The Altars of Zeus and Hera on Mt. Arachnaion in the Argeia, Greece

Abstract

Pausanias (ii.25.10), who traveled extensively in Greece in the 2nd century A.C., mentioned the existence of two altars of Zeus and Hera on Mount Arachnaion above the village of Lessa in the A rgeia of the Greek Peloponessos. Two travellers in the early 19th century climbed to the saddle between the two peaks of the mountain and saw there a quadrangular enclosure wall ofpolygonal masonry on a low hill which they assumed to be the site of these altars. Since then this identification has been accepted by most scholars, including J. G. Frazer. Since most a/tars of Zeus are found on or near the top of the mountains, I climbed the mountain to check this attribution.A section of a crude polygonal retaining wall exists on the hill but no traces of the altars were found. Obsidian bladelets and sherds found on the surface suggest that the wall might mark the location of a farmstead or small settlement dating as early as the Bronze Age. On the summit of the western peak of the mountain two low foundations of rubble masonry and three concentrations of sherds and burnt animal bone fragments in a blackish-brown soil matrix were discovered. One of the foundations must represent the ruins of the chapel of H agios Elias known once to have stood on the summit. The sherd concentrations, which date from the mid-8th century B.C. through at least the 6th century B.C., must represent remains associated with the altars of Zeus and Hera.

Composition and interpretation of stratified deposits in ancestral Hopi villages at Homol’ovi

“…Hopi use ash to mark individuals during Wuwtsim to protect them from spiritual contamination (Parsons 1939;Titiev 1944). Archaeologically in Greece, the ash altars to Zeus (Rupp 1976) represent extensive offerings or sacrifices. Prior to construction of Mound A at Poverty Point, burning and the resulting ash and charcoal were used to cleanse the ground and prepare it for construction of the mound (Kidder et al 2004;Sherwood and Kidder 2011).…”

Η Μάχαιρα Στην Αρχαία Ελληνική Λατρεία

“…2.25.10: ἔστι δὲ ὄρος ὑπὲρ τῆς Λήσσης τὸ Ἀραχναῖον, πάλαι δὲ †σάπυς ἐλάτων ἐπὶ Ἰνάχου τὸ ὄνομα εἰλήφει. βωμοὶ δέ εἰσιν ἐν αὐτῷ Διός τε καὶ Ἥρας: δεῆσαν ὄμβρου σφίσιν ἐνταῦθα θύουσι.1383 Rupp 1976.…”