The
Heraion of Perachora (Greek, Modern: Ηραίον Περαχώρας) was a sanctuary of the goddess
HeraIn the Olympian pantheon of classical Greek Mythology, Hera or Here was the wife and older sister of Zeus. Her chief function was as goddess of women and marriage. In Roman mythology, Juno was the equivalent mythical character. The cow, and later, the peacock were sacred to her...
situated in a small cove of the Corinthian gulf at the end of the Perachora peninsula. In addition to a temple of Hera of unusual construction and antiquity, the remains of a number of other structures have also been found, including a L-shaped stoa, a large cistern, dining rooms, and a second potential temple. The Sanctuary of Hera at Perchora is located 14.2 km NNW of Ancient Corinth, and 75.9 km W of
AthensAthens , the capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the world's oldest cities, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
. Although there is debate between
ArgosArgos is a city in Greece in the Peloponnese near Nafplion, which was its historic harbour .-Name:The region of Argos is known as the Argolis, Argolid, or Argeia...
,
MegaraMegara is an ancient city in Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens. Megara was one of the four districts of Attica, embodied in the four mythic sons of King...
and Corinth, the sanctuary was probably under the control of Corinth, as it faced the harbors of that powerful city across the Corinthian gulf. Cult activity at the site continued from perhaps the 9th century BCE to 146 BCE, when the Roman general
MummiusLucius Mummius , was a Roman statesman and general, also known as Leucius Mommius. He later received the agnomen Achaicus.-Corinth:...
sacked Corinth during the war with the
Achaean LeagueThe Achaean League was a Hellenistic era confederation of Greek city states , on the northern and central Peloponnese, named after the Homeric Achaeans or rather the league that existed with the same name in the NW region of Achaea of unknown time of foundation.The regional Achaean League was...
. In the Roman period, domestic structures were built on the site, indicating that the area was no longer a sanctuary. This site is significant for the study of the origins of Greek temple architecture and rural cults.
Mythology and History
There is a legend recounted in
EuripidesEuripides was the lastof the three great tragedians of classical Athens . Ancient scholars thought that Euripides had written ninety-five plays, although four of those were probably written by Critias...
that
MedeaMedea is a woman in Greek mythology. She was the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, niece of Circe, granddaughter of the sun god Helios, and later wife to the hero Jason, with whom she had two children: Mermeros and Pheres. In Euripides's play Medea, Jason leaves Medea when Creon, king of...
buried her murdered children at a sanctuary of Hera Akraia as she fled from Corinth. This may be a reference to this site.
HerodotusHerodotus of Halicarnassus was a Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC and is regarded as the "Father of History" in Western culture. He was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
tells the story of
PerianderPeriander was the second tyrant of Corinth, Greece in the 7th century BC. He was the son of the first tyrant, Cypselus. Periander succeeded his father in 627 BC....
stripping the clothes off of the Corinthian women at a sanctuary of Hera. In the 1st century CE, the Greek historian
StraboStrabo was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born in a wealthy family from Amaseia in Pontus , which had recently become part of the Roman Empire.. He studied under various geographers and philosophers; first in Nysa, later in Rome...
wrote that there was an oracle associated with the sanctuary.
Archaeology
The known structures of the sanctuary cover a rectangle approximately 45m NS and 245m EW. The sanctuary wrapped around a small cove and extended toward the east uphill along a ridge. The structures will be discussed in order from west to east.
West Court
At the extreme SW end of the sanctuary, there is a polygonal area of roughly 25 by 25m largely cut into the rock beside the cove. This structure has been variously termed the agora, or the west court. This structure may date to the 6th century BCE and thus be contemporary with the Temple of Hera Akraia. It appears to have been destroyed in the 4th BCE; it has been proposed that the L-shaped stoa took over its function. There appear to have been colonnades on the western and southern sides. There are remains of a house from the Roman period roughly at the center of the area.
Apsidal Structure and Temple of Hera Akraia
The earliest structure at the site was an apsidal building of perhaps the late 9th century BCE, which is thought to resemble the house-temple models known from the Argive Heraion. On that analogy, it would have had a high-peaked rook, covered perhaps in thatch. There were Early Helladic sherds under this structure.
In the 6th BCE a Doric order tetrastyle-
prostyleProstyle is an architectural term defining free standing columns that are widely spaced apart in a row. The term is often used as an adjective when referring to the portico of a classical building which projects from the main structure...
temple (c. 10 by 30m) was built a little to the west of the apsidal structure. The epithet Akraia refers to the position of the sanctuary at the point of the peninsula. The
cellaA cella or naos , is the inner chamber of a temple in classical architecture, or a shop facing the street in domestic Roman architecture .-Greek and Roman temples:...
of this temple was divided into three aisles – a highly unusual design. There was a wall to divide the west end of the cella and a screen in front of the cult statue. Evidence for the reuse of some blocks may indicate that there was a prior phase of the structure in the 7th BCE. The roof of this temple was in marble. No evidence has yet been found of pedimental sculptures.
The Doric order triglyph and metope frieze may have only extended along the eastern face, as few of the elements of this survive. The metopes were c. 15 cm thick and slotted into the triglyph blocks rather than forming a single block with them, as is more typical. Roughly in the center of the southern side of the temple was a c. 4.5m diameter limekiln used to reduce the marble of the temple (and of the sanctuary generally) into
limeCalcium oxide , commonly known as burnt lime, lime or quicklime, is a widely used chemical compound. It is a white, caustic and alkaline crystalline solid at room temperature. As a commercial product, lime often also contains magnesium oxide, silicon oxide and smaller amounts of aluminium oxide and...
for the construction of the
Hexamilion wallThe Hexamilion wall is a defensive wall constructed across the Isthmus of Corinth guarding the only land route into the Peloponnese peninsula from mainland Greece.- Early fortifications :...
across the
Isthmus of CorinthThe Isthmus of Corinth is the narrow land bridge which connects the Peloponnese peninsula with the mainland of Greece, near the city of Corinth. The word "isthmus" comes from the Ancient Greek word for "neck" and refers to the narrowness of the land. To the west of the Isthmus is the Gulf of...
in the 5th century CE. Scorch mark remain visible on the stones of the temple around a circular area where the heat of the limekiln caused the breakdown of the underlying stones.
Triglyph and Metope Altar
Fifteen meters east of the Temple of Hera Akraia, there was a stone altar decorated with a triglyph and metope frieze dating from the early 4th century BCE. This altar measured c. 2.5 by 4m. In the late 4th BCE Ionic columns were added to the corners, perhaps for a canopy.
L-Shaped Stoa
Immediately east of the altar was a two-storied
stoaStoa in Ancient Greek architecture; covered walkways or porticos, commonly for public usage. Early stoae were open at the entrance with columns lining the side of the building, creating a safe, enveloping, protective atmosphere and were usually of Doric order...
with an L-shaped plan, also though to date to the late 4th BCE. The eastern arm of the stoa was c. 16.5m north to south and c. 5.5m in depth, while the northern arm of the stoa was c. 17.5m east to west and c. 5m in depth. The lower level employed an external colonnade of the
Doric orderThe Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of Ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian....
, while the upper floor used the
Ionic orderThe Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
. This is the first known example of this combination. The stairs to the second floor are not preserved. A water channel extended to this structure from the hydraulic system east of the sanctuary.
Double-Apsidal Cistern
Around thirty-five meters east of the L-shaped stoa, there was a c. 6 by 21m cistern with each end rounded off into an apsidal shape. Stone internal piers supported the vaults for the roof. On the eastern end of the structure there was a settling tank of c. 3 by 5m. Ten meters to the NE of the settling tank there was a diversion point in the water channel with one branch directed to the cistern and the other to the L-shaped stoa. The excavator dates the cistern to within the 6th to the 4th centuries BCE.
Dining Rooms
Immediately south of the cistern was a double dining room, probably associated with the cult activity at the site. This structure was initially identified as a Hellenistic house, but the cuttings for the legs of the dining couches make the identification as a dining room secure. Tomlinson proposes before 490 BCE as the date for this structure.
Sacred Pool
Around 30m east of the cistern, was a pool c. 2m deep though to perhaps have a sacred function within the cult. Significant numbers of mesomphalic phiales (
libationA libation is a ritual pouring of a drink as an offering to a god. It was common in the religions of antiquity, including Judaism:...
vessels) were found within this structure. This structure is now backfilled.
Temple of Hera Limanaia
Around seventy-five meters east of the Cistern, there was a structure that dates perhaps to the 8th century BCE. During its excavation a bronze bull was discovered, inscribed with Sikyonian letters and dating to the end of the 6th BCE. There was a hearth at the center of the building. It may have been a house-temple or a dining room, as evidenced by spits for roasting meat found inside. Many diagrams and reconstructions of this structure show a door in the western side-wall; the gap in the stones, however, may have been created by a trial trench dug by an earlier excavator.
Remains Outside the Sanctuary
Remains are known to extend for 1.7 km eastward from the Sanctuary to a lagoon. The best preserved of these constitute an extensive hydraulic system.
Rock-cut Cisterns
750m ENE of the sanctuary, there was a series of massive cisterns, reached by a rock-cut stairway extending c. 50m down into the bedrock. The opening of the stairway is 64m NW of the openings of the cisterns. The descent is steep and the steps are not all well-preserved. There are cuttings for a parapet wall around the vertiginous upper openings of the cisterns to prevent falls. It has been proposed that the water was raised from the cisterns to the water channel by the use of large human-powered waterwheels.
Fountain house
540m ENE of the sanctuary, there was a hexastyle-prostyle fountain house (having six columns in its facade). Behind the facade there were three rock-cut basins, similar to the
PireneIn Greek mythology, Pirene or Peirene , a nymph, was either the daughter of Oebalus, King of Laconia or the River God Achelous, depending on different sources. Her child, Cenchrias was unintentionally killed by Artemis. Her grief was so profound that she became nothing but tears and turned into the...
fountain house at Corinth. This structure was later incorporated into a rural villa in the Roman period. This fountain house is thought to date to the same time as the L-shaped stoa, which is the ultimate destination of the water of the system.
Aqueduct
Water channels join the upper cisterns to the fountain house and the fountain house to the cistern of the sanctuary and the L-shaped stoa. At intervals there were settling basins along the water conduit, including one immediately above the fountain house.
Significance of the Site
As is the case for the rural sanctuary of
ArtemisArtemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. In the classical period of Greek mythology, Artemis was often described as the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo...
at
BrauronThe sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron is an early sacred site on the eastern coast of Attica near the Aegean Sea in a small inlet. The inlet has silted up since ancient times, pushing the current shoreline farther from the site...
in relation to the religion of Athens, the sanctuary of Hera at Perachora is important or the study of rural cult in the Corinthia. The unusual plan of the 6th century BCE temple of Hera Akraia coupled with its location on the remains of a 9th BCE apsidal structure are of interest to the study of the development of the Greek temple as an architectural and cultic form. While it has been proposed that the cult of Hera Akraia had
chthonicChthonic designates, or pertains to, deities or spirits of the underworld, especially in relation to Greek religion.Greek khthon is one of several words for "earth"; it typically refers to the interior of the soil, rather...
elements, this idea has not been generally accepted. The reference in Strabo to an oracle may fit with the idea that the children of Medea were buried at the site, and thus explain any chthonic elements to the cult as pertaining to a
heroonA heroon - ἡρῷον , also called heroum, was a shrine dedicated to an ancient Greek or Roman hero and was used for the commemoration or worship of the hero. It was often erected over his supposed tomb or cenotaph....
.
Ancient Sources
- Euripides, Medea 1378-1383
- Herodotus 5.92
- Xenophon Hellenica IV.5
- Livy XXXII.23
- Plutarch Q.G. 17
- Plutarch, Life of Kleomenes III.814
- Strabo 8.6.22
External links