In Greek mythology, the daughter of Cronus and wife of Zeus, but a most independent and powerful goddess, probably illustrating the survival of pre-Hellenic cults of the mother-goddess. She was associated with Argos and hostile to Troy. The name means lady, and is the feminine form of Hero.
|
Greek deities series |
|---|
| Primordial deities |
| Titans |
| Aquatic deities |
| Chthonic deities |
| Personified concepts |
| Other deities |
| Olympians |
| Zeus and Hera, |
| Poseidon, Hades, |
| Hestia, Demeter, |
| Aphrodite, Athena, |
| Apollo, Artemis, |
| Ares, Hephaestus, |
| Hermes, Dionysus |
In the Olympian pantheon of classical Greek Mythology, Hera (IPA pronunciation: [ˈhiːrə]; She also presided as goddess of marriage, 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..
Etymology and pre-history
Unlike some Greek gods, such as Zeus and Poseidon, Hera's name cannot be analyzed as a Greek or Indo-European word.
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, at Samos and in the Argolid, were the very earliest monumental Greek temples constructed, in the 8th century BC. According to the Homeric Hymn III to Delian Apollo, Hera detained Eileithyia, to prevent Leto from going into labor with Artemis and Apollo, because the father was Zeus. 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 protegé, Iphicles, has been born first.
At Olympia, Hera's seated cult figure was older than the warrior figure of Zeus that accompanied it. 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.
Cult
Hera was especially worshipped, as "Argive Hera" (Hera Argeia), at her sanctuary that stood between the former Mycenaean city-states of Argos and Mycenae, where the festivals in her honor called Heraia were celebrated. There were also temples to Hera in Olympia, Corinth, Tiryns, Perachora and the sacred island of Delos. In Magna Graecia, the temple long called the Temple of Poseidon among the group at Paestum was identified in the 1950s as a second temple there of Hera. Hera may have been the first to whom an enclosed roofed temple sanctuary was dedicated, at Samos about 800 BC. Samos excavations have revealed votive offerings, many of them late 8th and 7th century, which reveal 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— and a general reminder to us that Greek myths did not evolve in a cultural vacuum (Burkert 1998).
In Euboea the festival of the Great Daedala, sacred to Hera, was celebrated on a sixty-year cycle.
In Hellenistic imagery, Hera's wagon 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." 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.
The pomegranate, an ancient emblem of the Great Goddess (see Pomegranate), remained an emblem of Hera: many of the votive pomegranates and poppy capsules recovered at Samos are made of ivory, which survives burial better than the wooden ones that must have been more common. Like all goddesses, Hera may be displayed wearing a diadem and be veiled.
Hera and children
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. Hera was jealous of Zeus' giving birth to Athena without recourse to her (actually with Metis), so she gave birth to Hephaestus without him. Zeus and/or Hera herself were then disgusted with Hephaestus' ugliness and threw him from Mount Olympus. As another alternative version, Hera gave birth to all of the children usually accredited to her and Zeus together, alone by beating her hand on the Earth, a solemnizing action for the Greeks, or by eating lettuce.
Hephaestus gained revenge against Hera for rejecting him by making her a magical throne which, when she sat on it, didn't allow her to leave it. Hephaestus released Hera after being given Aphrodite as his wife.
Hera the nemesis of Heracles
Hera was the stepmother and enemy of Heracles, the hero who, more than even Perseus, Cadmus or Theseus, introduced the Olympian ways in Greece (Ruck and Staples 1994). When Alcmene was pregnant with Heracles, Hera tried to prevent the birth from occurring by tying Alcmene's legs in knots.
While Heracles was still an infant, Hera sent two serpents to kill him as he lay in his cot.
One account of the origin of the Milky Way is that Zeus had tricked Hera into nursing the infant Heracles: discovering who he was, she had pulled him from her breast, and a spurt of her milk formed the smear across the sky that can be seen to this day.
Some myths state that Hera befriended Heracles for saving her from a giant who tried to rape her,and that she even gave her daughter Hebe as his bride. Whatever myth-making serrved 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 (noted in this context by Kerenyi 1959, p 131).
The Twelve Labors
Hera assigned Heracles to labor for King Eurystheus at Mycenae. To annoy Heracles after he took the cattle of Geryon, 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 Heracles could not ford the river with the cattle.
Eurystheus also wanted to sacrifice Cretan Bull to Hera, who hated Heracles.
Hera's jealousies
Echo
For a time, a nymph named Echo had the job of distracting Hera from Zeus' affairs by leading her away and flattering her.
Leto and Artemis/Apollo
When Hera discovered that Leto was pregnant and that Hera's husband, Zeus, was the father, she banned Leto from giving birth on "terra-firma", or the mainland, or any island at sea. Alternatively, Hera kidnapped Ilithyia, the goddess of childbirth, to prevent Leto from going into labor.
Callisto and Arcas
Hera also figures in the myth of Callisto/Arcas. Hera then turned Callisto into a bear out of revenge.
Hera was not pleased with the placement of Callisto and Arcas in the sky, so she asked her nurse, Tethys, to help.
Semele and Dionysus
Dionysus was a son of Zeus by a mortal woman. A jealous Hera again attempted to kill the child, this time by sending Titans to rip Dionysus to pieces after luring the baby with toys. Some people think Hera was the one to kill Semele, but it was Zeus who did.
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 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.
Lamia
Lamia was a queen of Libya, whom Zeus loved. Hera turned her into a monster and murdered their children.
Gerana
Gerana was a queen of the Pygmies who boasted she was more beautiful than Hera.
Other stories involving Hera
Cydippe
Cydippe, a priestess of Hera, was on her way to a festival in the goddess' honor. 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. (according to Herodotus' History book 1.)
Tiresias
Tiresias was a priest of Zeus, and as a young man he encountered two snakes mating and hit them with a stick. As a woman, Tiresias became a priestess of Hera, married and had children, including Manto. 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. When Tiresias sided with Zeus, Hera struck him blind.
Chelone
At the marriage of Zeus and Hera, a nymph named Chelone was disrespectful (or refused to attend). 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.
The Golden Fleece
Hera hated Pelias for having murdered Sidero, his step-grandmother, in a temple to Hera.
The Metamorphoses
In Thrace, as Ovid tells in Metamorphoses 6.87, Hera and Zeus turned King Haemus and Queen Rhodope into mountains, the Balkan (Haemus Mons) and Rhodope mountain chain respectively for their hubris in comparing themselves to the gods.
User Comments Add a comment…