Listed 3 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "NEO IREO Village MYKINES" .
IREON (Ancient sanctuary) ARGOS - MYKINES
... Heraeum, which long eluded the researches of all travellers in Greece. Its
remains were discovered for the first time in 1831, by General Gordon, the commander
of the Greek forces in the Peloponnesus.
Pausanias describes (ii. 17.1) the Heraeum as situated at the distance of 15 stadia
from Mycenae, to the left
of the route between that city and Argos,
on the lower declivities of a mountain called Euboea; and he adds, that on one
side of it flowed the Elentherion, and on the other flowed the Asterion, which
disappeared in an abyss. These details are all verified on the ground explored
by General Gordon. It is a. rocky height, rising,. in a somewhat insulated form,
from the base of one of the highest mountains that bound the plain towards the
east, distant about two English miles from Mycenae,
which corresponds nearly to the 15 stadia of Pausanias. The remains of the temple
are distant from Argos between
5 and 6 miles, which correspond to the 45 stadia of Herodotus (i. 31). Strabo
(viii.6) says that the temple was distant 40 stadia from Argos,
and 10 from Mycenae, but
each of these measurements is below the truth. The old Heraeum was burnt in the
ninth year of the Peloponnesian
war (B.C. 423), by the negligence of the priestess (Thuc. iv. 133), whereupon
Eupolemus was employed to erect the new temple, described by Pausanias. The new
Heraeum was built a little below the ancient one; but the substructions of the
latter were still seen by Pausanias (ii. 17.7). The eminence on which the ruins
are situated is an irregular triangular platform, with its apex pointing, towards
Mount Euboea, and its base towards Argos.
The surface is divided into three esplanades or terraces, rising in gradation
one above the other, from the lower to the upper extremity. The central one of
the three is supported by a massive Cyclopian substruction, still in good preservation,
and a conspicuous object from some distance. This Cyclopian wall is a part of
the remains of the ancient temple which Pausanias saw. On the lowest of the terraces
stood the Heraeum built by Eupolemus. Here General Gordon made some excavations,
and discovered, among other things, the tail of a peacock in white marble. This
terrace has substructions of regular Hellenic masonry, forming a breastwork to
the base of the triangle towards the plain. The length of the surface of the hill
is about 250 yards; its greatest breadth about half its length.
Of the two torrents between which the Heraeum stood, the north-western
was the Eleutherion, and the south-eastern the Asterion. Pausanias says that the
river Asterion had three daughters, Euboea, Prosymna,
and Acraea. Euboea was the mountain on the lower part of which the Heraeum stood;
Acraea, the height which rose over against it; and Prosymna
the region below it. (Mure, vol. ii. p. 177, seq.; Leake, Pelopon. p. 258, seq.)
This extract is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited April 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Argive Heraion. Accessible by road from Mycenae (5 km) and Argos (10 km). Located
on a hill to the SW of Mt. Euboia, the Heraion commands a view of the Argive plain
and of the citadel of Argos. The Sanctuary of Hera was founded on the site of
a prehistoric settlement. Except for a tholos tomb on a ridge to the W, little
can be seen of the settlement or of the extensive Middle and Late Helladic cemeteries.
In the archaic and Classical periods the Argive cult of Hera assumed major religious
and political importance. Two early 6th c. B.C. statues (now in the Delphi Museum)
commemorated Kleobis and Biton, Argive worshipers of Hera. In the early 5th c.
B.C., the Spartan king Kleomenes seized the sanctuary in a war against Argos.
By ca. 468 B.C., administrative control of the sanctuary had become a source of
dispute between Mycenae and Argos. The cult continued to flourish in the Roman
period, as is evident from Imperial dedications. Discovered in 1831 by Colonel
Gordon, the site has been excavated intermittently. The reconstructions and the
dates proposed for many of the structures are controversial; research on these
problems is now being done at the site.
The earliest and still the most impressive feature at the Heraion
is the Cyclopean wall. Tentatively dated to the Late Geometric period, the massive
wall of conglomerate boulders supports a paved terrace, which was once approached
by a ramp at the SE. No building is clearly contemporary with this terrace, although
a late 8th c. B.C. terracotta model, rectangular in plan and having a gabled roof
and a prostyle porch (displayed along with other finds from the site in the Athens
National Museum) may represent a temple that existed during this period. On the
terrace the stone stylobate of what should be considered a later temple is partially
preserved. The wide spacing of the circular cuttings for columns suggests that
it had a wooden entablature, characteristic of an early stage in the development
of peripteral temples.
This temple was destroyed by fire in 423 B.C. A new temple may already
have been planned in the middle of the 5th c. B.C., at the same time as the construction
of a lower terrace. The extant architectural members, however, seem to date from
the very end of the century. Designed by the Argive architect Eupolemos, the Doric
temple had six columns on the facades and twelve on the flanks; its interior arrangement
is less sure. Some architectural details were Attic in style. The sculptural decoration
included marble metopes, pediments, cornice, and akroteria; Polykleitos made the
chryselephantine cult statue. Only a platform of poros foundations remains in
situ. Fragments of a Hellenistic triglyph altar with a meander pattern in low
relief lie among the blocks to the NE of the temple foundations.
The lower terrace had a monumental stairway or stepped retaining wall
at the S; at the W a road led to Mycenae. At its E edge are the conglomerate foundations
of a large hypostyle hall, the function of which is unknown. Other variously dated
structures line the N side of the terrace. At the NE is a small rectangular building
with both interior column bases and partition walls. To the W of this structure
is a platform reached by a short flight of steps and surmounted by bases for statues
and stelai. Farther to the W is a long stoa dated as early as the 7th c. B.C.
by the column capitals found within it. The W end of the stoa appears to have
undergone an alteration when a tile flooring was installed.
Directly below the temple terrace are two relatively well-preserved
buildings. The structure to the W of the temple is almost square in plan, having
an open court surrounded on three sides by covered porticos and flanked on the
N by an entrance corridor and a row of three dining rooms. Archaic architectural
members have been cited as proof of a late 6th c. B.C. date, but this structure
may more probably have been built after the 5th c. B.C. terrace wall. South of
the temple is a stoa securely dated to the middle of the 5th c. B.C. Its interior
columns, one of which lies fallen at the E, are Doric and extremely slender. Among
its refinements are a stepped back wall which has projecting buttresses and a
W wall which is elaborated with decorative panels.
At the site there are several other structures of which little is
preserved and less is known. To the N of the building with the peristyle court
is a large structure, which has been incorrectly identified as a propylon. To
the W of these foundations are the remains of a Roman bath and of a large L-shaped
gymnasium. Finally, to the S of the temple are traces of a Roman building, which
has been identified as a foundry.
R. S. Mason, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains 77 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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