Temple of Artemis in Vavrona flooded

To anyone who lives in Greece or who has kept an eye on the happenings there, it can't come as a surprise but Greece is experiencing a bout of very, very bad weather. Huge storms and floods are wreaking havoc and destruction. The most recent victim: the temple of Artemis in Vavrona.

This temple was sacred to the Goddess Artemis in her manifestation as protectress of mothers, mothers to be, and those seeking to become mothers. Supplicants dedicated offerings to the goddess such as clothing, mirrors and jewellery hoping to become pregnant and gain easy births or votive offerings of thanks. The site is also associated with Iphigeneia, daughter of Agamemnon, a priestess of Artemis. Legend recounts that Iphigenia introduced the worship of Artemis to Greece upon her return from Tauris with her brother Orestes. They carried with them a xoanon, a sacred image of Artemis, which they had stolen from the local Temple in Tauris.

After several hours of non stop torrential rain and within a few hours, the temple, dedicated to goddess Artemis, was turned into a lake as the muddy water covered the entire area. Mud and water covered the ancient temple’s marble columns, while indicative of the amount of water that fell during the last 24 hours in the Attica region is that, based on meteorological data, almost 1/7 of the entire year’s rainfall occurred in the last few days. Four stations of the National Observatory in Euboea (Zarakes, Setta, Steni and Styra) recorded more than 80mm of rain each, meaning that some 80 tons of water fell within an acre.

It should be noted that the extreme rainfall throughout the country and especially in northern Greece, and particularly in Thrace, has caused the flooding of Evros river. The residents of Ormenio village were in danger after a nearby Evros river levee broke and the village has been evacuated.