Abstract

The archaeological evidence furnished by excavations at Brauron provides substantial information about the cult of Artemis where young women underwent initiation before marriage, but the nature of the relationship between the cult at Brauron and the stoa of Artemis on the Athenian Akropolis needs to be explored. In 1963 Edmonson proposed that the stoa of Artemis on the Athenian Akropolis replaced the sanctuary at Brauron when it went out of use in the 3rd century B.C. This paper suggests that the Athenian stoa of Artemis was never intended to replace the Brauron cult, instead it functioned as an urban complement to the rural cult. Following the outbreaks of plague in Athens in the 420s, the initiations at Brauron acted as a rite of passage for elite young Athenian women and guaranteed their social standing through marriage among Athenian aristocratic families. I also propose that the stoa of Artemis on the Akropolis never served a specifically ritual function, but instead was used to house votives and lists of dedications from Brauron. Archaeological evidence suggests that the stoa probably predated the Chalkotheke, which functioned in a similar way. This interpretation emphasizes the diverse roles played by buildings on the Akropolis during the Classical period.