Temple of Artemis in Brauron, Ancient temple ruins in Markopoulo Mesogaias, Greece

The Temple of Artemis in Brauron is a 5th-century BC Doric sanctuary built over an underground stream of the Erasinos river. Today only the temple foundations and the fluted columns of the sanctuary's Doric stoa remain, including two tall columns joined by a reddish-brown and grey stone lintel.

The Doric temple was built in the 5th century BC over an underground stream of the Erasinos. Peisistratos, whose family came from Brauron, had already founded a Brauroneion on the Acropolis in the 6th century BC. Excavations led by Ioannis Papadimitriou began in 1948 and uncovered the temple foundations and the columns of the Doric stoa.

At the Brauronia festival, girls aged five to ten called arktoi, "bears", served Artemis at the sanctuary for a set period. Their mothers had promised them to the goddess before birth for a safe delivery. The girls, naked or in saffron robes with wreaths, danced around the altar until maturity.

The sanctuary lies at the foot of a hill beside the Erasinos riverbed, about 30 km east of Athens, reachable by car or regular buses from the city. Excavations begun in 1948 under Ioannis Papadimitriou uncovered the temple foundations and the columns of the Doric stoa; the finds are kept in the site museum. Ground is open and uneven, so allow time for both the ruins and the collection.

The temple stood above an underground stream of the Erasinos river, where water rises to the surface. The sanctuary's oldest finds show it was still in use in the 9th century AD, long after the classical temple was built.