DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.840#0067
46 HEILEUM.
consisted only of stones of no great magnitude, stretching from one
side to the other; and in the same direction, passing over a little
eminence, on which are the traces of buildings, the bed of an incon-
siderable torrent may be found, terminating in a well, near which lies
the fragment of a column four feet 10 in diameter. Near the well is
a very large heap of stones in the plain, which might be taken for the
Heraeum, and above it on the eminence is another heap, which
might agree with the description of the position of the ancient
temple; but there are no architectural remains or large blocks which
justify the supposition. It is true, however, that the largest columns
disappear in a cultivated plain. At Tegea, nothing is visible of the
great temple but a part of two columns, and the traces of the city and
its walls are vanished.
Pausanias says, " above the present edifice are the foundations
of the ancient temple, and such ruins as the flames spared." The
celebrity of the goddess occasioned much splendour in her temple.
On the metopes was represented the birth of Jupiter, the battle of
the Gods and Giants, and the war of Troy. Eupolemus, the Argive,
was the architect.
There is a village called Phyti, bearing N. 37 W. from Mycenae,
situated on the base of the opposite mountain, where there are many
remains, which would justify the idea that the Hereeum was situated
there, did not Pausanias place it on the left of Mycenae. The name
$tti or $ttios might also seem applicable to the goddess : it was a
consisted only of stones of no great magnitude, stretching from one
side to the other; and in the same direction, passing over a little
eminence, on which are the traces of buildings, the bed of an incon-
siderable torrent may be found, terminating in a well, near which lies
the fragment of a column four feet 10 in diameter. Near the well is
a very large heap of stones in the plain, which might be taken for the
Heraeum, and above it on the eminence is another heap, which
might agree with the description of the position of the ancient
temple; but there are no architectural remains or large blocks which
justify the supposition. It is true, however, that the largest columns
disappear in a cultivated plain. At Tegea, nothing is visible of the
great temple but a part of two columns, and the traces of the city and
its walls are vanished.
Pausanias says, " above the present edifice are the foundations
of the ancient temple, and such ruins as the flames spared." The
celebrity of the goddess occasioned much splendour in her temple.
On the metopes was represented the birth of Jupiter, the battle of
the Gods and Giants, and the war of Troy. Eupolemus, the Argive,
was the architect.
There is a village called Phyti, bearing N. 37 W. from Mycenae,
situated on the base of the opposite mountain, where there are many
remains, which would justify the idea that the Hereeum was situated
there, did not Pausanias place it on the left of Mycenae. The name
$tti or $ttios might also seem applicable to the goddess : it was a