Sanctuary of Artemis at Aulis: Where the Greek Fleet Sailed for Troy

The Story of the Sanctuary of Artemis at Aulis

Few places in Greece are tied to such a dramatic moment of myth as Aulis. On the shore of Boeotia, facing the island of Euboea across a narrow strait, the Greeks of legend gathered their great fleet before sailing against Troy. Homer's Iliad lists the ships and leaders who came together here, and the story of what happened at Aulis became one of the most powerful tragedies in Greek literature.

Homer tells of a strange omen at Aulis. As the Greek leaders were offering sacrifices beneath a plane tree, a serpent slid up the tree and devoured eight young sparrows and their mother. The prophet Calchas explained that the nine birds meant the war would last nine years, and Troy would fall in the tenth. The travel writer Pausanias, visiting centuries later, reported that the remains of that plane tree were still preserved in the temple.

The darker legend involves Artemis. The fleet could not sail, because the goddess had stopped the winds. In the best known versions, King Agamemnon, the leader of the expedition, had offended her, and Calchas declared that only the sacrifice of Agamemnon's daughter Iphigenia would bring back the wind. The girl was lured to Aulis with the promise of marriage to Achilles. In some versions she was killed. In others, Artemis took pity at the last moment, replaced her with a deer on the altar and carried her away.

The story inspired the playwright Euripides to write Iphigenia at Aulis, one of his last plays, performed after his death. It explores the agony of a father torn between his family and his army, and the courage of a girl who finally accepts her fate. The myth also echoes through the rest of the Trojan cycle, since Agamemnon's wife Clytemnestra never forgave him and murdered him on his return from Troy.

The remains of the temple of Artemis were discovered in the 1950s and excavated by Greek archaeologists. The temple was built in the classical period and was repaired and altered in Roman times. Statues and inscriptions found at the site show that the goddess continued to be honored at Aulis for many centuries. Nearby, archaeologists also found remains of buildings for pilgrims and a spring, which Pausanias also mentioned.

Modern Aulis, called Avlida, has a very different look. It lies close to the industrial outskirts of Chalkida, and the sanctuary sits near modern roads and factories. Yet the strait is still there, with its famously changeable currents, and standing at the ruins it is easy to picture the beach crowded with ships waiting for a wind that would not blow.

Today the Sanctuary of Artemis at Aulis is a small site that will appeal mostly to lovers of myth and history. You can see the foundations of the temple and the surrounding buildings. Combine your visit with a trip to Chalkida, where the old bridge spans the narrow Euripus Strait, and watch the strange currents that change direction several times a day, just as they did when the Greek fleet waited here for its fateful voyage to Troy.