Sphaeria or Sphairia (), later called Hiera (Ἱερά), is a

former island A former island is a mass of land that was once an island, but has been joined to a mainland, another island, or engulfed by a body of water. The process of joining might be the result of volcanic activity, moving tidal sands, or through land re ...

ancient Argolis The regions of ancient Greece were sub-divisions of the Hellenic world as conceived by the ancient Greeks, shown by their presence in the works of ancient historians and geographers or in surviving legends and myths. Conceptually, there is no cl ...

described by Pausanias as in the immediate vicinity of

Calaureia Kalaureia () or Calauria or Kalavria () is an island close to the coast of Troezen in the Peloponnesus of mainland Greece, part of the modern island-pair Poros. Strabo describes the coastwise journey along the Hermionic Gulf: :The gulf begins at ...

, and separated from the mainland (

Peloponnesus The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic regions of Greece, geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the ...

) by a strait so narrow and shallow that there was a passage over it on foot. Pausanias wrote that on the island was the tomb of Sphaerus (), who was a charioteer of

Pelops In Greek mythology, Pelops (; ) was king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus region (, lit. "Pelops' Island"). He was the son of Tantalus and the father of Atreus. He was venerated at Olympia, where his cult developed into the founding myth of the ...

.Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2.33.1
/ref> In addition, he wrote that according to legend Aethra saw Athena in a dream, and Athena told her to go to the island to give offerings to Sphaerus. Aethra went to the island and

Poseidon Poseidon (; ) is one of the twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and mythology, presiding over the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 He was the protector of seafarers and the guardian of many Hellenic cit ...

had intercourse with her there. For this reason Aethra set up a temple of Athena Apaturia () on the island. Due to this the name of the island changed to Sacred (Ἱερά) Island. Furthermore, she also established a custom for the

Troezen Troezen (; ancient Greek: Τροιζήν, modern Greek: Τροιζήνα ) is a small town and a former municipality in the northeastern Peloponnese, Greece, on the Argolid Peninsula. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the munic ...

ian maidens of dedicating their girdles before wedlock to Athena Apaturia. At present there is only one island, now called

Poros Poros (; ) is a small Greek island-pair in the southern part of the Saronic Gulf, about south of the port of Piraeus and separated from the Peloponnese by a wide sea channel, with the town of Galatas on the mainland across the strait. Its surf ...

; but as this island consists of two hilly peninsulas united by a narrow sandbank,

William Martin Leake William Martin Leake FRS (14 January 17776 January 1860) was an English soldier, spy, topographer, diplomat, antiquarian, writer, and Fellow of the Royal Society. He served in the British Army, spending much of his career in the Mediterrane ...

concluded that this bank is of recent formation, and that the present island comprehends what was formerly the two islands of Calaureia and Sphaeria.

References

Populated places in ancient Argolis Former populated places in Greece Islands of Greece Former islands {{Greece-island-stub