Brauron is located in eastern Attica.It was supposedly one of the 12 ancient cities of Attica prior to the synoikismos of Theseus, during which all of these communities were unified with Athens. In the historical period, Brauron was best known as the site of a sanctuary of Artemis, part of which has been excavated. To judge from the numerous votive offerings, the sanctuary seems to have been founded in the 9th or 8th century. The early cult may have focused on a sacred spring and on a cave. The first stone temple to Artemis is thought to date to the 6th century B.C. (A subsidiary shrine ["branch campus"?] of Artemis Brauronia may have been established on the Acropolis of Athens in the 6th century by Peisistratos or his sons). Most of the buildings on the site today date from the 5th century, and include a stone bridge and an elaborate stoa with dining rooms. The Temple of Artemis was also probably rebuilt in the 5th century. Numerous votive reliefs and statues were dedicated in the sanctuary in the late 5th and 4th centuries. An inscription dated to the 3rd century B.C. orders the inspection and repair of several buildings at the sanctuary, perhaps implying some sort of damage or a period of neglect. Sometime later, the sanctuary seems to have been largely abandoned, and the site was buried (and therefore preserved) by the flooding of the nearby Erasinos river. The evidence for any activities in the sanctuary during the Roman period is minimal. Pausanias (1.33.1) mentions an old wooden statue at Brauron in the 2nd century A.D.
The cult of Artemis Brauronia was especially important to women. Artemis was worshipped here as the protectress of childbirth, and women who had successfully given birth dedicated a set of clothing to Artemis. The clothes of women who died in childbirth were dedicated to Iphigeneia. The Athenians celebrated a major state-sponsored festival every 4 years called the Brauronia that involved a procession from Athens to the sanctuary at Brauron. We also learn from a combination of ancient sources and artistic evidence that young Athenian girls between the ages of 7 and 10 (there is some disagreement about the age) "played the bear" for Artemis by serving as attendants in the sanctuary for a year and participating in a ritual that involved dancing or running around an altar. This ritual service, known as the arkteia ("arktos" = bear) is usually interpreted as a rite of passage preparing the girls for puberty and marriage.