The Significance of Votive Offerings in Selected Hera Sanctuaries in the Peloponnese, Ionia and Western Greece

The goddess Hera is associated with pregnancy, childbirth, marriage, the home and family, agriculture and vegetation, and military matters. A number of sanctuaries, heraia, were built to honour the goddess and to house the cult activities associated with her. This study looks at votive offerings from six heraia, at Perachora, Argos, Tiryns, two at Poseidonia-Paestum and the Samian heraion in Ionia, to determine the nature of these cult activities. Each sanctuary is examined individually and then the evidence is compared providing a discussion of Hera's cult on a `panhellenic, polis, and private level'. The study of votive offerings period-by-period also allows some speculation on the development of the cult through time.