The sanctuary of Hera on Samos, has a long history reaching back to the Bronze Age. The origin and early history of the Samian Heraion remained, however, for a long time obscure because the excavations of the thirties and the sixties of the 20th century in the heart of the sanctuary were for different reasons not definitely published. This had as consequences controversial discussions about cult continuity or not between the Bronze and Iron Age and about the datings of the early altars and the earliest temples (Hekatompedoi I and II). Based on a manuscript of the excavators of the sixties, supplemental excavations and the systematic study of the dating pottery it is now possible to follow the continuous early history of the sanctuary from its Minoan foundation in the 17th century B.C. over its Mycenaean, Protogeometric, Geometric and early Archaic periods to the 6th century B.C., in the first half of which the sanctuary passed through an immense quantum leap with the building of Dipteros I, the first monumental temple in Ionia, followed in the second half of the century by Dipteros II, initiated by the famous tyrant Polykrates