The Heraion at Perachora was among the richest minor sanctuaries in Greece. Literary sources are almost completely silent about this sanctuary, but the archaeological finds show that it was of great importance during the Archaic period. In the territory of the prosperous mercantile state of Korinth, it was founded in the eighth century and saw the construction of yet another of the very early temples to Hera we have noted. The first temple had a curved (apsidal) back wall and was only about 7.5 m in length. Nothing is known about the cult image, but the goddess here was called Hera Akraia (of the Headland), a reference to the Perachora promontory on which the sanctuary was situated near a small harbor. Sixth-century dedications to Hera Limenia (of the Harbor) have also been found; surprisingly, these appear on a terrace above the harbor itself and the main part of the sanctuary. An Archaic structure on the terrace, once thought to be a separate temple of Hera Limenia, is now considered an auxiliary building, probably a dining room. Blocks used in this building contain dedications to Hera under yet another title, Hera Leukolene (of the White Arms). These early (seventh - and sixth-century) dedications echo one of Homer’s favorite epithets for Hera (e. g. II. 5.711, 8.381, etc.).
The pattern of votives shows that this was an important cult site for local people, as well as for sailors traveling up and down the Gulf of Korinth. The many imported objects, including Egyptian-style scarabs and Phoenician bronzes, illustrate the wide trading contacts of the Archaic Korinthians. The earliest, eighth-century temple at the harbor was accompanied by a deposit of Geometric votive objects, including drinking vessels, wine jugs, clay models of cakes presented as offerings to the goddess (koulouria), and house models. This temple was replaced in the sixth century with a new Doric stone temple, and a monumental altar was added. North of the altar the excavators found a flight of steps, which probably functioned as a spectator area for viewing the sacrifices.10
The myth of Medeia, the young sorceress whom Jason brought back from his travels in the Black Sea, is best known from the play by Euripides. This work portrays her as a spurned wife who kills her children by Jason in order to avenge herself for his abandonment, then buries the children in the sanctuary of Hera Akraia and founds their cult (Eur. Med. 1378-83). There were, however, other myths about how the children of Medeia died. According to one, Medeia took each of her children in turn to the sanctuary of Hera to “hide them away” (katakruptein), thinking that this operation would make them immortal. (The word may mean that she buried them.) When her hopes were disappointed and Jason discovered what she had done, he abandoned her. Another version held that Medeia instructed her children to bring a poisoned robe to her rival Glauke. When Glauke perished as a result of the gift, the enraged Korinthians stoned the innocent children. The murdered children took a supernatural vengeance by causing Korinthian infants to die, until the desperate citizens consulted an oracle and were told to institute annual sacrifices to Medeia’s children. They also set up a statue known as Deima, or Terror, which took the form of “a frightening woman.” In antiquity, infant mortality was often attributed to female demons (Mormo, Lamia) who had a hideous appearance; the statue seems to have been designed to ward off such malign influences. Other sources tell us more about the relationship between the children’s cult and that of Hera. Every year, seven boys and seven girls from noble families were dressed in black and sent to live in the sanctuary of Hera Akraia (it is unclear whether this refers to a sanctuary in Korinth itself, since no such sanctuary has been identified, or to that at Perachora). They cut their hair and dedicated it to Medeia’s children, and presumably participated in the threnoi, or laments, sung for the children, and the enagismata, or sacrifices for the dead.11
All these myths and related customs have been taken as evidence of a real (in the distant past) or symbolic child sacrifice to appease hostile divine forces, or as an initiation rite by which the youths and maidens, after a period of separation from the community, reached adult status. Certainly they indicate that the Korinthians thought it was necessary to devote elite children to the service of the goddess, and that upon this service depended the health and welfare of the entire community’s children. The rituals originally may have been conducted for Medeia herself, since some scholars view her as a divine figure whose cult was superseded by Hera’s.12
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