A fortified acropolis dominates the two small harbours located on either side of it which have silted up extensively since antiquity, and into which grain was imported for Athens during the Peloponnesian War.

The town occupied a small plain 3 miles (5 km) wide, atop a rocky peninsula surrounded by the sea for two-thirds of its circumference.

It was chiefly celebrated in antiquity on account of its nearby sanctuary for the worship of Nemesis, who was hence called by the Latin poets Rhamnsusia virgo and dea Rhamnusia.

The Peloponnesian War must have interrupted the completion from 431 BC and carving of the column flutes was not done and the stylobate blocks were left unfinished, retaining the protective excess marble on their easily damaged corners and upper surfaces.

Later the temple was severely damaged at its eastern end and the upper courses repaired with new blocks, thought to be caused by the armies of Philip V of Macedon during his raids in 200 BC.

In the 2nd century AD, Herodes Atticus made dedications of busts of the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus as well as a statue of his pupil Polydeucion.

The extension of the fortification further down the hill embraced the little theatre, the gymnasium, a small sanctuary of Dionysos, a number of other public buildings and dwellings.

600m south of the town,[2] on the road leading to the principal gate was a large artificial platform, supported by a wall of pure white marble, formed the temenos (τέμενος) or sacred enclosure on which the remains of two temples, which are almost contiguous, and nearly parallel to each other, can be seen.

It measured 6.15 by 9.9m with a 6 × 12 Doric order and was dedicated to both the goddesses Themis and Nemesis as indicated by dedicatory inscriptions on two marble seats on the porch of the 4th century BC.

Among the ruins of the temple was found a part, missing the head and shoulders, of a statue of human size (now in the British Museum) in the archaic style of the Aeginetan school.

It is, however, not improbable, as William Martin Leake, who visited the site in the early 19th century, has remarked, that the story of the block of stone brought by the Persians was a fable, or an invention of the priests of Nemesis by which Pausanias was deceived.

The central block of the architrave on the east end of the temple bears an inscription of rededication to the goddess Livia by the Demos, which may be associated with the repairs.

The cella of the large temple housed the cult figure of Nemesis, sculpted by Agorakritos, a pupil of Phidias, from the block of Parian marble alleged to have been brought by the overconfident Persians for their triumphal stele.

Many parts of the original statue have been recovered and reconstructed[18][19] from the hundreds of fragments found scattered about after the destruction of the cult image by early Christians, and this allowed the identification of a total of eleven Roman copies on a smaller scale.