ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF THE PERACHORA HERAION
Ancient sanctuary dedicated to the goddess Hera, founded in the century BC. Beach along the ruins, in a superb cove.
This site (Αρχαιολογικός Χώρος Ηραίου Περαχώρας/Archaiologikos Choros Iraiou Perachoras) enjoys a beautiful setting, on Cape Melagavi, at the western tip of the Perachora peninsula jutting out into the Gulf of Corinth. It houses the remains of a heraion: a sanctuary dedicated to Hera, goddess of marriage, protector of women and wife of Zeus. Founded in the 9th century BC, probably by the Corinthians, it was partly destroyed by the Romans in 146 BC and abandoned in the 4th century AD. The complex is linked to the myth of Medea: driven mad, she killed the two children she had with Jason and buried them here. The site was originally dedicated to a divinity likened to Akraia, Hera's nurse as a child. The remains of a dozen ancient structures can be seen here, including two temples to Hera and the church of Agios Ioannis Nisteftis, dedicated to the 6th-century patriarch of Constantinople, John IV the Fasting One. Built during excavations in 1931, the church takes its name from a Byzantine church whose ruins were discovered nearby. The most impressive part of the site lies beneath the cliffs of a pretty cove where you can swim: an ancient jetty, an apsidal hall (9th century BC), an altar (4th century BC) and the Doric temple of Hera Akraia (6th century BC). On the heights, near the temple of Hera Limenia (6th century BC), note the beautiful double-apse cistern (4th-6th centuries BC).
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