Prasiae or Prasiai ( grc, Πρασίαι) 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 on the east coast, between Potamus and Steiria, with an excellent harbour, from which the Theoria or sacred procession used to sail. Here was a temple of

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

, and also the tomb of

Erysichthon of Attica In Greek mythology, Erysichthon (Ancient Greek: Ἐρυσίχθων), also spelled Erisichthon (lit. 'Earth-tearer') was an Athenian prince as the son of King Cecrops I of Athens and Agraulus, daughter of King Actaeus. His possible sibling were A ...

, who died at this place on his return from

Delos The island of Delos (; el, Δήλος ; Attic: , Doric: ), near Mykonos, near the centre of the Cyclades archipelago, is one of the most important mythological, historical, and archaeological sites in Greece. The excavations in the island are ...

. The ruins of the deme are seen on the north-east side of the bay. The harbour, now called Porto Rafti, is the best on the eastern coast of Attica, and is both deep and capacious. The entrance of the harbour is more than a mile in breadth; and in the centre of the entrance there is a rocky islet, upon which is a colossal statue of white marble, from which the harbour has derived its modem name, since it is commonly supposed to bear some resemblance to a tailor (ῥάφτης) at work. The statue evidently belongs to the

Roman period The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

, and probably to the first or second century after the Christian era. In the middle of the bay there is a rocky promontory with ruins of the middle ages upon it, which promontory

Ludwig Ross Ludwig Ross (22 July 1806, Bornhöved – 6 August 1859, Halle an der Saale) was a German classical archaeologist. He is chiefly remembered for the rediscovery and reconstruction of the Temple of Athena Nike in 1835–1836, and for his other e ...

supposes to be the

Coroneia Koroneia ( el, Κορώνεια, before 1915: Κουτουμουλάς - ''Koutoumoulas'') is a village and a former municipality in Boeotia, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Livadeia, of which it is a ...

Stephanus of Byzantium Stephanus or Stephan of Byzantium ( la, Stephanus Byzantinus; grc-gre, Στέφανος Βυζάντιος, ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD), was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethni ...

References

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