Aulis

Aulis was an important and much visited religious center in ancient times. This small town from the area of ​​Tanagra was located exactly between the two ports of Big  and Small Deep in Tanagra.

The important temple dedicated to Artemis was uncovered in archaeological excavations in 1956. The original temple dates from the 5th century B.C., but was renewed in the Roman period. In the 4th century A.D. it was destroyed during the raids of the Goths. A bathhouse was built in the middle of the remains, dating from the late Roman period. To the east of the temple, across the road, is the so-called Well, an underground quadrilateral structure. Next to the entrance was an altar, and a small square courtyard, possibly the spot of a plane tree, already described by Homeros. To the southwest of the temple was a large building complex, which served as a hotel for visitors to the sanctuary.

The sanctuary owes its fame mainly to the fact that in mythology it was the gathering point for the fleet of Agamemnon. He also sacrificed his daughter Iphigeneia to Artemis here, in order to obtain a favorable wind for his fleet.

 

Above; the map of the sanctuary (exhibited on the site), with the hotel at the bottom left, in the center the temple itself and to the right of the (modern) road the Well. Right: the Well.