Heraion of Samos - Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Heraion of Samos - Credit: Wikimedia Commons
The Heraion of Samos was a large sanctuary to the goddess Hera, on the island of Samos, Greece, 6 km southwest of the ancient city of Samos (modern Pythagoreion). It was located in the low, marshy basin of the Imbrasos river, near where it enters the sea. The late Archaic temple in the sanctuary was the first of the gigantic free-standing Ionic temples, but its predecessors at this site reached back to the Geometric Period of the 8th century BC,Cypriote terracotta votive objects date as early as the late 8th century (Gerhard Schmidt, Kyprische Bildwerke aus dem Heraion von Samos, (Samos, vol. VII) 1968). or earlier."The inconspicuous beginnings of the altar may perhaps date back to late Mycenaean times" observes the Heraion's excavator, Helmut Kyrieleis, in Kyrielis (1993), p. 128. As a testimony to the mercantile and naval power of Samos during Archaic Greece, and its exceptional architecture, the site of temple's ruins, with its sole standing column, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with the nearby archeological site Pythagoreion in 1992. Read more on Wikipedia
Source: en.wikipedia.org