where the Greek forces assembled before sailing for Troy.
City of Boeotia
along the shore facing Euboea.
Aulis is the location where the Greek fleet gathered under the leadership
of Agamemnon to undertake the expedition against Troy,
and where Agamemnon had to sacrifice his own daughter Iphigenia to the goddess
Artemis to put an end to the lack of wind that was holding the fleet there.
Bernard Suzanne (page last updated 1998), ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Plato and his dialogues URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
Situated on the Boiotian shore of the Euripos, between the bay of
Mikro Vathy to the N and the bay and village of Vathy to the S. According to legend
it was here that the Greek fleet gathered before setting sail for Troy and awaited
the favorable winds that Againeinnon obtained by sacrificing his daughter Iphigenia
to Arteinis (Eur., Iphigeneia at Aulis). Remains of a Mycenaean settlement have
been located on the rocky Yeladhovouni promontory separating the two bays. Never
a city, Aulis was part of the Theban districts up to 387 B.C., then of the territory
of Tanagra. Agelisaus, king of Sparta, the new Agamemnon, sacrificed here before
setting off for Asia in 397 B.C. Aulis depended for its livelihood on the sanctuary,
its potters' workshops, and fishing.
The Sanctuary of Artemis Aulideia was excavated from 1955 to 1961
by I. Threpsiadis. Open to the SE, the temple is built on the oblong archaic plan
(31 x 9.70 m). In front of the two columns in antis of the 5th c. temple a prostoon
of four Doric columns was added in the Hellenistic period. Inside the sekos were
two rows of four columns; in the rear a double door, whose marble threshold has
been preserved, led to the adyton; two statues of Arteinis and Apollo flanked
the doorway, and in front of the N statue was a round altar for libations, with
a drain. A large base found in the sekos may have been used to support the 1000-year-old
plane tree mentioned by Pausanias (9.19.7). Inside the adyton, which measured
3.70 x 7.55 m, was the offering table, part of which has been recovered, along
with a triangular tripod base and two round altars. Underneath the pronaos were
found the remains of a circular building assumed to date from the 8th c. B.C.
In Roman times all the columns were replaced; later the prostoon was incorporated
into some small therinae covering part of the sekos.
In front of the temple a square fountain was excavated which measured
1.8 m square inside; six steps led down inside it. Close by are the remains of
an altar. SW of the temple were found two or three potters' establishments, with
a store of clay and a kiln. A large hostelry for pilgrims was immediately to the
S.
P. Roesch, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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