Heraion of Perachora – Sanctuary of Goddess Hera

 

 

Located a short distance from the resort town of Loutraki, known for its natural spring waters and about 75 kilometers west of Athens is the Heraion of Perachora.

 This sanctuary is dedicated to the Greek Goddess Hera, queen of the Olympian gods, wife of Zeus and Goddess of women and marriage, known for her beauty, which is said, was renewed every year in the spring, when she washed away the traces of the previous year’s stress and worry.

If only we all have that ability!

 

 

The sanctuary, built around 820 BC, is one of the earliest temples of ancient Greece, most likely controlled by of the powerful ancient city of Corinth.

Over the years, the sanctuary became one of the richest in the whole of Greece and was in use up until the late Hellenistic period when, in 146 B.C., the Romans sacked Corinth and Greece came under rule of the Roman Empire.

 

Legends and Myths

 

 

Some say there once existed an oracle at the site and people would flock from miles around to gain insight and advice on how to best deal with what the future held in store for them.

Cult activity and goodness knows what else continued here from the 9th century BC to at least 146 BC, when the Romans appeared on the scene.

Legend has it that Media murdered and buried her children here at the sanctuary whilst fleeing from Corinth.

Media was the wife of Jason of Argonaut’s fame, whom she married and settled down with in Corinth, however, after Jason fell in love with another woman, media killed her, took off for Athens, stopping on the way at Hera’s place, where she killed and buried her two children.

Media is a Greek tragedy written by ancient Greek playwright Euripides (480 – 406 BC)

What a place, just full of legends, myths, mystery and intrigue!

 

On The Road to Heraion of Perachora

 

 

To reach Heraion, you head straight through the resort town of Loutraki and up the winding mountain road passing by the small picturesque village of Perahora, through acres of olive groves, when suddenly, after rounding a tight bend, there in front of you, is Lake Vouliagmeni, a sheet of shining blue water, winking from between the silver grey of the olive trees.

 

Lake Vouligmeni – Perachora

 

 

About three and a half kilometers before reaching the sanctuary of Hera, you come upon Lake Vouliagmeni (in ancient times named Lake Eschatiotis), a salt water lake surrounded by many cafes and tavernas where the local fishermen go to rest, after going about their daily business, just as they have been doing for hundreds of years.

 Vouligameni, in Greek, means submerged and many years ago, there existed a village which, after an enormous earthquake caused a break in the rocks, allowing the sea to rush in, was swallowed up forever.

 At the point where the sea flows into the lake, is a small, typically Greek, whitewashed church with a sky blue dome, Agios Nicholas; Saint Nicholas.

 

 

 If you are lucky, you just might happen upon a wedding being held here and see the Bride and Groom, being ferried across the lake, in a tiny fishing boat!

It was here, around this lake, in 1962, the international film “The 300 Spartans” starring Richard Egan, Sir Ralph Richardson and Diane Baker was filmed.

 

 

The last king of Greece, Constantine II (1940-2023), allowed around 5,000 soldiers of the Royal Hellenic Army, to take part in the making of this film, acting as Spartan and Greek warriors.

The soundtrack for the film was written by none other than the famous Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis.

 

The Melagavi Lighthouse

 

 

Towering above the ancient ruins of The Sanctuary of Hera, at the very tip of Cape Melagavi, in the Gulf of Corinth, stands the Melagavi Lighthouse, one of the oldest stone lighthouses in Greece, built in 1879 and still working.

 

 

 The cape of Melagavi, also known as the cape of Heraion of Perachora, is situated in the area of Perahora, which, in Greek means:

“The land beyond the sea”

 The views from up here really do take your breath away.

 

 

A lone rock, adjacent to the harbor at the Heraion of Perachora, is called by the locals “The Limenarchis”,  meaning “The keeper of the harbour”.

 

 

 Looking down is sparkling sea as far as the eye can see and looking back, inland, olive trees dominate the rocky terrain.

The sea merges with the sky on the horizon, in fact, sometimes, depending on the weather and the time of day, it is difficult to make out where the sea ends and the sky begins.

 

 

Humfry Payne

Archaeologist and Director of the British School of Athens

 

 

The very first excavations of Heraion of Perachora; the sanctuary of the goddess Hera, were undertaken by English archaeologist Humfry Payne, in 1930, after having spent the summer archaeological excavation seasons of 1927 to 1929 on Crete, around Knossos with Arthur Evans.

Payne was director of the British School of Athens from 1929 until his untimely death from a staphylococcus infection.

He died in 1936 at the Evangelismos Hospital in Athens.

 He was 34 years old.

Humfry Payne is buried in the cemetery of Agios Georgios (St George) Mycenae, Argolis, Greece

 

 

Born at Wendover, Buckinghamshire, Payne attended Westminster School and afterwards Christ Church, Oxford where he was awarded first class honours in classical Mods (1922) and Greats (1924).

In 1926, he married the journalist and film critic, Dilys Powell.

As a student at Christ Church (1926 to 1931) and an assistant in the department of antiquities at the Ashmolean Museum (1926 to 1928), Payne studied Mediterranean archaeology.

He received the Conington Prize for classical learning in 1927 for his work on painted Greek pottery and helped John Beazley and Alan Blakeway when they published joint papers on black-figured Attic pottery excavated at Naucratis.

 

 

Payne made his name when he published, in 1931, “Necrocorinthia”, an outstanding work on ancient objects, mostly painted vases, he had discovered in Corinth, which was highly regarded by classical archaeologists and more or less became his ticket into the world of archaeology.

Later, his work at the Heraion of Perachora would be written up in 1940 as:

“Perachora: The Sanctuaries of Hera Akraia and Limenia. Excavations of the British School of Archaeology at Athens, 1930-1933. Architecture, Bronzes, Terracottas.” By Humphry Payne

A second volume; was published in 1962:

Perachora: The Sanctuaries of Hera Akraia and Limenia. Excavations of the British School of Archaeology at Athens, 1930-1933. Pottery, Ivories, Scarabs, and other Objects from the Votive Deposit of Hera Limenia, excavated by Humfry Payne”

 

 

 

After Payne’s premature death in 1936, excavations were carried on from 1938-1939 by Thomas J. Dunbabin and from 1964-1965 by Birmingham Richard Tomlinson, Director of the British School in Athens.

After Payne’s death, his wife, Dilys Powell, wrote her memories of Heraion, Perahora and Loutraki, in her book “An Affair of the Heart”, a magnificent book, originally published in 1957; still much loved.

 

 

A Street in Loutraki is named in remembrance of the esteemed archaeologist, Humphrey Payne, (in Greek Pein).

 

 

 

Heraion of Perachora

The Sanctuary of Goddess Hera

 

 

The ancient sanctuary of Hera is built on two levels, with paths leading down to both.

Moving from one level to the other you pass through the courtyard of the church of Saint John, eventually arriving at the small ancient harbour where there are more ancient ruins.

The small church of St. John originally stood on the site of the lower temple, most likely built by the first Christian Romans, in protest against the pagan sanctuary.

The church was moved to where it stands today, between the two levels, during the excavations.

 

 

Owing to the fact that the site has two separate levels and each level has its own temple, it was originally believed that there were two separate sanctuaries, one devoted to Hera Akraia and the other to Hera Limenia.

 It turns out though, that these two Heras were one and the same; Akraia was the name of a naiad, a water nymph, who was linked with Hera, which ties in with the sanctuary being next to the sea.

 

Akraia also means “of the heights,” which probably refers to the sanctuary’s position.

Hera Limenia simply means “of the harbour», limani being the Greek word for harbour.

Therefore it is logical that there was only one sanctuary; the Hera Akraia-Limenia.

The lower level, next to the harbour is the earlier one, where most of the ritual activities occurred, whereas the upper level, built later, was “the accommodation” for visitors.

 

 

The Upper Level

 

 

On the upper level of the sanctuary is the dining area, the hestiatorion (in modern greek, restaurant), used for ceremonial meals, in which the god himself is said to have participated alongside the pilgrims.

 

 

North of the dining room (the hestiatorion), on the upper level of the sanctuary, is the sacred pool , used for the purification of visitors before entering the sanctuary and the double-sided, stone-built apsidal cistern with semi-circular ends and a central series of pillars.

 

 

 

The temple of Hera Limanaia is here, whilst the temple of Hera Akraia is on the lower level. (The two temples are both dedicated to the same, one goddess, Hera.)

 

The Lower Level

 

 On the lower level of the ancient site of Heraion is the West court

 

 

Here is the unusual 3-aisled temple of Hera Akraia and the 2-storey Stoa (a covered walkway) which had a colonade of Doric columns at floor level and Ionic columns on the upper level.

 

 

 

 

Also to be found on the lower level of the sanctuary is the the temple of Hera Akraia and the alter.

 

 

 

On the South, beach-side of the temple of Hera Akraia, a large lime kiln was discovered.

 

 

This was used to reduce the marble from the sanctuary and temples, destroyed by the Romans, into lime for the construction of the Hexamilion wall they built across the Isthmus of Corinth in the 5th century AD

 

How to Get There

 

 

 The sanctuary of Heraion is located 25 kms (30 minutes by car) from the Corinth Canal and just 3.5 kms beyond Lake Vouliagmeni .

 There is a free open car-park above the sanctuary and a winding concrete path leads to the upper sanctuary, passing by the small church of Aghios Yiannis, which overlooks the lower level and beach.

To reach the lighthouse from the Heraion car-park, you take the small pathway to the right of the concrete ramp which leads down to the sanctuary of Heraion.

 The site is extremely well organised, with placards describing each part of the sanctuary in detail.

Artifacts found during the excavation of The Heraion of Perachora are exhibited in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens and the Archaeological Museum of Ancient Corinth.

 Admission to the Heraion archaeological site is free.

No matter how many times I visit this incredible place (It’s on my doorstep as I live in Loutraki), it will never lose its magic; the views are spectacular, each time I see them, is like looking at them for the first time.

Dilys Powell was right, what a place to begin “An Affair of the Heart”!

 

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