ARTEMISION
Euboia, Greece.
A promontory
on the NW coast, named for the Sanctuary of Artemis
Proseoia. The first encounter between the Greek and
Persian fleets took place offshore in July 480 B.C. Although Pliny lists it among the cities of Euboia, Herodotos and Plutarch mention only the temple; it seems probable that the region took on the name because of the
importance of the sanctuary. The site was identified by
Lolling at Haghios Georgios near Potaki on the Bay of
Pevki. It lies to the W of Gouves on an isolated spur
of the hills which limit the small coastal plain of Kurbatsi, and is now marked by the ruins of a 6th c. Byzantine
complex. These were cleared by excavators, digging
several trenches. They reported numerous ancient blocks,
column drums, stele bases, and terracottas ranging from
an early painted sima to a Roman acanthus leaf fragment, but failed to find the location of the temple itself.
Lolling concluded that the Byzantine building, of which
he excavated only one room, must have followed the
foundations of the Classical period. Other building
blocks indicated the site of a settlement on the higher
slope to the S.
The well-known bronze statue of Poseidon, now in the
National Museum at Athens, was found off Cape Artemision itself, an arm in 1926, the rest in 1928.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hdt. 7.175f; Plut.
Them. 8;
Plin.
4.12.64; H. G. Lolling,
AM 8-9 (1883) 7f
M, 200ff
P. Sculpture:
AJA 33 (1928) 141.
M. H. MCALLISTER
