Sacred Wealth and Institutional Development at the Archaic Argive Heraion

by Evan Vance

Hesperia, Volume 94, Issue 3
Page(s): 343-395
Stable URL: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/970045
Year: 2025
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ABSTRACT:

This article reexamines three dedications by iaromnamones at the Argive Heraion dating to the early 5th century BCE (ca. 480-460). While these inscriptions were published around the turn of the 20th century, their importance for understanding the finances of Hera’s sanctuary at a crucial point in Argive history has not been appreciated. The inscriptions reveal that iaromnamones regularly froze Hera’s wealth as dedications, suggesting an apprehension about maintaining a sacred treasury in cash. By situating the inscriptions in their Archaic context, this article offers a new paradigm for understanding magistrate dedications as a form of public accountability and highlights the institutional complexity of communal resources in the early Greek polis.