Heraia Games Festival, ‘Sanctuary of Hera, Argos (The Argive Heraion)’ Warwick Classics and Ancient History
After Argos destroyed Mycenae, Tiryns and Midea, there were hekatoid games dedicated to Hera. At the end of the 3rd century BC, these honourific games were relocated to Argos and called the Heraia.
In the Heraia, an oxen-pulled chariot transported the priestess of Hera through the fields, where the oxen work, to the sanctuary. This could be a sort of sacred ploughing; all the participants moving slowly behind the priestess, through the communal fields. Hera is the goddess of fertility, this journey through the fields is symbolic of a successful farming. The procession included armed men; perhaps it was due to the Classical era, when bronze shields were awarded to the winners of games dedicated to Hera.
The origin of this tradition for oxen pulling the chariot comes from the story of Kleobis and Biton as shown below. Another reason is that there is a myth telling how the river Asterion’s three daughters raised Hera. The Asterion was the river which ran along her sanctuary. The mountain behind the sanctuary is named after Euboia, one of the three daughters of Asterion.
'The hill opposite the Heraeum they name after Acraea, the environs of the sanctuary they name after Euboea, and the land beneath the Heraeum after Prosymna. This Asterion flows above the Heraeum, and falling into a cleft disappears. On its banks grows a plant, which also is called asterion. They offer the plant itself to Hera, and from its leaves weave her garlands.' Pausanias (2.17.2)
The use of oxen may be due to Greek mythology; the priestess of Argive Hera, Io, was turned into a white cow by Hera to prevent her from being seduced by Zeus. This and the story of Kleobis and Biton, show early on in history, Argos was trying to exert their influence in the Archaic period by tieing the site to mythology regarding their polis.
Hera had an important place in the Argive community. It was she that saw children transitioning into adults. Virgin Argive girls were included in the Heraia and performed choral dances in honour of Hera.
