Afea is connected with the Minoan deity Britomartis, a friend of Artemis. She unwittingly provoked a burning passion in King Mitios, and while fleeing him, fell into the sea. Some fishermen caught her and brought her to Egina, but as soon as she was on the island one of the fishermen pressed his advances upon her. She fled toward the woods of Artemis and then suddenly disappeared from the face of earth.
The islanders dedicated a temple to her, and it is likely that the pre Hellenic cult of Afea, which came to Egina from Crete, eventually merged with the cult of Athena. lt appears that the first temple, to which belongs the inscription found in the foundations and now in the Egina Museum, dates from the 7th century B.C. lt was a simple square building, of which there remain only a few foundations of the altar. In the early 6th century B.C. a temple in antis with a three aisled cella was on the same site. Several architectural fragments from the temple still survive, used as building material in later construction.
The temple we see today, one of the finest examples of Archaic architecture, was built ca. 490 B.C. lt is constructed of local poros in the peripteral Doric style, with six columns on the short and twelve columns on the long sides. The columns incline sligthly inwards and have a cushion beneath the capitals. A large door with marble pilasters led from the front porch to the cella, in which stood the gilded ivory and wood statue of the goddess. The space was divided by a double row of five columns into three aisles, which formed a two storied stoa on the north, east, and south sides of the cella. The coffered ceiling was decorated with golden stars, while the floor was covered with a thin red plaster, traces of which can still be seen. A smaller door, probably built later since it is not in the axis of the temple, leads to the rear porch. To the right and left of it are two square marble blocks between two vertical slabs, which may have been offering tables. The entire surface of the temple was covered with a yellowish plaster, and some architectural parts like the cornice and the pediment tympana were coloured. As soon as the temple was completed a new altar was built outside to the east and the sanctuary space enlarged with isodomic retaining walls. The temple and the altar were surrounded by an enclosure with an entrance on the south side. A new propylon was built, keeping roughly to the earlier plan and dimensions, with two stoas. The interior room was larger and led down four steps to the courtyard. The five large rooms and the two stoas east of the propylon must have been the priests' quarters. All these buildings were surrounded by an enclosure with an entrance in the south. Further south, below the sanctuary entrance, are the foundations of a three-roomed house which probably served as a guest house. The temple was struck by lighthing in 1969, toppling the southeast corner column. Since this time there has been a lightning conductor on the site. The pedimental sculptures were discovered in 1811 by a group of English and German archaeologists and architects, and bought by Ludwig of Bavaria. One of the Englishmen Charles Cockerell, has left a graphic description of the discovery of the & 4seventeen complete statues and the fragments of at least ten moreil near the temple, which was believed to have been dedicated to Hellanios Zeus. The sculptures have been in the Munich Glyptothek since 1813.