Half of one column from the Heraion at Samos has been reconstructed, scarcely hinting at the former glory of this sanctuary. A succession of temples stood in the marshy site, beginning with the late eighth-century hekatompedon or hundred-foot temple. One of the later temples was a truly gigantic Ionic structure with a forest of columns, which Herodotus (3.60) called the largest temple of his time. Among the dedications at the Samian Heraion were over thirty house models in stone and terracotta. The Hera sanctuaries at Argos and Perachora have also produced models with Geometric decoration, causing speculation that the houses are intended to represent the earliest temples, before the construction of hekatompeda. Given the fact that Hera’s temples are everywhere among the earliest attested, this is likely, but other explanations are possible. If the models represent chieftains’ houses, they could symbolize Hera’s association with political authority and social status.4
Figure 3.1 Terracotta house or temple model from Perachora. End of the ninth century. Athens, National Archaeological Museum. Bildarchiv Foto Marburg.
The center of the sanctuary, and its earliest feature, was the altar, which existed from the tenth century. Like the temple, it was rebuilt several times, culminating in a monumental 40 m structure.5 All this grandeur, however, came after the sanctuary was well established. While not of Panhellenic stature, its fortunes rose with those of the maritime state of Samos in the seventh and sixth centuries. Asius, a poet of this period, described the wealthy Samians visiting the sanctuary dressed in flowing white tunics, with long hair bound in golden bands, and adorned with gold cicadas. A stunning variety of imported objects was uncovered in the excavations: Egyptian ivories, Babylonian bronze figurines, and a collection of exotic animal trophies including crocodile and antelope skulls. In spite of the cosmopolitan nature of the sanctuary, the dedications show that it was also a local center of worship. The excavations turned up many humble, crudely carved vessels and figurines, as well as natural curiosities like coral and rock crystal.6
There were conflicting stories about the origins of the sanctuary and to what degree it was dependent on the Heraion at Argos. One tradition said that it was founded by the Argonauts, who brought the cult statue from Argos, while the Samians themselves said that Hera was born here under the lugos, a willow-like tree preserved in the sanctuary, and that the place was founded by non-Greek Karians. Still, their tradition allowed that the first Greek priestess of the sanctuary was the Argive Admete, daughter of
Eurystheus. Once, Karian pirates had attempted to steal the cult image of Hera, but found their ship immobilized when they placed the statue on board. Terrified, they left the image on the beach with a food offering and made their escape. There the searching Samians found it, and believing that it had run away, bound it to the lugos with the tree’s flexible branches. Admete herself purified the image and restored it to its place in the temple. This myth provided the background for the annual festival called the Tonaia (Binding), during which the goddess’ statue was carried to the sea, purified, and given a meal of barley-cakes. At some point during the rite, it was probably also bound with lugos branches. Celebrants at the feast wore wreaths made of lugos and reclined on beds of it. This festival has been interpreted as a drama of the deity’s disappearance and return, in which the recovery of the goddess is symbolic of the yearly cycle of vegetative abundance. A related possibility is that the drama expresses the Samians’ anxiety lest Hera, the protector of their city and guarantor of their good fortune, abandon them. The goddess is annually bound to her birthplace and her proper residence at Samos is reaffirmed. The myth itself asserts that even should outside forces attempt to move the goddess, she would express a preference for her home and actively resist leaving it.7
There are indeed indications that Hera at Samos was a goddess concerned with fertility. Among the objects dedicated to her were pinecones and pomegranates (real fruits as well as clay and ivory models), symbols of fecund reproduction. The offering of pomegranates, however, appears to cease after about 600. Joan V. O’Brien suggests that this is due to a shift in the perception of Hera, through which her role as bride of Zeus came to be emphasized over her earlier manifestation as a powerful, independent goddess. In any case, Hera’s role at Samos was never limited to assuring fertility, but must have been closely connected with the Samians’ successful trading ventures. Stylized wooden ship models were common votives, and in the Archaic period two full-size ships were dedicated in the sanctuary.8
The cult image of Samian Hera has been described by ancient witnesses as crudely carved and planklike. It was wooden, small and light enough to be carried annually to the shore for the Tonaia, but spent the rest of the year ensconced in the temple, dressed in rich garments and wearing a high crown. It also wore a pectoral ornament, resembling an extended collar or series of necklaces, which was characteristic of East Greek and Anatolian deities (the so-called “multiple breasts” of Artemis at Ephesos are another example). When the Samians built the huge Classical temple, they supplied it with a new cult image that resided in the cella, the normal location. The venerable old image was kept in the pronaos, or front room, of the temple. This arrangement was perhaps dictated by the need to keep the old image in its original location: its base in the pronaos stood on the same spot it had occupied in the cella of the old temple. As we have seen, keeping the goddess fixed in her proper place was a major cultic concern for the Samians.9
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