DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2532#0035
14
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
(Upoa-v/xva, /jbolpa tov " Xpyovs)1 might lead one to believe that it bordered to the south
on the territory of Midea, and to the west on the territory of the city of Argos. It
would thus perhaps have included the site of such modern villages as Chonica, Anyphi,
and Pasia. But it is uncertain whether we have any right to include the passage from
Strabo as applying to the Prosymna of our Heraeum. The passage in Strabo, as it now
stands, tells us that Prosymna was near Midea, and also contained a temple of Hera.2
And though the coins of Midea have on the reverse a head of Hera Argeia,3 and that
place possibly may have had a small Hera temple of its own, it would be a curious
coincidence if it also had a district bordering on the Heraeum to which the same name
was given as to that of the adjoining Heraeum territory; still, the Greek of the passage
in Strabo, which, moreover, mentions the lepov (and he has been speaking of the Heraeum
but a page before this) without the article, points to a separate temple and a separate
Prosymna. In the time of Stephanus, we must remember (see above) that the term
Argos might well have been used to include the great sanctuary of that city, namely, the
Heraeum.
Pausanias begins his description of the Heraeum by telling us that " beside the road
flows a water which is called the Water of Freedom (Eleutherion)." And he subse-
quently informs us that " the Asterion [he calls it a. river, iroTaixoq. a few lines before]
Fig. G. — Site of Heraeum from the East.
The East Revma in the immediate foreground ; beyond it the three terraces : the Old Temple,
the Second Temple, and the South Stoa.
flowing above the Heraeum falls into a gully and disappears." Early travelers and topo-
graphers like Mure,4 whose whole scale of identification was smaller, saw the Asterion
m the Glykia stream which descends from the mountain behind the Heraeum, and
loses itself in the gully or Revma to the southeast of the temple rock; while the Eleu-
therion would be the present Revma-tou-Kastrou bordering the rock on the northeast.
This view was held also by us when Ave began our work at the Heraeum.5 But Captain
Steffen'i-
convincing arguments in favor of his new identification of this river have
1 Steph. Byz. S. V. TrplxTDfiva.
- Speaking of Midea he continues: rauri} 5' 'dp.opos Up6-
avixva [kuX\ aim) Upov ex0""7" "HPas- Unfortunately there
are nine or ten letters missing in one MS. between irpotrv
and avr-q. Kramer's note says : sed /iva modo sec. m.
restituit : inde Kal inn. cgh. Videtur autem seriptum
fllisse UpSaupLya effri, Kal avTf] K. T. A. — Kal —"Hpa? om. B
(sed sec. m. in marg. add.) /. Whatever is done, the
afcVi), and the omission of the article before lepov. point tn
a second temple.
8 Head, Historia Numor. p. .'570.
4 Journal, II. p. ISO.
6 Cf. C. L. Brownson, Amer. Journ. Arch. VIII. (1893),
p. 206.
0 L. c. pp. 40 ff.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
(Upoa-v/xva, /jbolpa tov " Xpyovs)1 might lead one to believe that it bordered to the south
on the territory of Midea, and to the west on the territory of the city of Argos. It
would thus perhaps have included the site of such modern villages as Chonica, Anyphi,
and Pasia. But it is uncertain whether we have any right to include the passage from
Strabo as applying to the Prosymna of our Heraeum. The passage in Strabo, as it now
stands, tells us that Prosymna was near Midea, and also contained a temple of Hera.2
And though the coins of Midea have on the reverse a head of Hera Argeia,3 and that
place possibly may have had a small Hera temple of its own, it would be a curious
coincidence if it also had a district bordering on the Heraeum to which the same name
was given as to that of the adjoining Heraeum territory; still, the Greek of the passage
in Strabo, which, moreover, mentions the lepov (and he has been speaking of the Heraeum
but a page before this) without the article, points to a separate temple and a separate
Prosymna. In the time of Stephanus, we must remember (see above) that the term
Argos might well have been used to include the great sanctuary of that city, namely, the
Heraeum.
Pausanias begins his description of the Heraeum by telling us that " beside the road
flows a water which is called the Water of Freedom (Eleutherion)." And he subse-
quently informs us that " the Asterion [he calls it a. river, iroTaixoq. a few lines before]
Fig. G. — Site of Heraeum from the East.
The East Revma in the immediate foreground ; beyond it the three terraces : the Old Temple,
the Second Temple, and the South Stoa.
flowing above the Heraeum falls into a gully and disappears." Early travelers and topo-
graphers like Mure,4 whose whole scale of identification was smaller, saw the Asterion
m the Glykia stream which descends from the mountain behind the Heraeum, and
loses itself in the gully or Revma to the southeast of the temple rock; while the Eleu-
therion would be the present Revma-tou-Kastrou bordering the rock on the northeast.
This view was held also by us when Ave began our work at the Heraeum.5 But Captain
Steffen'i-
convincing arguments in favor of his new identification of this river have
1 Steph. Byz. S. V. TrplxTDfiva.
- Speaking of Midea he continues: rauri} 5' 'dp.opos Up6-
avixva [kuX\ aim) Upov ex0""7" "HPas- Unfortunately there
are nine or ten letters missing in one MS. between irpotrv
and avr-q. Kramer's note says : sed /iva modo sec. m.
restituit : inde Kal inn. cgh. Videtur autem seriptum
fllisse UpSaupLya effri, Kal avTf] K. T. A. — Kal —"Hpa? om. B
(sed sec. m. in marg. add.) /. Whatever is done, the
afcVi), and the omission of the article before lepov. point tn
a second temple.
8 Head, Historia Numor. p. .'570.
4 Journal, II. p. ISO.
6 Cf. C. L. Brownson, Amer. Journ. Arch. VIII. (1893),
p. 206.
0 L. c. pp. 40 ff.