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HERA

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 308 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HERA , in See also:

Greek See also:mythology, the See also:sister and wife of See also:Zeus and See also:queen of the Olympian gods; she was identified by the See also:Romans with See also:Juno. The derivation of the name is obscure, but there is no See also:reason to doubt that she was a genuine Greek deity. There are no signs of See also:Oriental See also:influence in her cults, except at See also:Corinth, where she seems to have been identified with See also:Astarte. It is probable that she was originally a personification of some See also:department of nature; but the traces of her See also:primitive significance are vague, and have been interpreted to suit various theories. Some of the ancients connected her with the See also:earth; See also:Plato, followed by the See also:Stoics, derived her name from ai7P, the See also:air. Both theories have been revived in See also:modern times, the former notably by F. G. See also:Welcker, the latter by L. See also:Preller. A third view, that Hera is the See also:moon, is held by W. H. See also:Roscher and others.

Of these explanations, that advanced by Preller has little to commend it, even if, with O. Gruppe, we understand the air-goddess as a See also:

storm deity; some of the arguments in support of the two other theories will be examined in this See also:article. Whatever may have been the origin of Hera, to the historic Greeks (except a few poets or philosophers) she was a purely anthropomorphic goddess, and had no See also:close relation to any See also:province of nature. In literature, from the times of See also:Homer and See also:Hesiod, she played an important See also:part, appearing most frequently as the jealous and resentful wife of Zeus. In this See also:character she pursues with vindictive hatred the heroines, such as See also:Alcmene, Leto and See also:Semele, who were beloved by Zeus. She visits his sins upon the See also:children See also:born of his intrigues, and is thus the See also:constant enemy of Heracles and See also:Dionysus. This character of the offended wife was borrowed by later poets from the Greek epic; but it belongs to literature rather than to cult, in which the dignity and See also:power of the goddess is naturally more emphasized. The See also:worship of Hera is found, in different degrees of prominence, throughout the Greek See also:world. It was especially important in the See also:ancient Achaean centres, See also:Argos, See also:Mycenae and See also:Sparta, which she claims in the Iliad (iv. 51) as her three dearest cities. Whether Hera was also worshipped by the See also:early See also:Dorians is uncertain; after the Dorian invasion she remained the See also:chief deity of Argos, but her cult at Sparta was not so conspicuous. She received See also:honour, however, in other parts of the Peloponnese, particularly in See also:Olympia, where her See also:temple was the See also:oldest, and in See also:Arcadia.

In several Boeotian cities she seems to have been one of the See also:

principal See also:objects of worship, while the neighbouring See also:island of See also:Euboea probably derived its name from a See also:title of Hera, who was " See also:rich in cows " (EusoAa). Among the islands of the See also:Aegean,, See also:Samos was celebrated for the cult of Hera; according to-tbe. See also:local tradition, she was born in the island. As Hera Lacinia (from her Lacinian temple near Croton) she was extensively worshipped in Magna Graecia. The connexion of Zeus and Hera was probably not primitive, since See also:Dione seems to have preceded Hera as the wife of Zeus at See also:Dodona. The origin of the, connexion may possibly be due to the See also:fusion of two " Pelasgic " tribes, worshipping Zeus and Hera respectively; but See also:speculation on the earliest cult of the goddess, before she became the wife of Zeus, must be largely conjectural. The close relation of the two deities appears in a frequent community of altars and sacrifices, and also in the iepos yaµos, a dramatic See also:representation of their sacred See also:marriage. The festival, which was certainly ancient, was held not only in Argos, Samos, Euboea and other centres of Hera-worship, but also in See also:Athens, where the goddess was obscured by the predominance of See also:Athena. The details of the iepos yaµos may have varied locally, but the See also:main See also:idea of the See also:ritual was the same. In the Daedala, as the festival was called at See also:Plataea, an effigy was made from an See also:oak-See also:tree, dressed in bridal attire, and carried in a See also:cart with a woman who acted as bridesmaid. The See also:image was called Daedale, and the ritual was explained by a myth: Hera had See also:left Zeus in her anger; in See also:order to win her back, Zeus announced that he was about to marry, and dressed up a puppet to imitate a See also:bride; Hera met the procession, tore the See also:veil from the false bride, and, on discovering the ruse, became reconciled to her See also:husband. The image was put, away after each occasion; every sixty years a large number of such images, which had served in previous celebrations, were carried in procession to the See also:top of See also:Mount See also:Cithaeron, and were burned on an See also:altar together with animals and the altar itself. As Frazer notes (See also:Golden Bough,2 i.

227), this festival appears to belong to the large class of mimetic charms designed to quicken the growth of vegetation; the marriage of Zeus and Hera would in this See also:

case represent the See also:union of the See also:king and queen of May. But it by no means follows that Hera was therefore originally a goddess of the earth or of vegetation. When the real nature of the ritual had become lost or obscured, it was natural to explain it by the help of an aetiological myth; in See also:European See also:folklore, images, corresponding to those burnt at the Daedala, were sometimes called Judas Iscariot or See also:Luther (Golden Bough,2 iii. 315). At Samos the 1epis vapor was celebrated annually; the image of Hera was concealed on the See also:sea-See also:shore and solemnly discovered. This rite seems to reflect an actual See also:custom of See also:abduction; or it may rather refer to the practice of intercourse between the betrothed before marriage. Such intercourse was sanctioned by the Samians, who excused it by the example of Zeus and Hera (schol. on Il. xiv. 296). There is nothing in the Samian 1ep6s yaµos to suggest a marriage of See also:heaven and earth, or of two vegetation-See also:spirits; as Dr Farnell points out, the ritual appears to explain the custom of human nuptials. The sacred marriage, therefore, though connected with vegetation at the Daedala, was not necessarily a vegetation-See also:charm in its origin; consequently, it does not prove that Hera was an earth-goddess or tree-spirit. It is at least remarkable that, except at Argos, Hera had little to do with See also:agriculture, and was not closely associated with such deities as See also:Cybele, See also:Demeter, Persephone and Dionysus, whose connexion with the earth, or with its fruits, is beyond doubt. In her See also:general cult Hera was worshipped in two main capacities: (1) as the See also:consort of Zeus and queen of heaven; (2) as the goddess who presided over marriage, and, in a wider sense, over the various phases of a woman's See also:life.

See also:

Dionysius of See also:Halicarnassus (Ars rhet. ii. 2) calls Zeus and Hera the first wedded pair, and a See also:sacrifice to Zeus T€dews and Hera TeXeLa was a See also:regular feature of the Greek See also:wedding. Girls offered their See also:hair or veils to Hera before marriage. In See also:Aristophanes (Thesm.973) she " keeps the keys of wedlock." The marriage-goddess naturally became the See also:protector of See also:women in childbed, and See also:bore the title of the See also:birth-goddess (Eileithyia), at Argos and Athens. In Homer (Il. xi. 270) and Hesiod (Theog. 922) she is the See also:mother of the Eileithyiae, or the single Eileithyia. Her cult-titles 1rapOEvoc (or 7rais), TeXeia and X'hpa the " See also:maiden," " wife," and " widow " (or " divorced ") have been interpreted as symbolical of the earth in See also:spring, summer, and See also:winter; but they may well See also:express the different conditions in the lives of her human worshippers. The Argives believed that Hera recovered her virginity every See also:year by bathing in a certain spring (Paus. viii. 22, 2), a belief which probably reflects the custom of ceremonial See also:purification after marriage (see Frazer; See also:Adonis, p. 176). Although Hera was not the bestower of feminine charm to the same extent as See also:Aphrodite, she was the See also:patron of a contest for beauty in a Lesbian festival (KaXXurmeia).

This intimaterelation with women has been held a See also:

proof that Hera was originally a moon-goddess, as the moon is often thought to influence childbirth and other aspects of feminine life. But Hera's patronage of women, though undoubtedly ancient, is not necessarily primitive. Further, the Greeks themselves, who were•always ready to identify See also:Artemis with the moon, do not seem to have recognized any lunar connexion in Hera. Among her particular worshippers, at Argos and Samos, Hera was much more than the queen of heaven and the marriage-goddess. As the patron of these cities (iroXtouXos) she held a See also:place corresponding to that of Athena in Athens. The Argives are called " the See also:people of Hera " by See also:Pindar; the Heraeum, situated under a See also:mountain significantly called Mt. Euboea, was the most important temple in Argolis. Here the agricultural character of her ritual is well marked; the first oxen used in ploughing were, according to an Argive myth, dedicated to her as -ev o5ta; and the sprouting ears of See also:corn were called " the See also:flowers of Hera." She was worshipped as the goddess of flowers (avOela); girls served in her temple under the name of "See also:flower-bearers," and a flower festival ('HpovavOeta, 'HpoavOta) was celebrated by Peloponnesian women in spring. These See also:rites recall our May See also:day observance, and give See also:colour to the earth-goddess theory. On the other See also:hand it must be remembered that the patron deity of a Greek See also:state had very wide functions; and it is not surprising to find that Hera (whatever her origin may have been) assumed an agricultural character among her own people whose occupations were largely agricultural. So, although the warlike character of Hera was not elsewhere prominent, she assumed a militant aspect in her two chief cities; a festival called the See also:Shield (Aoiris, in Pindar &yaw XaXKeoc) was part of the Argive cult, and there was an armed procession in her honour at Samos. The See also:city-goddess, whether Hera or Athena, must be chief alike in See also:peace and See also:war.

The cow was the See also:

animal specially sacred to Hera both in ritual and in mythology. The See also:story of Io, metamorphosed into a cow, is See also:familiar; she was priestess of Hera, and was originally, no doubt, a See also:form of the goddess herself. The Homeric epithet Pxwlris may have meant " cow-faced " to the earliest worshippers of Hera, though by Homer and the later Greeks it was understood as " large-eyed," like the cow. A See also:car See also:drawn by oxen seems to have been widely used in the processions of Hera, and the cow was her most frequent sacrifice. The origin of Hera's association with the cow is uncertain, but there is no need to see in it, with Roscher, a See also:symbol of the moon. The See also:cuckoo was also sacred to Hera, who, according to the Argive See also:legend, was wooed by Zeus in the form of the See also:bird. In later times the See also:peacock, which was still unfamiliar to the Greeks in the 5th See also:century, was her favourite, especially at Samos. The earliest recorded images of Hera preceded the rise of Greek See also:sculpture; a See also:log at See also:Thespiae, a See also:plank at Samos, a See also:pillar at Argos served to represent the goddess. In the archaic See also:period of sculpture the 6avov or wooden statue of the Samian Hera by Smilis was famous. In the first See also:half of the 5th century the sacred marriage was represented on an extant See also:metope from a temple at See also:Selinus. The most celebrated statue of Hera was the See also:chryselephantine See also:work of See also:Polyclitus, made for the Heraeum at Argos soon after 423 B.C. It is fully described by See also:Pausanias, who says that Hera was seated on a See also:throne, wearing a See also:crown (vrEr/)avos), and carrying a See also:sceptre in one hand and a See also:pomegranate in the other.

Various ancient writers testify to the beauty and dignity of the statue, which was considered equal to the Zeus of See also:

Pheidias. Polyclitus seems to have fixed the type of Hera as a youthful matron, but unfortunately the exact character of her See also:head cannot be determined. A majestic and rather severe beauty marks the conception of Hera in later See also:art, of which the See also:Farnese bust at See also:Naples and the Ludovisi Hera are the most conspicuous examples. Dict. See also:des See also:ant. grecques et rom. s.v. " Juno " (See also:Paris, 1877) ; L. R. Farnell, Cults of the Greek States, i. 179 f. (See also:Oxford, 1896) ; A. B. See also:Cook in Class. Rev. xx.

365 f. 416 f.; O. Gruppe, Griech. Mythologic u. Religionsgesch. p. 1121 f. (See also:

Munich, 1903). In the article GREEK ART, fig. 24, will be found a roughly executed head of Hera, from the See also:pediment of the See also:treasury of the Megarians. (E. E.

End of Article: HERA

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