View source for Agrotera

{{short description|Ancient Greek mythological epithet}}
{{for|the genus of moths|Agrotera (moth)}}
'''Agrotera''' ({{langx|grc|Ἀγροτέρα}}, "the huntress")<ref>{{LSJ|a)gro/teros|ἀγροτέρα|ref}}.</ref> was an [[epithet]] of the [[Greek mythology|Greek goddess]] [[Artemis]],<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' xxi. 471</ref><ref>[[Xenophon]], ''Cynegeticus'' 6.13</ref><ref>[[Bacchylides]], 11.37-42</ref> the most important goddess to [[Attica|Attic]] hunters.<ref name="poly"/>

At [[Agrae]]<ref>A town or district in the southeast of ancient [[Athens]] proper; the exact place where the temple once stood is located at the [[Mets, Athens|Mets neighbourhood]] of modern Athens, delimited by the Ardittou, Koutoula, Kephalou (or Meletiou Piga) and Thomopoulou streets ({{Coord|37.967564|N|23.735290|E|display=inline}}).</ref> on the [[Ilissos]], where she was believed to have first hunted after her arrival from [[Delos]], Artemis Agrotera had a temple, dating to the 5th century BC, with a statue carrying a bow.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' i. 19. § 7</ref>  During the [[Boedromia]], on the seventh day of [[Boedromion]] (roughly, the beginning of September), an armed procession would take 600 goats to this temple,<ref>[[Plutarch]], ''On the Malice of Herodotus'' 26, 862a</ref><ref>[[Aristophanes]], in ''[[The Knights]]'', places the number of sacrificed goats at 1000, while [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]] records it as 300</ref> where they would all be sacrificed by the [[polemarch]] in honor of the victory at the [[Battle of Marathon]].  This rite derived from a vow made before the Battle of Marathon,<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Agroteras Thusia|volume=1|page=427|noicon=y}}</ref> which in turn derived from the custom of making a "slaughter sacrifice", or ''sphagion'' ({{lang|grc|σφάγιον}}), to Artemis Agrotera before a battle.  The temple was destroyed in 1778,<ref name="poly">{{cite book  | last = Parker  | first = Robert  | title = Polytheism and Society in Athens  | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]  | year = 2005 | pages = 56, 178, 400, 419  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=EkXh9roRTC0C  | isbn = 0-19-921611-8}}</ref> when the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] forces occupying Athens set about demolishing ancient sites for building material to construct a wall around the city.<ref>{{cite news|last=Petropoulos |first=Thrasy |title=Demolition begins on priceless site |pages=A05 |publisher=[[Athens News]] |date=2006-01-12 |url=http://www.athensnews.gr/athweb/nathens.print_unique?e=C&f=13211&m=A05&aa=1&eidos=S |accessdate=2008-06-05 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080613173820/http://www.athensnews.gr/athweb/nathens.print_unique?e=C&f=13211&m=A05&aa=1&eidos=S |archivedate=2008-06-13 }}</ref>  The ruins of the temple survive today on Ardettou Street, tightly surrounded by modern buildings.  There is an ongoing campaign for the expropriation of adjacent buildings and the restoration of the temple.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.artemisagrotera.org/en |title=The sacred site of the temple of Artemis - an endangered Site! |accessdate=2008-06-06 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080610025926/http://www.artemisagrotera.org/en/ |archivedate=2008-06-10 }}</ref>

Under this name Agrotera was also worshiped at [[Aigeira]],<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' vii. 26. § 2</ref> [[Sparta]], and elsewhere.<ref>[[Xenophon]], ''[[Hellenica (Xenophon)|Hellenica]]'' iv. 2. 20</ref>  The name Agrotera is synonymous with the epithet [[Agraea]], but [[Eustathius of Thessalonica|Eustathius]] derives it from the town of Agrae.<ref>[[Eustathius of Thessalonica|Eustathius]], ''On the Iliad'' p. 361</ref><ref>Concerning the worship of Artemis Agrotera at [[Athens]], see ''Dict. of Ant. s.v.'' {{lang|grc|Ἀγροτέρας θυσία}}, p. 31.</ref><ref name="DGRBM">{{Cite book  | last = Schmitz  | first = Leonhard  | contribution = Agrotera  | editor-last = Smith  | editor-first = William  | title = [[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]  | volume = 1  | pages = 83  | publisher = [[Little, Brown and Company]]  | place = Boston  | year = 1867  | contribution-url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0092.html  | access-date = 2008-06-06  | archive-date = 2011-05-14  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110514041631/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0092.html  | url-status = dead  }}</ref>

The epithet Agrotera was also sometimes applied to the [[nymph]] [[Cyrene (mythology)|Cyrene]].<ref>[[Pindar]], ''Pythian Odes'' 9.6</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080610025926/http://www.artemisagrotera.org/en/ ArtemisAgrotera.org] - information on the archaeological site of the temple of Artemis Agrotera

{{SmithDGRBM|title= Agrotera}}

[[Category:Epithets of Artemis]]
[[Category:Religion in ancient Athens]]
[[Category:Religion in ancient Sparta]]
[[Category:Battle of Marathon]]
[[Category:Greek animal sacrifice]]