ARAPHEN
(Raphina) Attica, Greece.
Because the small ancient community was topographically
associated with Halai Araphenides, now securely placed
in the environs of Loutsa, it is thus certain that Araphen
was on, or near, the E coast of Attika, and therefore
reasonable to assume that the modern port of Raphina
has inherited not only the name of the site, but also
its general location. A prehistoric settlement has been
excavated 2 km to the S at Asketario, a promontory
particularly rich in material from the Early Bronze Age,
which emphasizes the close connection at that time between B Attica and the Cyclades. The place of the
Classical deme, however, can no longer be studied, since
modern development has resulted in the loss of all
traces of the historic remains reported by explorers in
the 19th c. These vestiges were centered for the most
part a little more than 1 km from the shore within the
valley of the Megalo Revma on its N side, but a few
were also noticed at the mouth of the river itselt Among
these traces of the Classical settlement were the foundations of a structure sufficiently large that it was reported
to be either a temple or a public building.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. Milchöfer,
Karten von Attika. Erläuternder Text 3-6 (1889) 39; id., “Araphen,”
RE
(1896) II 379; D. Theochares,
Ἀνασκαφαὶ ἐν Ἀραφῆνι,
Praktika (1951) 77.
C.W.J. ELIOT
