Aulis
- a seaport town in Boeotia, from which the Grecian fleet set sail for Troy, Verg. A. 4, 426: Aulin (acc.), Luc. 5, 236.
AULIS(Αὐλίς: Eth. Αὐλιδεύςfem. Αὐλιδις), a town of Boeotia, situated on the Euripus, and celebrated as the place at which the Grecian fleet assembled, when they were about to sail against Troy. Strabo says that the harbour of Aulis could only hold fifty ships, and that therefore the Grecian fleet must have assembled in the large port in the neighbourhood, called Βαθὺς λιμὴν. (Strab. 9. p. 403.) Livy states (45.27) that Aulis was distant three miles from Chalcis. Aulis appears to have stood upon a rocky height, since it is called by Homer (Hom. Il. 2.303) Αὐλὶς πετρήεσσα, and by Strabo (l. c.) πετρῶδες χωρίον.These statements agree with the position assigned to Aulis by modern travellers. About three miles south of Chaletis on the Boeotian coast are two bays separated from each other by a rocky peninsula; the northern is small and winding, the southern spreads out at the end of a channel into a large circular basin. The latter harbour, as well as a village situated a mile to the southward of it, is called Vathý, a name evidently derived from Βαθὺς λιμὴν. (Leake.) We may therefore conclude that Aulis was situated on the rocky peninsula between these two bays.
Aulis was in the territory of Tanagra. It is called a κώμηby Strabo. In the time of Pausanias it had only a few inhabitants, who were potters. Its temple of Artemis, which Agamemnon is said to have founded, was still standing when Pausanias visited the place. (Dicaearch. 88; Paus. 9.19.6, seq.; Plin. Nat. 4.7. s. 12; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. 2. p. 262, seq.; Wordsworth, Athens and Attica, p. 4, seq.)
(Αὐλίς). A harbour in Boeotia on the Euripus, where the Greek forces assembled before sailing for Troy. See Iphigenia; Trojan War.
Situated on the Boiotian shore of the Euripos, between the bay of Mikro Vathy to the N and the bay and village of Vathy to the S. According to legend it was here that the Greek fleet gathered before setting sail for Troy and awaited the favorable winds that Againeinnon obtained by sacrificing his daughter Iphigenia to Arteinis (Eur., Iphigeneia at Aulis). Remains of a Mycenaean settlement have been located on the rocky Yeladhovouni promontory separating the two bays. Never a city, Aulis was part of the Theban districts up to 387 B.C., then of the territory of Tanagra. Agelisaus, king of Sparta, the “new Agamemnon,” sacrificed here before setting off for Asia in 397 B.C. Aulis depended for its livelihood on the sanctuary, its potters' workshops, and fishing.
The Sanctuary of Artemis Aulideia was excavated from 1955 to 1961 by I. Threpsiadis. Open to the SE, the temple is built on the oblong archaic plan (31 x 9.70 m). In front of the two columns in antis of the 5th c. temple a prostoon of four Doric columns was added in the Hellenistic period. Inside the sekos were two rows of four columns; in the rear a double door, whose marble threshold has been preserved, led to the adyton; two statues of Arteinis and Apollo flanked the doorway, and in front of the N statue was a round altar for libations, with a drain. A large base found in the sekos may have been used to support the 1000-year-old plane tree mentioned by Pausanias (9.19.7). Inside the adyton, which measured 3.70 x 7.55 m, was the offering table, part of which has been recovered, along with a triangular tripod base and two round altars. Underneath the pronaos were found the remains of a circular building assumed to date from the 8th c. B.C. In Roman times all the columns were replaced; later the prostoon was incorporated into some small therinae covering part of the sekos.
In front of the temple a square fountain was excavated which measured 1.8 m square inside; six steps led down inside it. Close by are the remains of an altar. SW of the temple were found two or three potters' establishments, with a store of clay and a kiln. A large hostelry for pilgrims was immediately to the S.
BIBLIOGRAPHYI. Threpsiadis in Praktika (1956) 94-104; in Ergon (1956-61); “Chronique des Fouilles,” BCH (1956-62); E. Kirsten & W. Kraiker, Griechenlandkunde 5(1967) 183-84P; N. Papahadjis, Pausaniou Hellados Periegesis V (1969) 109-16MPI; R. Hope Simpson & J. F. Lazenby, The Catalogue of the Ships in Homer's Iliad (1970) 19; S. C. Bakhuizen, Salganeus and the Fortifications on its Mountains (1970) 96-100, 152-56MI.
P. ROESCH- Paus. 9.19.6-8
- Greek armament assembles at: Apollod. E.3.10, Paus. 1.35.3
- Greek fleet detained at: Paus. 8.28.4
- prodigy at: Paus. 10.26.3
- portent of the serpent and the sparrows at: Apollod. E.3.13
- Greeks reassemble at, after eight years: Apollod. E.3.18
- Agamemnon sacrifices to Artemis at: Paus. 3.9.3
- Agesilaus attempts to do the same: Paus. 3.9.3, 10
- all victims lawful at: Paus. 9.19.7
- palm-trees: Paus. 9.19.8
- potters: Paus. 9.19.8
- Paus. 9.19.6
- Syleus in: Apollod. 2.6.2