Heroön

A heroön or heroon (plural heroa) (/hɪˈroʊ.ɒn/; Ancient Greek: ἡρῷον, romanized: hērôion, pl.

They were erected from the time of archaic Greece to the Augustan Roman period, and as far afield as Ai-Khanoum in Afghanistan.

Heroes played a central role in the life of a polis, giving the city a shared focus for its identity.

Similarly, Herodotus records in his Histories that the Spartans raided the heroön of the city of Tegea, stealing the bones of Orestes.

This was regarded as changing the hero's allegiance from Tegea to Sparta, ensuring that the Spartans could defeat the Tegeans as foretold by the Oracle of Delphi.

Many examples of heroa can be found around the tholos tombs of Mycenaean Greece and in or near the sacred areas of a number of Greek cities around the Mediterranean.

[2] A well-preserved Roman heroön from the Augustan period is situated in the ancient city of Sagalassos in what is now Turkey.

This grave group includes a large bronze sword, gold rings, jewels, and crafted seals.

[7] One of these remains is the hero himself, who can be identified by the hunting scene found on his amphora, as well as the many swords that were left by his tomb as grave gifts.

This heroön, known as the oratory of Phalaris, was much more similar to classical architecture, with the building being prostyle, tetrastyle, and having columns in the Ionic order and both triglyphs and metopes, as in the Doric style.