Argive Heraion Attractions

The Argive Heraion is reached by way of the village of Khónika. From Mycenaean times onwards this was the principal Argive sanctuary. In its present form, laid out on terraces on the slopes of a hill (1,970ft/600m), it dates from the eighth-fifth centuries B.C. On the south side a broad flight of steps leads up to a stoa and the foundations of the fifth century temple of Hera, which contained a chryselephantine statue of the goddess by Polykleitos. On the next terrace was the older (seventh C.) temple which was destroyed by fire in 425 B.C. Beside this temple were other stoas. The impressiveness of this site is due not so much to the meagre remains as to its grandiose and solitary situation.