Modern Description:
A 9th-c. inscription, engraved on a column shaft, was seen in the Marmariotissa (Agioi Anargyroi) church both by G. Lambakis and A. Orlandos, who published a squeeze of it. It reads: Καθηρωθη ω αγηος υκ[ο]ς / τ[ης π]αναγηας θεωτωκου επι Ν[ι]κητα / τ[ου] αγηωτατου ημων μητρω[π]ολητου / Α[θη]νων μηνι σεμπτεβηω η΄ ημερα β / ι[νδ] ιδ΄ετους ςΤΝΘ΄΄ / Κ[υρι]ε [β]ωηθει / τ[ου] δουλου / σ[ο]υ Νηκολα / ου [μο]ναχου / α[μ]αρτο / [λο]υ αμην. The inscription was followed by a cross with the monograms ΙC XC on either side. The inscription therefore informs about the dedication of a church to the Virgin on September 8 (the feast of her Birth) of the year 850, when Niketas was the metropolitan of Athens. The dedication of this 9th c. church to Panagia by the Metropolitan of Athens suggests that the Virgin was the patron saint of the area during the Middle Byzantine period. The connection of the Christian cult of the Virgin with the ancient cult of the virgin goddess Artemis cannot be omitted here. Continuity of this cult can be traced to the modern period, since the name of the recently demolished church of Marmariotissa refers to Panagia. Moreover, the Virgin is considered as the patron saint of Marousi until today. A small excavation which took place to the east and south of the church did not reveal any older building remains, which, however, may exist in the immediate vicinity. The excavation revealed eight tent-shaped graves just east of the church. Most of these had an east-west direction, and contained no objects. The only exception was the burial of an adult and a child; a ring with a figure-of-eight bezel was found at the position of the hand of the adult. This shape of ring probably dates to the Dark Age or the Middle Byzantine period. A coin found by one of the other graves, which dates to 1078-1081, provides, according to the excavator, a terminus ante quem for the chronology of the burials. Two further tent-shaped graves were found south of the church. The evidence, therefore, although limited, attests to the erection of a church dedicated to the Virgin in 850, and to the existence of a cemetery near it, which was used for some time in the period from the 9th to the 11th c. The Early Christian burial inscription of Euphrosyne, which was seen in Marmariotissa (IG II2 13472) might come from the same cemetery, a fact which would show a continuity of use of this area for burials; it is possible, however, that the inscription came from the surrounding area. [☩ κοιμητήριον Ε]ὐφροσύνης, / [ὃ κατέχει Εὐφ]ροσύνην διακόνισαν. /[ἴ τις ἂν ἀνύξῃ] τ̣ὸν τάφον, τὸ ἀνάθεμα ἔχι.
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panagia_Marmariotissa,_ChalandriWikidata ID: Q56397916Trismegistos Geo: 364
Info: E. Tzavella 2012
Elissavet Tzavella, URBAN AND RURAL LANDSCAPE IN EARLY AND MIDDLE BYZANTINE ATTICA (4TH – 12TH C. AD), PhD dissertation, Univ. of Birmingham 2012, https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/16292781.pdf