Hera presiding over and protecting married life and child-birth. Finally, immediately to the north of this western stoa there is an extensive house of Roman times also connected with baths.
While the buildings give archaeological evidence for every period of Greek life and history from the pre-Mycenaean period down to Roman times, the topography itself shows that the Heraeum must have been constructed before Mycenae and without any regard to it. The foothills which it occupies form the western boundary to the Argive plain as it stretches down towards the sea in the Gulf of Nauplia. While it was thus probably chosen as the earliest site for a citadel facing the sea, its second period points towards Tiryns and Midea. It could not have been built as the sanctuary of Mycenae, which was placed farther up towards the north-west in the hills, and could not be seen from the Heraeum, its inhabitants again not being able to see their sanctuary. The west building, the traces of bridges and roads, show that at one time it did hold some relation to Mycenae; but this was long after its foundation or the building of the huge Cyclopean supporting wall which is coeval with the walls of Tiryns, these again being earlier than those of Mycenae. There are, moreover, traces of still more primitive walls, built of rude small stones placed one upon the other without mortar, which are in character earlier than those of Tiryns, and have their parallel in the lowest layers of Hissarlik.
Bearing out the evidence of tradition as well as architecture, the numerous finds of individual objects in terra-cotta figurines, vases, bronzes, engraved stones, &c., point to organized civilized life on this site many generations before Mycenae was built, a fortiori before the life as depicted by Homer flourished—nay, before, as tradition has it, under Proetus the walls of Tiryns were erected. We are aided in forming some estimate of the chronological sequence preceding the Mycenaean age, as suggested by the finds of the Heraeum, in the new distribution which Dörpfeld has been led to make of the chronological stratification of Hissarlik. For the layer, which he now assigns to the Mycenaean period, is the sixth stratum from below. Now, as some of the remains at the Heraeum correspond to the two lowest layers of Hissarlik, the evidence of the Argive temple leads us far beyond the date assigned to the Mycenaean age, and at least into the second millennium B.C. (see also Aegean Civilization). As to its chronological relation to the Cretan sites—Cnossus, Phaestus, &c., and the “Minoan” civilization as determined by Dr A. Evans, see the discussion under Crete.
This sanctuary still holds a position of central importance as illustrating the art of the highest period in Greek history, namely, the art of the 5th century B.C. under the great sculptor Polyclitus. Though the excavations in the second temple have clearly revealed the outlines of the base upon which the great gold and ivory statue of Hera stood, it is needless to say that no trace of the statue itself has been found. From Pausanias we learn that “the image of Hera is seated and is of colossal size: it is made of gold and ivory, and is the work of Polyclitus.” Based on the computations made by the architect of the American excavations, E. L. Tilton, on the ground of the height of the nave, the total height of the image, including the base and the top of the throne, would be about 26 ft., the seated figure of the goddess herself about 18 ft. It is probable that the face, neck, arms and feet were of ivory, while the rest of the figure was draped in gold. Like the Olympian Zeus of Pheidias, Hera was seated on an elaborately decorated throne, holding in her left hand the sceptre, surmounted in her case by the cuckoo (as that of Zeus had an eagle), and in her right, instead of an elaborate figure of Victory (such as the Athena Parthenos and the Olympian Zeus held), simply a pomegranate. The crown was adorned with figures of Graces and the Seasons. A Roman imperial coin of Antoninus Pius shows us on a reduced scale the general composition of the figure; while contemporary Argive coins of the 5th century give a fairly adequate rendering of the head. A further attempt has been made to identify the head in a beautiful marble bust in the British Museum hitherto known as Bacchus (Waldstein, Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. xxi., 1901, pp. 30 seq.)
We also learn from Pausanias that the temple was decorated with “sculptures over the columns, representing some the birth of Zeus and the battle of the gods and giants, others the Trojan War and the taking of Ilium.” It was formerly supposed that the phrase “over the columns” pointed to the existence of sculptured metopes, but no pedimental groups. Finds made in the excavations, however, have shown that the temple also had pedimental groups. Besides numerous fragments of nude and draped figures belonging to pedimental statues, a well-preserved and very beautiful head of a female divinity, probably Hera, as well as a draped female torso of excellent workmanship, both belonging to the pediments, have been discovered. Of the metopes also a great number of fragments have been found, together with two almost complete metopes, the one containing the torso of a nude warrior in perfect preservation, as well as ten well-preserved heads. These statues bear the same relation to the sculptor Polyclitus which the Parthenon marbles hold to Pheidias; and the excavations have thus yielded most important material for the illustration of the Argive art of Polyclitus in the 5th century B.C.
See Waldstein, The Argive Heraeum (vol. i., Boston and New York, 1902; vol. ii., the Vases by J. C. Hoppin, the Bronzes by H. F. de Cosa, 1905); Excavations of the American School of Athens at the Heraion of Argos (1892); and numerous reports and articles in the American Archaeological Journal since 1892. (C. W.*)
ARGOSTOLI (anc. Cephallenia), the capital of Cephalonia (one of the Ionian islands), and the seat of a bishop of the Greek church. Pop. about 10,000. It possesses an excellent harbour, a quay a mile in length, and a fine bridge. Shipbuilding and silk-spinning are carried on. Near at hand are the ruins of Cranii, which afford fine examples of Greek military architecture; and at the west side of the harbour there is a curious stream, flowing from the sea, and employed to drive mills before losing itself in caverns inland.
See Sir C. Fellows’s Journal of an Excursion in Asia Minor in 1838, and Wiebel’s Die Insel Kephalonia und die Meermühlen von Argostoli (Hamburg, 1873).
ARGOSY (a corruption, by transposition of letters, of the name of the seaport Ragusa), the term originally for a carrack or merchant ship from Ragusa and other Adriatic ports, now used poetically of any vessel carrying rich merchandise. In English writings of the 16th century the seaport named is variously spelt Ragusa, Aragouse or Aragosa, and ships coming thence were named Ragusyes, Arguzes and Argosies; the last form surviving and passing into literature. The incorrect derivation from Jason’s ship, the “Argo,” is of modern origin.
ARGUIN, an island (identified by some writers with Hanno’s Cerne), off the west coast of Africa, a little south of Cape Blanco, in 20° 25′ N., 16° 37′ W. It is some 4 m. long by 2½ broad, produces gum-arabic, and is the seat of a lucrative turtle-fishery. Off the island, which was discovered by the Portuguese in the 15th century, are extensive and very dangerous reefs. Arguin was occupied in turn by Portuguese, Dutch, English and French; and to France it now belongs. The aridity of the soil and the bad anchorage prevent a permanent settlement. The fishery is mostly carried on by inhabitants of the Canary Isles. In July 1816 the French frigate “Medusa,” which carried officers on their way to Senegal to take possession of that country for France, was wrecked off Arguin, 350 lives being lost.
ARGUMENT, a word meaning “proof,” “evidence,” corresponding in English to the Latin word argumentum, from which it is derived; the originating Latin verb arguere, to make clear, from which comes the English “argue,” is from a root meaning bright, appearing in Greek ἀργής, white. From its primary sense are derived such applications of the word as a chain of reasoning, a fact or reason given to support a proposition, a discussion of the evidence or reasons for or against some theory or proposition and the like. More particularly “argument” means a synopsis of the contents of a book, the outline of a novel, play, &c. In logic it is used for the middle term in a syllogism, and for many species of fallacies, such as the argumentum ad hominem, ad baculum, &c. (see Fallacy). In mathematics the term has received special meanings; in mathematical tables
