RECONSTRUCTING SPARTA · PAUS. 3.16.7–3.16.11

The Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia (Limnaion)

ANCIENT TESTIMONY · PAUSANIAS 3.16.7–3.16.11The place called Limnaion was sacred to Artemis Orthia; Pausanias records the story that the wooden image was the one Orestes and Iphigeneia brought from the Taurians, and that the people of Limnai, Kynosoura, Mesoa and Pitane quarrelled at its altar (3.16.7–9). He describes the scourging of youths at the altar (3.16.10–11).

EXCAVATED EVIDENCEExcavated by the British School at Athens, 1906–1910 (R. M. Dawkins, ed., The Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia at Sparta, 1929). More than 100,000 lead votive figurines were recovered (National Museums Liverpool; Wace) and at least 603 terracotta masks, counted by noses (The Votives Project). Inscriptions reused in the Roman amphitheatre identified the sanctuary.

CONJECTUREThe Roman-era amphitheatre built over the altar area is excavated fact; the appearance of the Archaic temple is reconstructed only in outline.

The Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia (Limnaion) — **EVIDENCE**Plan of the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia in Sparta, after the excavations conducted by the British School in Athens from 1906 to 1910. Photo: Richard MacGillivray Dawkins (1871–1955), based on surveys by Walter Sykes George, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

RECONSTRUCTION TO COME

Reconstruction slot. Will show an openly licensed drawing, or a new one, clearly labelled.