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PLAN OF THEHERAEUM (surveyed and draw...
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See also:PLAN OF THEHERAEUM (surveyed and See also:drawn by See also:Edward L. Tilton) . IV. See also:East See also:Building. VII. See also:West Building. X. See also:Lower See also:Stoa. V. 5th-See also:Century See also:Temple. , VIII. See also:North-West Building. XI. Phylakeion. VI. See also:South Stoa. IX. See also:Roman Building. A, B, C, D, E, F, Cisterns. one contemporary and See also:rival of See also:Pheidias, which was one of the most perfect See also:works of See also:sculpture in antiquity. See also:Pausanias describes the temple and its contents (ii. 17), and in his See also:time he still saw the ruins of the older burnt temple above the temple of Eupolemos. All these facts have been verified and illustrated by the excavations of the See also:American Archaeological See also:Institute and School of See also:Athens, which were carried on from 1892 to x895. In 1854 A. R. Rhangabe made tentative excavations on this site, digging a See also:trench along the north and east sides of the second temple, Of these excavations no trace was to be seen when those of 1892 were begun. The excavations have shown that the See also:sanctuary, instead of consisting of but one temple with the ruins of the older one above it, contained at least eleven See also:separate buildings, occupying an See also:area of about 975 ft. by 325. On the uppermost See also:terrace, defined by the See also:great Cyclopean supporting See also:wall, exactly as described by Pausanias, the excavations revealed a layer of ashes and charred See also:wood, below which were found numerous See also:objects of earliest date, together with the See also:river-See also:bed, we again have a huge stoa See also:running See also:round two sides some remains of the walls resting on a polygonal See also:platform—all of a squaxe., which was no doubt connected with the functions of forming See also:part of the earliest temple. Immediately adjoining this sanctuary as a See also:health resort, especially for See also:women, the goddess II. 16 t r I. Old Temple. II. Stoa. end facing the temple, is built upon elaborate supporting walls of See also:good See also:masonry. Below the second terrace at the south-west end a large and complicated building, with an open courtyard surrounded on three sides by a See also:colonnade and with See also:chambers opening out towards the north, may have served as a gymnasium or a See also:sanatorium. It is of good See also:early See also:Greek See also:architecture, earlier than the second temple. A curious, ruder building to the north of this and to the west of the second terrace is probably of much earlier date, perhaps of the Mycenaean See also:period, and may have served as See also:propylaea. Immediately below the second temple at the See also:foot of the See also:elevation on which this temple stands, towards the south, and thus facing the See also:city of See also:Argos, a splendid stoa or colonnade, to which large flights of steps See also:lead, was erected about the time of the building of the second temple. It is a part of the great plan to give worthy See also:access to the temple from the city of Argos. To the east of this large flights of steps lead up to the temple proper. At the western extremity of the whole site, immediately beside See also:Hera presiding over and protecting married See also:life and childbirth. Finally, immediately.to the north of this western stoa there is an extensive See also:house of Roman times also connected with See also:baths. While the buildings give archaeological See also:evidence for every period of Greek life and See also:history from the pre-Mycenaean period down to Roman times, the See also:topography itself shows that the Heraeum must have been constructed before See also:Mycenae and without any regard to it. The foothills which it occupies See also:form the western boundary to the Argive See also:plain as it stretches down towards the See also:sea in the Gulf of See also:Nauplia. While it was thus probably chosen as the earliest site for a citadel facing the sea, its second period points towards See also:Tiryns and Midea. It could not have been built as the sanctuary of Mycenae, which was placed farther up towards the north-west in the hills, and could not be seen from the Heraeum, its inhabitants again not being able to see their sanctuary. The west building, the traces of See also:bridges and roads, show that at one time it did hold some relation to Mycenae; but this was See also:long after its See also:foundation or the building of the huge Cyclopean supporting wall which is coeval with the walls of Tiryns, these again being earlier than those of Mycenae. There are, moreover, traces of still more See also:primitive walls, built of See also:rude small stones placed one upon the other without See also:mortar, which are in See also:character earlier than those of Tiryns, and have their parallel in the lowest layers of Hissarlik. Bearing out the evidence of tradition as well as architecture, the numerous finds of individual objects in terra-See also:cotta figurines, vases, bronzes, engraved stones, &c., point to organized civilized life on this site many generations before Mycenae was built, a fortiori before the life as depicted by See also:Homer flourished—See also:nay, before, as tradition has it, under Proetus the walls of Tiryns were erected. We are aided in forming some estimate of the See also:chronological sequence preceding the Mycenaean See also:age, as suggested by the finds of the Heraeum, in the new See also:distribution which Dorpfeld has been led to make of the chronological stratification of Hissarlik. For the layer, which he now assigns to the Mycenaean period, is the See also:sixth stratum from below. Now, as some of the remains at the Heraeum correspond to the two lowest layers of Hissarlik, the evidence of the Argive temple leads us far beyond the date assigned to the Mycenaean age, and at least into the second See also:millennium B.C. (see also See also:AEGEAN See also:CIVILIZATION). As to its chronological relation to the Cretan sites—See also:Cnossus, Phaestus, &c., and the "Minoan" civilization as determined by Dr A.See also:Evans, see the discussion under See also:CRETE. This sanctuary still holds a position of central importance as illustrating the See also:art of the highest period in Greek history, namely, the art of the 5th century B.C. under the great sculptor See also:Polyclitus. Though the excavations in the second temple have clearly revealed the outlines of the See also:base upon which the great See also:gold and See also:ivory statue of Hera stood, it is needless to say that no trace of the statue itself has been found. From Pausanias we learn that " the See also:image of Hera is seated and is of See also:colossal See also:size: it is made of gold and ivory, and is the See also:work of Polyclitus." Based on the computations made by the architect of the American excavations, E. L. Tilton, on the ground of the height of the See also:nave, the See also:total height of the image, including the base and the See also:top of the See also:throne, would be about 26 ft., the seated figure of the goddess herself about 18 ft. It is probable that the See also:face, See also:neck, arms and feet were of ivory, while the See also:rest of the figure was draped in gold. Like the Olympian See also:Zeus of Pheidias, Hera was seated on an elaborately decorated throne, holding in her See also:left See also:hand the See also:sceptre, surmounted in her See also:case by the See also:cuckoo (as that of Zeus had an See also:eagle), and in her right, instead of an elaborate figure of Victory (such as the See also:Athena Parthenos and the Olympian Zeus held), simply a See also:pomegranate. The See also:crown was adorned with figures of See also:Graces and the Seasons. A Roman imperial See also:coin of See also:Antoninus See also:Pius shows us on a reduced See also:scale the See also:general See also:composition of the figure; while contemporary Argive coins of the 5th century give a fairly adequate rendering of the See also:head. A further See also:attempt has been made to identify the head in a beautiful See also:marble bust in the See also:British Museum hitherto known as Bacchus (Waldstein, See also:Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. xxi., 1901, pp. 30 seq.) See also:ARGUMENT We also learn from Pausanias that the temple was decorated with." sculptures over the columns, representing some the See also:birth of Zeus and the See also:battle of the gods and giants, others the Trojan See also:War and the taking of Ilium." It was formerly supposed that the phrase " over the columns " pointed to the existence of sculptured metopes, but no pedimental See also:groups. Finds made in the excavations, however, have shown that the temple also had pedimental groups. Besides numerous fragments of nude and draped figures belonging to pedimental statues, a well-preserved and very beautiful head of a See also:female divinity, probably Hera, as well as a draped female torso of excellent workmanship, both belonging to the pediments, have been discovered. Of the metopes also a great number of fragments have been found, together with two almost See also:complete metopes, the one containing the torso of a nude See also:warrior in perfect preservation, as well as ten well-preserved heads. These statues See also:bear the same relation to the sculptor Polyclitus which the See also:Parthenon See also:marbles hold to Pheidias; and the excavations have thus yielded most important material for the See also:illustration of the Argive art of Polyclitus in the 5th century B.C. See Waldstein, The Argive Heraeum (vol. i., See also:Boston and New See also:York, 1902; vol. ii., the Vases by J. C. Hoppin, the Bronzes by H. F. de See also:Cosa, 1905) ; Excavations of the American School of Athens at the Heraion of Argos (1892); and numerous reports and articles in the American Archaeological Journal since 1892. (C. W. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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