Halae Araphenides or Halai Araphenides ( grc, Ἁλαὶ Ἀραφηνίδες, Halái Araphenídes) was a

deme In Ancient Greece, a deme or ( grc, δῆμος, plural: demoi, δημοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Athens and other city-states. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside seem to have existed in the 6th century BC and ear ...

of ancient Attica, situated on its eastern coast between

Brauron Brauron (; grc, Βραυρών) was one of the twelve cities of ancient Attica, but never mentioned as a ''deme'', though it continued to exist down to the latest times. It was situated on or near the eastern coast of Attica, between Steiria and H ...

and

Araphen Araphen ( grc, Ἀραφήν, Araphén) was the name of a deme of ancient Athens, situated on the eastern coast to the north of Brauron and Halae Araphenides, on the west of the current village of Rafina, located near the mouth of the river of the ...

, and was the harbour of Brauron, whence persons crossed over to Marmarium in

Euboea Evia (, ; el, Εύβοια ; grc, Εὔβοια ) or Euboia (, ) is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by the narrow Euripus Strait (only at its narrowest poin ...

Etymology

The deme draws the first part of its name from the saltiness along the coast, while the second part was introduced to distinguish it from the deme of Halae Aexonides.

History

Halae was mentioned by

Euripides Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful e ...

as close to the chain of

Karystia Karystia was one of the provinces of the Euboea Prefecture, Greece. Its territory corresponded with that of the current municipalities Karystos, Kymi-Aliveri, and Skyros Skyros ( el, Σκύρος, ), in some historical contexts Latinized Scyr ...

. In this place was conserved a statue of

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...

Tauria brought from Tauris by

Iphigenia In Greek mythology, Iphigenia (; grc, Ἰφιγένεια, , ) was a daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra, and thus a princess of Mycenae. In the story, Agamemnon offends the goddess Artemis on his way to the Trojan War by hunting ...

and

Orestes In Greek mythology, Orestes or Orestis (; grc-gre, Ὀρέστης ) was the son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon, and the brother of Electra. He is the subject of several Ancient Greek plays and of various myths connected with his madness and ...

. In the deme, expiatory rites were held which consisted of withdrawing drops of blood from the throat of a man by means of a knife; furthermore, they had midnight feasts and Pyrrhic dances. Its port was also used by citizens of a Brauron and for the marble quarries of

Karystos Karystos ( el, Κάρυστος) or Carystus is a small coastal town on the Greece, Greek island of Euboea. It has about 5,000 inhabitants (12,000 in the municipality). It lies 129 km south of Chalkis. From Athens it is accessible by ferry ...

, near the island of

, being the closest port of Attica.

Location

The site of Halae Araphenides is located near modern

Artemida, Attica Artemida ( el, Αρτέμιδα, until 1977 ''Loutsa'', el, Λούτσα) is an Eastern suburb of Athens. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Spata-Artemida, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit ha ...

(formerly, Loutsa).

Notes

Bibliography

;Primary sources *
here
;Secondary sources * *

External links

Halai Araphenides
Populated places in ancient Attica Former populated places in Greece Demoi {{AncientAttica-geo-stub