Heraea (Arcadia)

Heraea was, in the words of ancient sources, the most important town of ancient Arcadia on the lower Alpheius river, in the western Peloponnese near the modern village of Agios Ioannis in the municipality of Gortynia, Greece. Myth credited its founding to Heraeus, son of Lycaon, and the city sat on trade routes linking Olympia to inland Arcadia, forming an alliance with Elis around 580 BC and later joining the Achaean League. Excavated in 1931 by the archaeologist Alexander Philadelpheus, the site remains largely closed to the public.