Hera

For other uses, see Hera (disambiguation).

Hera
Goddess of marriage, women, childbirth, and family

The Campana Hera, a Roman copy of a Hellenistic original, from the Louvre
Abode Mount Olympus
Symbol Pomegranate, peacock feather, diadem, cow, lily, lotus, cuckoo, panther, scepter, throne, lion
Consort Zeus
Parents Cronus and Rhea
Siblings Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, Hestia, Zeus, Chiron
Children Angelos, Ares, Eileithyia, Enyo, Eris, Hebe, Hephaestus
Mount Chariot drawn by peacocks
Roman equivalent Juno

Hera (/ˈhɛrə/, /ˈhɪərə/, Greek Ἥρᾱ, Hērā, equivalently Ἥρη, Hērē, in Ionic and Homer) is the daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. She is one of six children and along with her siblings, became the Gods and Goddesses of Greek mythology and religion. She is married to her brother Zeus and is known as the Queen of Heaven. Hera is known as the goddess of women and marriage and some of her characteristics include her jealous and vengeful nature against Zeus's other lovers and offspring and against the mortals who cross her. She is also commonly seen with the animals she considers sacred including the cow, lion and the peacock.

Her counterpart in the religion of ancient Rome was Juno.[1]

Portrayed as majestic and solemn, often enthroned, and crowned with the polos (a high cylindrical crown worn by several of the Great Goddesses), Hera may hold a pomegranate in her hand, emblem of fertile blood and death and a substitute for the narcotic capsule of the opium poppy.[2] Scholar of Greek mythology Walter Burkert writes in Greek Religion, "Nevertheless, there are memories of an earlier aniconic representation, as a pillar in Argos and as a plank in Samos."[3]

Etymology

The name of Hera may have several of mutually exclusive etymologies; one possibility is to connect it with Greek ὥρα hōra, season, and to interpret it as ripe for marriage and according to Plato ἐρατή eratē, "beloved"[4] as Zeus is said to have married her for love.[5] According to Plutarch, Hera was an allegorical name and an anagram of aēr (ἀήρ, "air").[6] So begins the section on Hera in Walter Burkert's Greek Religion.[7] In a note, he records other scholars' arguments "for the meaning Mistress as a feminine to Heros, Master." John Chadwick, a decipherer of Linear B, remarks "her name may be connected with hērōs, ἥρως, 'hero', but that is no help, since it too is etymologically obscure."[8] A. J. van Windekens,[9] offers "young cow, heifer", which is consonant with Hera's common epithet βοῶπις (boōpis, "cow-eyed"). R. S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin.[10] Her name is attested in Mycenaean Greek written in the Linear B syllabic script as 𐀁𐀨, e-ra, appearing on tablets found in Pylos and Thebes.[11]

Cult

Hera may have been the first the Greeks dedicated an enclosed roofed temple sanctuary to, at Samos about 800 BCE. It was replaced later by the Heraion, one of the largest of all Greek temples (Greek altars were in front of the temples, under the open sky). There were many temples built on this site so evidence is somewhat confusing and archaeological dates are uncertain.

The temple created by the Rhoecus sculptors and architects was destroyed between 570-560 BCE. This was replaced by the Polycratean temple 540-530 BCE. In one of these temples we see a forest of 155 columns. There is also no evidence of tiles on this temple suggesting either the temple was never finished or that the temple was open to the sky.

Earlier sanctuaries, whose dedication to Hera is less certain, were of the Mycenaean type called "house sanctuaries".[12] Samos excavations have revealed votive offerings, many of them late 8th and 7th centuries BCE, which show that Hera at Samos was not merely a local Greek goddess of the Aegean: the museum there contains figures of gods and suppliants and other votive offerings from Armenia, Babylon, Iran, Assyria, Egypt, testimony to the reputation which this sanctuary of Hera enjoyed and to the large influx of pilgrims. Compared to this mighty goddess, who also possessed the earliest temple at Olympia and two of the great fifth and sixth century temples of Paestum, the termagant of Homer and the myths is an "almost...comic figure" according to Burkert.[13]

The Temple of Hera at Agrigento, Magna Graecia.

Though greatest and earliest free-standing temple to Hera was the Heraion of Samos, in the Greek mainland Hera was especially worshipped as "Argive Hera" (Hera Argeia) at her sanctuary that stood between the former Mycenaean city-states of Argos and Mycenae,[14] where the festivals in her honor called Heraia were celebrated. "The three cities I love best," the ox-eyed Queen of Heaven declares (Iliad, book iv) "are Argos, Sparta and Mycenae of the broad streets." There were also temples to Hera in Olympia, Corinth, Tiryns, Perachora and the sacred island of Delos. In Magna Graecia, two Doric temples to Hera were constructed at Paestum, about 550 BCE and about 450 BCE. One of them, long called the Temple of Poseidon was identified in the 1950s as a second temple there of Hera.[15]

In Euboea the festival of the Great Daedala, sacred to Hera, was celebrated on a sixty-year cycle.

Hera's importance in the early archaic period is attested by the large building projects undertaken in her honor. The temples of Hera in the two main centers of her cult, the Heraion of Samos and the Heraion of Argos in the Argolid, were the very earliest monumental Greek temples constructed, in the 8th century BCE.

Importance

According to Walter Burkert, both Hera and Demeter have many characteristic attributes of Pre-Greek Great Goddesses.[16]

According to the Homeric Hymn III to Delian Apollo, Hera detained Eileithyia to already prevent Leto from going into labor with Artemis and Apollo, since the father was Zeus. The other goddesses present at the birthing on Delos sent Iris to bring her. As she stepped upon the island, the divine birth began. In the myth of the birth of Heracles, it is Hera herself who sits at the door instead, delaying the birth of Heracles until her protégé, Eurystheus, had been born first.

The Homeric Hymn to Pythian Apollo makes the monster Typhaon the offspring of archaic Hera in her Minoan form, produced out of herself, like a monstrous version of Hephaestus, and whelped in a cave in Cilicia.[17] She gave the creature to Python to raise.

Roman copy of a Greek 5th century Hera of the "Barberini Hera" type, from the Museo Chiaramonti

In the Temple of Hera at Olympia, Hera's seated cult figure was older than the warrior figure of Zeus that accompanied it. Homer expressed her relationship with Zeus delicately in the Iliad, in which she declares to Zeus, "I am Cronus' eldest daughter, and am honourable not on this ground only, but also because I am your wife, and you are king of the gods."[18] Though Zeus is often called Zeus Heraios 'Zeus, (consort) of Hera', Homer's treatment of Hera is less than respectful, and in late anecdotal versions of the myths (see below) she appeared to spend most of her time plotting revenge on the nymphs seduced by her consort, for Hera upheld all the old right rules of Hellene society and sorority.

Matriarchy

There has been considerable scholarship, reaching back to Johann Jakob Bachofen in the mid-nineteenth century,[19] about the possibility that Hera, whose early importance in Greek religion is firmly established, was originally the goddess of a matriarchal people, presumably inhabiting Greece before the Hellenes. In this view, her activity as goddess of marriage established the patriarchal bond of her own subordination: her resistance to the conquests of Zeus is rendered as Hera's "jealousy", the main theme of literary anecdotes that undercut her ancient cult.[20]

However, it remains a controversial claim that primitive matriarchy existed in Greece or elsewhere.[21]

Origin and Birth

Hera is the daughter of the youngest Titan Cronus and his wife, and sister, Rhea. Cronus was fated to be overthrown by one of his children; to prevent this, he swallows all of his newborn children whole until Rhea tricked him into swallowing a stone instead of her youngest child, Zeus. Zeus grew up in secret and then he tricks his father into regurgitating his siblings, including Hera. He then leads the revolt against the Titans, banishes them, divides the dominion over the world with his brothers Poseidon and Hades. [22]

Youth

Hera was most known as the matron goddess, Hera Teleia; but she presided over weddings as well. In myth and cult, fragmentary references and archaic practices remain of the sacred marriage of Hera and Zeus,[23] and at Plataea, there was a sculpture of Hera seated as a bride by Callimachus, as well as the matronly standing Hera.[24]

Hera was also worshipped as a virgin: there was a tradition in Stymphalia in Arcadia that there had been a triple shrine to Hera the Girl (Παις [Pais]), the Adult Woman (Τελεια [Teleia]), and the Separated (Χήρη [Chḗrē] 'Widowed' or 'Divorced').[25] In the region around Argos, the temple of Hera in Hermione near Argos was to Hera the Virgin.[26] At the spring of Kanathos, close to Nauplia, Hera renewed her virginity annually, in rites that were not to be spoken of (arrheton).[27] The Female figure, showing her "Moon" over the lake is also appropriate, as Hebe, Hera, and Hecate; new moon, full moon, and old moon in that order and otherwise personified as the Virgin of spring, The Mother of Summer, and the destroying Crone of Autumn.[28][29]

Emblems

In Hellenistic imagery, Hera's chariot was pulled by peacocks, birds not known to Greeks before the conquests of Alexander. Alexander's tutor, Aristotle, refers to it as "the Persian bird." The peacock motif was revived in the Renaissance iconography that unified Hera and Juno, and which European painters focused on.[30] A bird that had been associated with Hera on an archaic level, where most of the Aegean goddesses were associated with "their" bird, was the cuckoo, which appears in mythic fragments concerning the first wooing of a virginal Hera by Zeus.

Her archaic association was primarily with cattle, as a Cow Goddess, who was especially venerated in "cattle-rich" Euboea. On Cyprus, very early archaeological sites contain bull skulls that have been adapted for use as masks (see Bull (mythology)). Her familiar Homeric epithet Boôpis, is always translated "cow-eyed". In this respect, Hera bears some resemblance to the Ancient Egyptian deity Hathor, a maternal goddess associated with cattle.

Epithets

Hera bore several epithets in the mythological tradition, including:

Marriage and Zeus

Hera is known for her jealousy and even Zeus, who is known to fear nothing, fears her tantrums. Zeus fell in love with Hera but she refused his first marriage proposal. Zeus then preys on her empathy for animals and other beings, created a thunderstorm and transforms himself into a little cuckoo. As a cuckoo, Zeus pretends to be in distress outside her window. Hera, feeling pity towards the bird brings it inside and holds it to her breast to warm it. Zeus then transforms back into himself and takes advantage of her. Hera, ashamed of being exploited, agrees to marriage with Zeus. All of nature burst into bloom for their wedding and many gifts were exchanged.[36]

Children and Zeus

Hera presides over the right arrangements of the marriage and is the archetype of the union in the marriage bed, but she is not notable as a mother. The legitimate offspring of her union with Zeus are Ares (the god of war), Hebe (the goddess of youth), Hephaestus (the god of fire and the forge) and Eileithyia (goddess of childbirth).[37][38] Eris (the goddess of discord) and Enyo (a war goddess responsible with the destruction of cities and attendant of Ares) are also mentioned as daughters of Zeus and Hera, though Homer equates Enyo with Eris. In an alternative version, Hera alone produced Hebe after being impregnated by a head of lettuce.[39]

In another tradition, attested by Hesiod, Hera was jealous of Zeus' giving birth to Athena without recourse to her (actually with Metis), so she gave birth to Hephaestus without him,[40] though in some stories, he is the son of her and Zeus. Hera was then disgusted with Hephaestus' ugliness and threw him from Mount Olympus. Hephaestus gained revenge against Hera for rejecting him by making her a magical throne which, when she sat on, did not allow her to leave. The other gods begged Hephaestus to return to Olympus to let her go, but he repeatedly refused. Dionysus got him drunk and took him back to Olympus on the back of a mule. Hephaestus released Hera after being given Aphrodite as his wife.[41]

Angelos (an underworld goddess), whose story only survives in scholia on Theocritus' Idyll 2, is also mentioned as a daughter of Zeus and Hera. She was raised by nymphs. One day she stole Hera's anointments and gave them away to Europe. To escape her mother's wrath, she tried to hide herself. Hera eventually ceased from prosecuting her, and Zeus ordered the Cabeiroi to cleanse Angelos. They performed the purification rite in the waters of the Acherusia Lake in the Underworld. Consequently, she received the world of the dead as her realm of influence, and was assigned an epithet katachthonia ("she of the underworld").[42]

According to the Homeric Hymn to Apollo (6th century BC), it was Typhon who was the parthenogenous child of Hera, whom she bore alone as a revenge at Zeus who had given birth to Athena. Hera prayed to Gaia to give her a son as strong as Zeus, then slapped the ground and became pregnant.[43] Hera gave the infant Typhon to the serpent Python to raise, and Typhon grew up to become a great bane to mortals.[44] The b scholia to Iliad 2.783, however, has Typhon born in Cilicia as the offspring of Cronus. Gaia, angry at the destruction of the Giants, slanders Zeus to Hera. So Hera goes to Cronus and he gives Hera two eggs smeared with his own semen, telling her to bury them, and that from them would be born one who would overthrow Zeus. Hera, angry at Zeus, buries the eggs in Cilicia "under Arimon", but when Typhon is born, Hera, now reconciled with Zeus, informs him.[45]

Heracles

Heracles strangling the snakes sent by Hera, Attic red-figured stamnos, ca. 480–470 BCE. From Vulci, Etruria.

Hera is the stepmother and enemy of Heracles, whose name means "Hera-famous"[46] in her honor; Heracles is the hero who, more than even Perseus, Cadmus or Theseus, introduced the Olympian ways in Greece.[47] When Alcmene was pregnant with Heracles, Hera tried to prevent the birth from occurring by tying Alcmene's legs in knots. She was foiled by Galanthis, her servant, who told Hera that she had already delivered the baby. Hera punished Galanthis by turning her into a weasel.

While Heracles was still an infant, Hera sent two serpents to kill him as he lay in his cot. Heracles throttled a single snake in each hand and was found by his nurse playing with their limp bodies as if they were a child's toys. The anecdote[48] is built upon a representation of the hero gripping a serpent in each hand, precisely as the familiar Minoan snake-handling goddesses had once done. "The picture of a divine child between two serpents may have been long familiar to the Thebans, who worshiped the Cabeiri, although not represented as a first exploit of a hero".[49]

Later she stirred up the Amazons against him when he was on one of his quests.

One account[50] of the origin of the Milky Way is that Zeus had tricked Hera into nursing the infant Heracles: discovering who he was, she pulled him from her breast, and a spurt of her milk formed the smear across the sky that can be seen to this day. Unlike any Greeks, the Etruscans instead pictured a full-grown bearded Heracles at Hera's breast: this may refer to his adoption by her when he became an Immortal. He had previously wounded her severely in the breast.

Hera assigned Heracles to labor for King Eurystheus at Mycenae. She attempted to make almost each of Heracles' twelve labors more difficult.

The Origin of the Milky Way by Jacopo Tintoretto.

When he fought the Lernaean Hydra, she sent a crab to bite at his feet in the hopes of distracting him. When Heracles took the cattle of Geryon, he shot Hera in the right breast with a triple-barbed arrow: the wound was incurable and left her in constant pain, as Dione tells Aphrodite in the Iliad, Book V. Afterwards, Hera sent a gadfly to bite the cattle, irritate them and scatter them. Hera then sent a flood which raised the water level of a river so much that Heracles could not ford the river with the cattle. He piled stones into the river to make the water shallower. When he finally reached the court of Eurystheus, the cattle were sacrificed to Hera.

Eurystheus also wanted to sacrifice the Cretan Bull to Hera. She refused the sacrifice because it reflected glory on Heracles. The bull was released and wandered to Marathon, becoming known as the Marathonian Bull.

Some myths state that in the end, Heracles befriended Hera by saving her from Porphyrion, a giant who tried to rape her during the Gigantomachy, and that she even gave her daughter Hebe as his bride. Whatever myth-making served to account for an archaic representation of Heracles as "Hera's man" it was thought suitable for the builders of the Heraion at Paestum to depict the exploits of Heracles in bas-reliefs.[51]

Echo

According to the urbane retelling of myth in Ovid's Metamorphoses,[52] for a long time, a nymph named Echo had the job of distracting Hera from Zeus' affairs by leading her away and flattering her. When Hera discovered the deception, she cursed Echo to only repeat the words of others (hence our modern word "echo").

Leto and the twins Apollo and Artemis

Hera (according to inscription); tondo of an Attic white-ground kylix from Vulci, ca. 470 BC

When Hera discovered that Leto was pregnant and that Zeus was the father, she banned Leto from giving birth on terra-firma, or the mainland, or any island at sea. She convinced the nature spirits to prevent Leto from giving birth. Poseidon gave pity to Leto and guided her to the floating island of Delos, which was neither mainland nor a real island and Leto was able to give birth to her children on the island. As a gesture of gratitude, Delos was secured with four pillars. The island later became sacred to Apollo. Alternatively, Hera kidnapped Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth, to prevent Leto from going into labor. The other gods bribed Hera with a beautiful necklace nobody could resist and she finally gave in.[53]

Either way, Artemis was born first and then assisted with the birth of Apollo. Some versions say Artemis helped her mother give birth to Apollo for nine days. Another variation states that Artemis was born one day before Apollo, on the island of Ortygia and that she helped Leto cross the sea to Delos the next day to give birth to Apollo.[53]

Semele and Dionysus

When Hera learned that Semele, daughter of Cadmus King of Thebes, was pregnant by Zeus, she disguised herself as Semele's nurse and persuaded the princess to insist that Zeus show himself to her in his true form. When he was compelled to do so, having sworn by Styx [54] his thunder and lightning destroyed Semele. Zeus took Semele's unborn child, Dionysus and completed its gestation sewn into his own thigh.

In another version, Dionysus was originally the son of Zeus by either Demeter or Persephone. Hera sent her Titans to rip the baby apart, from which he was called Zagreus ("Torn in Pieces"). Zeus rescued the heart; or, the heart was saved, variously, by Athena, Rhea, or Demeter.[55] Zeus used the heart to recreate Dionysus and implant him in the womb of Semele—hence Dionysus became known as "the twice-born". Certain versions imply that Zeus gave Semele the heart to eat to impregnate her. Hera tricked Semele into asking Zeus to reveal his true form, which killed her. Dionysus later managed to rescue his mother from the underworld and have her live on Mount Olympus.

See also Dionysus' birth for other variations.

Io with Zeus, by Giovanni Ambrogio Figino.

Io

Hera almost caught Zeus with a mistress named Io, a fate avoided by Zeus turning Io into a beautiful white heifer. However, Hera was not completely fooled and demanded that Zeus give her the heifer as a present.

Once Io was given to Hera, she placed her in the charge of Argus to keep her separated from Zeus. Zeus then commanded Hermes to kill Argus, which he did by lulling all one hundred eyes to sleep. In Ovid's interpolation, when Hera learned of Argus' death, she took his eyes and placed them in the plumage of the peacock, accounting for the eye pattern in its tail.[56] Hera then sent a gadfly (Greek oistros, compare oestrus) to sting Io as she wandered the earth. Eventually Io settled in Egypt, where according to Ovid she became the Egyptian goddess Isis.

Lamia

Lamia was a queen of Libya, whom Zeus loved. Hera turned her into a monster and murdered their children. Or, alternatively, she killed Lamia's children and the grief turned her into a monster. Lamia was cursed with the inability to close her eyes so that she would always obsess over the image of her dead children. Zeus gave her the gift to be able to take her eyes out to rest, and then put them back in. Lamia was envious of other mothers and ate their children.

Other stories involving Hera

Gerana

Gerana was a queen of the Pygmies who boasted she was more beautiful than Hera. The wrathful goddess turned her into a crane and proclaimed that her bird descendants should wage eternal war on the Pygmy folk.[57]

Hera and Prometheus, tondo of a 5th-century BCE cup from Vulci, Etruria

Cydippe

Cydippe, a priestess of Hera, was on her way to a festival in the goddess' honor. The oxen which were to pull her cart were overdue and her sons, Biton and Cleobis, pulled the cart the entire way (45 stadia, 8 kilometers). Cydippe was impressed with their devotion to her and her goddess and asked Hera to give her children the best gift a god could give a person. Hera ordained that the brothers would die in their sleep.

This honor bestowed upon the children was later used by Solon, as a proof while trying to convince Croesus that it is impossible to judge a person's happiness until they have died a fruitful death after a joyous life.[58]

Tiresias

Tiresias was a priest of Zeus, and as a young man he encountered two snakes mating and hit them with a stick. He was then transformed into a woman. As a woman, Tiresias became a priestess of Hera, married and had children, including Manto. After seven years as a woman, Tiresias again found mating snakes; depending on the myth, either she made sure to leave the snakes alone this time, or, according to Hyginus, trampled on them and became a man once more.[59]

As a result of his experiences, Zeus and Hera asked him to settle the question of which sex, male or female, experienced more pleasure during intercourse. Zeus claimed it was women; Hera claimed it was men. When Tiresias sided with Zeus, Hera struck him blind.

Since Zeus could not undo what she had done, he gave him the gift of prophecy. An alternative and less commonly told story has it that Tiresias was blinded by Athena after he stumbled onto her bathing naked. His mother, Chariclo, begged her to undo her curse, but Athena could not; she gave him prophecy instead.

Chelone

At the marriage of Zeus and Hera, a nymph named Chelone was disrespectful or refused to attend. Zeus turned her into a tortoise.

The Iliad

Hera plays a substantial role in The Iliad, appearing in a number of books throughout the epic poem. In accordance with ancient Greek mythology, Hera's hatred towards the Trojans, which was started by Paris' decision that Aphrodite was the most beautiful goddess, is seen as through her support of the Greeks during the war. Throughout the epic Hera makes many attempts to thwart the Trojan army. In books 1 and 2, Hera declares that the Trojans must be destroyed. Hera persuades Athena to aid the Achaeans in battle and she agrees to assist with interfering on their behalf.[60]

Later in book 5, Hera and Athena plot to harm Ares, who had been seen by Diomedes in assisting the Trojans. Diomedes called for his soldiers to fall back slowly. Hera, Ares' mother, saw Ares' interference and asked Zeus, Ares' father, for permission to drive Ares away from the battlefield. Hera encouraged Diomedes to attack Ares and he threw his spear at the god. Athena drove the spear into Ares' body, and he bellowed in pain and fled to Mt. Olympus, forcing the Trojans to fall back.[60]

In book 8, Hera tries to persuade Poseidon to disobey Zeus and help the Achaean army. He refuses, saying he doesn’t want to go against Zeus. Determined to intervene in the war, Hera and Athena head to the battlefield. However, seeing the two flee, Zeus sent Iris to intercept them and make them return to Mt. Olympus or face grave consequences. After prolonged fighting, Hera sees Poseidon aiding the Greeks and giving them motivation to keep fighting. Afraid that Zeus might realize what Poseidon is doing, Hera devises a plan to distract Zeus. Hera confronts Aphrodite and asks for assistance in seducing Zeus. After receiving love and desirability, she moves on to ask Hypnos if he will knock Zeus unconscious. Her plan works, and Poseidon has the ability to help the Achaeans without any problems.[60]

In book 21, Hera continues her interference with the battle as she tells Hephaestus to prevent the river from harming Achilles. Hephaestus sets the battlefield ablaze, to which to river pleads with Hera that if he stops his attack, he will promise not to help the Trojans. Hephaestus stops his assault and Hera returns to the battlefield where the gods begin to fight amongst themselves.[60]

The Golden Fleece

Hera hated Pelias because he had killed Sidero, his step-grandmother, in one of the goddess's temples. She later convinced Jason and Medea to kill Pelias. The Golden Fleece was the item that Jason needed to get his mother freed.

The Metamorphoses

In Thrace, Hera and Zeus turned King Haemus and Queen Rhodope into mountains,[61] the Balkan (Haemus Mons) and Rhodope Mountains respectively, for their hubris in comparing themselves to the gods.

The Judgment of Paris

Main article: Judgement of Paris
This is one of the many works depicting the event. Hera is the goddess in the center, wearing the crown. Das Urteil des Paris by Anton Raphael Mengs, ca. 1757

A prophecy stated that a son of the sea-nymph Thetis, with whom Zeus fell in love after gazing upon her in the oceans off the Greek coast, would become greater than his father.[62] Possibly for this reasons,[63] Thetis was betrothed to an elderly human king, Peleus son of Aeacus, either upon Zeus' orders,[64] or because she wished to please Hera, who had raised her.[65] All the gods and goddesses as well as various mortals were invited to the marriage of Peleus and Thetis (the eventual parents of Achilles) and brought many gifts.[66] Only Eris, goddess of discord, was not invited and was stopped at the door by Hermes, on Zeus' order. She was annoyed at this, so she threw from the door a gift of her own:[67] a golden apple inscribed with the word καλλίστῃ (kallistēi, "To the fairest").[68] Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena all claimed to be the fairest, and thus the rightful owner of the apple.

The goddesses quarreled bitterly over it, and none of the other gods would venture an opinion favoring one, for fear of earning the enmity of the other two. They chose to place the matter before Zeus, who, not wanting to favor one of the goddesses, put the choice into the hands of Paris, a Trojan prince. After bathing in the spring of Mount Ida where Troy was situated, they appeared before Paris to have him choose. The goddesses undressed before him, either at his request or for the sake of winning. Still, Paris could not decide, as all three were ideally beautiful, so they resorted to bribes. Hera offered Paris political power and control of all of Asia, while Athena offered wisdom, fame, and glory in battle, and Aphrodite offered the most beautiful mortal woman in the world as a wife, and he accordingly chose her. This woman was Helen, who was, unfortunately for Paris, already married to King Menelaus of Sparta. The other two goddesses were enraged by this and through Helen's abduction by Paris they brought about the Trojan War.

Ixion

When Zeus had pity on Ixion and brought him to Olympus and introduced him to the gods, instead of being grateful, Ixion grew lustful for Hera. Zeus found out about his intentions and made a cloud in the shape of Hera, who was later named Nephele, and tricked Ixion into coupling with it and from their union came Centaurus. So Ixion was expelled from Olympus and Zeus ordered Hermes to bind Ixion to a winged fiery wheel that was always spinning. Therefore, Ixion was bound to a burning solar wheel for all eternity, at first spinning across the heavens, but in later myth transferred to Tartarus.[69]

In popular media

Genealogy

Hera's family tree [72]
UranusGaia
Uranus' genitalsCronusRhea
ZeusHERAPoseidonHadesDemeterHestia
    a [73]
     b [74]
AresHephaestus
Metis
Athena [75]
Leto
ApolloArtemis
Maia
Hermes
Semele
Dionysus
Dione
    a [76]     b [77]
Aphrodite

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia, The Book People, Haydock, 1995, p. 215.
  2. ↑ Ruck, Carl A.P., and Danny Staples, The World of Classical Myth, 1994.
  3. ↑ Walter Burkert, Greek Religion, (Harvard University Press) 1985, p. 131
  4. ↑ ἐρατός at LSJ
  5. ↑ Plato, Cratylus, 404c
  6. ↑ On Isis and Osiris, 32
  7. ↑ Burkert, p. 131.
  8. ↑ Chadwick, The Mycenaean World (Cambridge University Press) 1976:87.
  9. ↑ Windekens, in Glotta 36 (1958), pp. 309-11.
  10. ↑ R. S. P. Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2009, p. 524.
  11. ↑ "The Linear B word e-ra". Palaeolexicon. Word study tool of Ancient languages. Raymoure, K.A. "e-ra". Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B. Deaditerranean.
  12. ↑ Martin Persson Nilsson, The Minoan-Mycenaean Religion and Its Survival in Greek Religion (Lund) 1950 pt. I.ii "House Sanctuaries", pp 77-116; H. W. Catling, "A Late Bronze Age House- or Sanctuary-Model from the Menelaion, Sparta," BSA 84 (1989) 171-175.
  13. ↑ Burkert, p. 132, including quote; Burkert: Orientalizing Revolution.
  14. ↑ Her name appears, with Zeus and Hermes, in a Linear B inscription (Tn 316) at Mycenean Pylos (John Chadwick, The Mycenaean World [Cambridge University Press] 1976:89).
  15. ↑ P.C. Sestieri, Paestum, the City, the Prehistoric Acropolis in Contrada Gaudo, and the Heraion at the Mouth of the Sele (Rome 1960), p. 11 etc. "It is odd that there was no temple dedicated to Poseidon in a city named for him (Paestum was originally called Poseidonia). Perhaps there was one at Sele, the settlement that preceded Paestum," Sarantis Symeonoglou suggested (Symeonoglou, "The Doric Temples of Paestum" Journal of Aesthetic Education, 19.1, Special Issue: Paestum and Classical Culture: Past and Present [Spring 1985:49-66] p. 50.
  16. ↑ "The goddesses of Greek polytheism, so different and complementary"; Greek mythology scholar Walter Burkert has observed, in Homo Necans (1972) 1983:79f, "are nonetheless, consistently similar at an earlier stage, with one or the other simply becoming dominant in a sanctuary or city. Each is the Great Goddess presiding over a male society; each is depicted in her attire as Mistress of the Beasts, and Mistress of the Sacrifice, even Hera and Demeter."
  17. ↑ Iliad, ii. 781-783)
  18. ↑ The Iliad by Homer - Project Gutenberg
  19. ↑ Bachofen, Mutterrecht 1861, as Mother Right: An Investigation of the Religious and Juridical Character of Matriarchy in the Ancient World. Bachofen was seminal in the writings of Jane Ellen Harrison and other students of Greek myth.
  20. ↑ Slater 1968.
  21. ↑ Steven Goldberg, The Inevitability of Patriarchy, (William Morrow & Company, 1973); Joan Bamberger,'The Myth of Matriarchy: Why Men Rule in Primitive Society', in M Rosaldo and L Lamphere, Women, Culture, and Society, (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1974), pp. 263-280; Donald E. Brown, Human Universals (Philadelphia: Temple University Press), 1991; Steven Goldberg, Why Men Rule, (Chicago, Illinois: Open Court Publishing Company, 1993); Cynthia Eller, The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory: Why an Invented Past Won't Give Women a Future, (Boston: Beacon Press, 2001); Jonathan Marks, 'Essay 8: Primate Behavior', in The Un-Textbook of Biological Anthropology, (Unpublished, 2007), p. 11; Encyclopædia Britannica describes this view as "consensus", listing matriarchy as a hypothetical social system. 'Matriarchy' Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007.
  22. ↑ "Cronus | Greek god". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2016-12-04.
  23. ↑ Farnell, I 191,
  24. ↑ Pausanias, 9.2.7- 9.3.3; Pausanias explains this by telling the myth of the Daedala.
  25. ↑ Farnell, I 194, citing Pausanias 8.22.2' Pindar refers to the "praises of Hera Parthenia [the Maidenly]" Olympian ode 6.88
  26. ↑ S. Casson: "Hera of Kanathos and the Ludovisi Throne" The Journal of Hellenic Studies 40.2 (1920), pp. 137-142, citing Stephanus of Byzantium sub Ernaion.
  27. ↑ Pausanias, 2.38.2-3.
  28. ↑ Robert Graves (1955), The Greek Myths.
  29. ↑ Barbara G. Walker (1983), The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, p.392 ISBN 0-06-250925-X
  30. ↑ Seznec, Jean, The Survival of the Pagan Gods : Mythological Tradition in Renaissance Humanism and Art, 1953
  31. ↑ Pausanias, iii. 15. § 7
  32. ↑ James Joseph Clauss, Sarah Iles Johnston. Medea: Essays on Medea in myth, literature, philosophy, and art, 1997. p.46
  33. ↑ Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon
  34. ↑ Heinrich Schliemann. Ilios: The city and country of the Trojans, 1881.
  35. 1 2 Homeric Hymns
  36. ↑ D'Aulaire, Ingri; D'Aulaire, Edgar Parin (1992). D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths. Delacorte Books for Young Readers. ISBN 0440406943.
  37. ↑ Theogony 912–923.
  38. ↑ In Homer, Odyssey viii. 312 Hephaestus addresses "Father Zeus"; cf. Homer, Iliad i. 578 (some scholars, such as Gantz, Early Greek Myth, p. 74, note that Hephaestus' reference to Zeus as 'father' here may be a general title), xiv. 338, xviii. 396, xxi. 332. See also Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3.22.
  39. ↑ Mythogr. Vat. 1.201: Eben genuit Iuno de Ioue, secundum quosdam de lactuca.
  40. ↑ Theogony 924–929.
  41. ↑ The return of Hephaestus on muleback to Olympus accompanied by Dionysus was a theme of the Attic vase-painters, whose wares were favored by Etruscans. The return of Hephaestus was painted on the Etruscan tomb at the "Grotta Campana" near Veii (identified by Peterson; the "well-known subject" was doubted in this instance by A. M. Harmon, "The Paintings of the Grotta Campana", American Journal of Archaeology 16.1 (January - March 1912):1-10); for further examples, see Hephaestus#Return to Olympus.
  42. ↑ Scholia on Theocritus, Idyll 2. 12 referring to Sophron
  43. ↑ Homeric Hymn to Apollo 306–348. Stesichorus, Fragment 239 (Campbell, pp. 166–167) also has Hera produce Typhon alone to "spite Zeus".
  44. ↑ Gantz, p. 49, remarks on the strangeness of such a description for one who would challenge the gods.
  45. ↑ Kirk, Raven, and Schofield. pp. 59–60 no. 52; Ogden 2013b, pp. 36–38; Gantz, pp. 50–51, Ogden 2013a, p. 76 n. 46.
  46. ↑ Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft, s.v. Hera: "Heraberühmte"
  47. ↑ Ruck and Staples
  48. ↑ Noted by Apollonius of Rhodes in Argonautica, i.855; Pindar, Pythian Ode iv, 253
  49. ↑ Kerenyi, The Heroes of the Greeks 1959 p 134.
  50. ↑ Hyginus, De Astronomia, 2.43; pseudo-Eratostenes, Catasterismi, 44; Achilles Tatius (attributed), Introduction to Aratus.
  51. ↑ Kerenyi, p 131
  52. ↑ Metamorphoses, iii.341-401.
  53. 1 2 Leto finally reached Delos and gave birth to Artemis, who thereupon helped her deliver Apollo. Artemis became a practised huntress and remained a virgin. (Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheke 1.21).
  54. ↑ Hamilton, Edith (1969). "Mythology".
  55. ↑ Seyffert Dictionary
  56. ↑ Ovid, Metamorphoses I.624ff and II.531. The peacock (Greek taos), not native to Greece or Western Asia, was unknown to Hellenes until the time of Alexander the Great.
  57. ↑ Ovid, Metamorphoses 6.89 - 91
  58. ↑ Herodotus' History, Book I
  59. ↑ Hygini, Fabulae, LXXV
  60. 1 2 3 4 Homer. The Iliad.
  61. ↑ Ovid, Metamorphoses 6.87
  62. ↑ Scholiast on Homer’s Iliad; Hyginus, Fabulae 54; Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.217.
  63. ↑ Apollodorus, Library 3.168.
  64. ↑ Pindar, Nemean 5 ep2; Pindar, Isthmian 8 str3–str5.
  65. ↑ Hesiod, Catalogue of Women fr. 57; Cypria fr. 4.
  66. ↑ Photius, Myrobiblion 190.
  67. ↑ Hyginus, Fabulae 92.
  68. ↑ Apollodorus Epitome E.3.2
  69. ↑ Kerenyi 1951, p.160
  70. ↑ "Death of Hera youtube". Youtube. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  71. ↑ God of war 3#Plot
  72. ↑ This chart is based upon Hesiod's Theogony, unless otherwise noted.
  73. ↑ According to Homer, Iliad 1.570–579, 14.338, Odyssey 8.312, Hephaestus was apparently the son of Hera and Zeus, see Gantz, p. 74.
  74. ↑ According to Hesiod, Theogony 927–929, Hephaestus was produced by Hera alone, with no father, see Gantz, p. 74.
  75. ↑ According to Hesiod, Theogony 886–890, of Zeus' children by his seven wives, Athena was the first to be conceived, but the last to be born; Zeus impregnated Metis then swallowed her, later Zeus himself gave birth to Athena "from his head", see Gantz, pp. 51–52, 83–84.
  76. ↑ According to Hesiod, Theogony 183–200, Aphrodite was born from Uranus' severed genitals, see Gantz, pp. 99–100.
  77. ↑ According to Homer, Aphrodite was the daughter of Zeus (Iliad 3.374, 20.105; Odyssey 8.308, 320) and Dione (Iliad 5.370–71), see Gantz, pp. 99–100.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hera.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/5/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.