DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2532#0024
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
By CHARLES WALDSTEIN
The Argive Heraeum was one of the most important sanctuaries of ancient Hellas ;
indeed, its position in the life of the ancient Greeks, and more especially its relation
to and illustration of the earliest history of the Hellenic people, make it appear to
have been at one time the foremost sanctuary of Peloponnesus, perhaps of the whole of
Greece.
Arehaeologically, too, the Heraenm holds a unique position in regard to the early
history of Greece, and the finds made on this site have in consequence a special
importance. For while similar objects have been found at Hissarlik, on the Islands, at
Tiryns, and Mycenae, their relation to the place in which they were found does not give
them the same significance as pertains to the objects from the Heraenm. For the
Heraeum lay not only in Greece proper, but was the centre of the earliest Greek life as
such, — which cannot be said for Hissarlik or even for the Islands ; while the continuity
of its history transfers the element of continuity to the objects there found, — and this
cannot be said for Tiryns or Mycenae, each of which represents definite and distinct
periods only.
To write a complete history of this sanctuary would be to write the history of the
Argolic plain.1 For while Tiryns, Mycenae, and Argos, in turn, had political preemi-
nence in this district, the Heraeum always remained the chief religious centre. And as
these three cities, in the early ages, were the most important political centres of Hellenic
civilization, the history of the Heraeum is an important part of the history of Greece.
Whenever these three political centres — Tiryns, Mycenae, and Argos — were distinct
and separate states, they clashed and struggled for preeminence. In the earliest days,
indeed (according to tradition the days of Phoroneus and his successors down to Abas),
there was unity of dominion over the " Argive" land; but, as we shall see, the sub-
division began under the sons of Abas; and from this time on, until the final supremacy
1 A clear definition of the name Argolis was not given
to the land before Roman times ; though Argos, with
all the confusing vacillation in the use of this term to
which I shall recur, certainly designated the same district
in the earliest period. It comprised three districts :
(1) the eastern peninsula, Acte, ('!) the northern slopes
from the mountains to the Gulf of Corinth, and (3) the
southern slope from these mountains down to the gulf of
Nauplia. The third portion is Argolis proper. The plain,
hounded by the Araelmaean range on the cast and the
mountains of Artemisium on the west,— which converge
at the northern end, while to the south the plain opens out
to the gulf, — was called Argos in the earliest prehistoric
time, and is the district to which we shall specifically
apply the term Argive. The original meaning of the
word "Apyos must have been lost to the later Greeks, so
that Stephanas Byzantinus explains it as a%^ov to-v ireSiW
kwto. 6d\aiT(Tav. But this meaning is too restricted, as is
evident from the existence of the Orestian Argos in the
interior of Macedonia, the Pelasgian in Thessaly, and the
modern survival of the term to designate small plains
surrounded by mountains in the interior of several islands.
(Cf. Kiepert, Lehrhucli der Alten Geographic, p. 271.) This
Argive plain is of light chalk soil, has much less rain-
fall than the western coast of Peloponnesus, and is thus
subjected to drought (7roAi/5nJ/ioc "Apyos). The mountain
streams run dry in the summer ; but in the rainy season
all combine to swrell the Inaehus. To sink wells is there-
fore of great importance in the present day and was so
in the earliest times, as is evident from the myths of the
Danaides. Danaus (explained as |ijp<fs by the gramma-
rians) is the inventor of the art of digging wells, and as
Archegetes of the Danaans, the inhabitants of the plain, is
himself a representative of the plain. Through this arti-
ficial irrigation by means of wells, the plain was and is
fertile in corn and pasture, iroXiirvpov, 'nrir6fSoTov "Apyos.
By CHARLES WALDSTEIN
The Argive Heraeum was one of the most important sanctuaries of ancient Hellas ;
indeed, its position in the life of the ancient Greeks, and more especially its relation
to and illustration of the earliest history of the Hellenic people, make it appear to
have been at one time the foremost sanctuary of Peloponnesus, perhaps of the whole of
Greece.
Arehaeologically, too, the Heraenm holds a unique position in regard to the early
history of Greece, and the finds made on this site have in consequence a special
importance. For while similar objects have been found at Hissarlik, on the Islands, at
Tiryns, and Mycenae, their relation to the place in which they were found does not give
them the same significance as pertains to the objects from the Heraenm. For the
Heraeum lay not only in Greece proper, but was the centre of the earliest Greek life as
such, — which cannot be said for Hissarlik or even for the Islands ; while the continuity
of its history transfers the element of continuity to the objects there found, — and this
cannot be said for Tiryns or Mycenae, each of which represents definite and distinct
periods only.
To write a complete history of this sanctuary would be to write the history of the
Argolic plain.1 For while Tiryns, Mycenae, and Argos, in turn, had political preemi-
nence in this district, the Heraeum always remained the chief religious centre. And as
these three cities, in the early ages, were the most important political centres of Hellenic
civilization, the history of the Heraeum is an important part of the history of Greece.
Whenever these three political centres — Tiryns, Mycenae, and Argos — were distinct
and separate states, they clashed and struggled for preeminence. In the earliest days,
indeed (according to tradition the days of Phoroneus and his successors down to Abas),
there was unity of dominion over the " Argive" land; but, as we shall see, the sub-
division began under the sons of Abas; and from this time on, until the final supremacy
1 A clear definition of the name Argolis was not given
to the land before Roman times ; though Argos, with
all the confusing vacillation in the use of this term to
which I shall recur, certainly designated the same district
in the earliest period. It comprised three districts :
(1) the eastern peninsula, Acte, ('!) the northern slopes
from the mountains to the Gulf of Corinth, and (3) the
southern slope from these mountains down to the gulf of
Nauplia. The third portion is Argolis proper. The plain,
hounded by the Araelmaean range on the cast and the
mountains of Artemisium on the west,— which converge
at the northern end, while to the south the plain opens out
to the gulf, — was called Argos in the earliest prehistoric
time, and is the district to which we shall specifically
apply the term Argive. The original meaning of the
word "Apyos must have been lost to the later Greeks, so
that Stephanas Byzantinus explains it as a%^ov to-v ireSiW
kwto. 6d\aiT(Tav. But this meaning is too restricted, as is
evident from the existence of the Orestian Argos in the
interior of Macedonia, the Pelasgian in Thessaly, and the
modern survival of the term to designate small plains
surrounded by mountains in the interior of several islands.
(Cf. Kiepert, Lehrhucli der Alten Geographic, p. 271.) This
Argive plain is of light chalk soil, has much less rain-
fall than the western coast of Peloponnesus, and is thus
subjected to drought (7roAi/5nJ/ioc "Apyos). The mountain
streams run dry in the summer ; but in the rainy season
all combine to swrell the Inaehus. To sink wells is there-
fore of great importance in the present day and was so
in the earliest times, as is evident from the myths of the
Danaides. Danaus (explained as |ijp<fs by the gramma-
rians) is the inventor of the art of digging wells, and as
Archegetes of the Danaans, the inhabitants of the plain, is
himself a representative of the plain. Through this arti-
ficial irrigation by means of wells, the plain was and is
fertile in corn and pasture, iroXiirvpov, 'nrir6fSoTov "Apyos.