Sphaeria or Sphairia ( grc, Σφαιρία), 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 ...

of ancient Argolis described by

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: *Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC *Pausanias of Sicily, physician of th ...

as in the immediate vicinity of

Calaureia Kalaureia ( grc, Καλαυρεία) or Calauria or Kalavria ( ell, Καλαυρία) 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 ...

, and separated from the mainland (

Peloponnesus The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridge which ...

) 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 ( grc, Σφαίρος), 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 Oly ...

.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 (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as a ch ...

had intercourse with her there. For this reason Aethra set up a temple of Athena Apaturia ( grc, Ἀθηνᾶς Ἀπατουρίας) on the island. Due to this the name of the island changed to Sacred (Ἱερά) Island. Furthermore, she also established a custom for the Troezenian maidens of dedicating their girdles before wedlock to Athena Apaturia. At present there is only one island, now called

Poros Poros ( el, Πόρος) is a small Greece, Greek island-pair in the southern part of the Saronic Gulf, about south from the port of Piraeus and separated from the Peloponnese by a wide sea channel, with the town of Galatas, Troizina, Galatas on ...

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

William Martin Leake William Martin Leake (14 January 17776 January 1860) was an English military man, topographer, diplomat, antiquarian, writer, and Fellow of the Royal Society. He served in the British military, 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