Heroes played a vital part in cult worship because of their human experiences, from which the immortal gods were barred. The integration of heroes, warriors and gods in temple sculpture provided a way for the divine gods and the mortal heroes (both mythical and local) to be worshipped together.
An example of this was at the Temple of Aphaea on Aegina, an island southwest of Athens. A variety of gods, heroes and warriors were included on its intricately detailed pediments, which were sculpted around 475 BCE and illustrated the Sack of Troy. This plaster cast is of a marble head of an unnamed warrior discovered at the temple site in 1901.
The goddess Aphaea, whose origins go back to the Bronze Age, was worshipped almost exclusively on Aegina as a fertility and agricultural goddess.
