Heroon

A heroön or heroon (plural heroa) (; Ancient Greek: ἡρῷον, romanized: hērôion, pl. ἡρῷα, hērôia), also Latinized as heroum, was, in the ancient Greco-Roman world, a shrine dedicated to a hero and used in the practice of hero cult ritual. A heroön was often built over what was traditionally identified as a hero's tomb or cenotaph. Heroa were erected from the time of archaic Greece to the Augustan Roman period, from the 9th century BC to the first century AD. The practice was widespread in the ancient world; ruins of heroa have been found in Ai-Khanoum in Afghanistan.