The Heraeum at Perachora, and the Early History of Corinth and Megara

Abstract

The excavations conducted by Payne from 1930 to 1933 at the Corinthian sanctuary of Hera on the tip of the Perachora peninsula have led to extensive revisions of early Corinthian and Megarian history. The main aim of Payne was to extend our knowledge of the early art and archaeology of Corinth, and in this respect his expectations of the site were brilliantly fulfilled; but the use that has been made of the evidence uncovered at the Heraeum has been much more wide-ranging. Payne himself (Perachora i. 21 f.) believed that although the sanctuary was situated in Corinthian territory the Argives played a central role in the foundation of its cult. Dunbabin (JHS lxviii (1948) 59 ff.) followed Payne in this conclusion and was thus led to reconsider the question of the foundation of Dorian Corinth; relying heavily on the supposedly Argive character of many of the finds from the Heraeum, he concluded that the city of Corinth itself was founded by Argives. Hammond, however, went further (BSA xlix (1954) 93 ff.). He argued, partly from the cult history of the sanctuary itself, and partly from indications in the literary sources, that the Heraeum was not Corinthian at all during the first years of its life, but Megarian; and that after a period of uncertainty in the late eighth century, when sometimes Corinth and sometimes Megara controlled the site, it finally became a Corinthian possession and the Megarians were never again able to make good their claim to the territory.

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