Dromo's Den

[Up] [Dromo's Den]

Hera Biography

Hera Image

Hera is, in all particulars, a thoroughly Hellenic conception, and the theory of Semitic origin may be dismissed in this, as in most other cases; there is, however, no general agreement as to the derivation of the name or the original nature of the goddess. While some authorities see in her an earth goddess, or even the special earth goddess of Argos, and in her union with Zeus a picture of the union of earth (or air: so Plato, who connected her name with air) and heaven, others, especially Roscher, regard her as a moon goddess, and thus especially a goddess of women (whose lives were supposed to be specially influenced by the moon), and from this relation developing into the wife of Zeus and guardian of married life. This latter school derives the name from a root sarv or harv, to protect (cf. Lat. servare). Whatever the original nature of Hera may be, there can be no doubt concerning the position she occupies in the Greek religion. She is the consort of Zeus, for the major part of Greece at least. (See, however, DIONE and Zeus, under JUPITER.) The union of Zeus and Hera, celebrated widely in the "Sacred Marriage", is the prototype of human wedlock. This marriage is the centre of Hera's worship in all places. As the guardian of marriage, she also assumes guardianship over other phases of female life, and seems to have been regarded often as a goddess of childbirth (e.g., at the births of Hercules and Eurystheus), though this function was usually attributed to Eileithyia (q.v.). The cow was one of her sacred animals, and in later times the peacock was regarded as her favorite bird. The cult of Hera was universal throughout the Greek world, but was especially prominent at a few places, particularly in the Achæan centres, Argos, Mycenæ, and Sparta, which, in Iliad, iv, 51 ff,, she calls her favorite cities. Argos was one of the oldest and most famous centres of her worship. The sanctuary was situated to the east of the city on a spur of the ridge bounding the Argive plain and nearer Mycenæ than Argos. The old temple was burnt in 423 B.C. A new building was at once erected, which contained a gold and ivory statue by Polycleitus. (See HERAEUM, THE ARGIVE.) The priestesses of the temple were matrons and were held in high honor, as it was by the years of the priestess that the Argives dated events. The sanctuary was excavated by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens in 1892 and the following years. (Consult Waldstein, The Argive Herœum, New York, 1902.) The rites of Hera at this place included an important festival which seems to have represented the sacred or mystic marriage, as did her festivals at other temples. Next to that of Argos was the famous temple on the island of Samos, of which one column is still standing. Here was a tradition of the birth of the goddess, under a sacred willow, and another annual marriage festival. She was ardently worshiped also on the Lacinian promontory near Crotona in Magna Græcia. The best defined cult of Hera as a marriage goddess was at Platæa and on the neighboring summit of Mount Cithæron, where a great festival was celebrated in honor of Zeus and Hera, as it was said that Zeus had carried the maiden Hera from Eubœa to a cave on this mountain. In literature Hera appears not only as the matron and noble queen of the gods, but also, in fact, more often as the jealous, proud, and somewhat shrewish wife, bitterly angered at her husband's numerous infidelities and frequently persecuting the children of her rivals. (See, e.g., ALCMENE: DANAË; BACCHUS; HERCULES; IO; LETO; SEMELE.) These stories of Olympian quarrels do not seem to have influenced the cult. The most famous statue of Hera was that by Polycleitus at Argos, described by Pausanias (q.v.); but no certain copies are known, and this is also true of the representations by other great artists. Indeed, statues or busts of Hera are comparatively rare in our museums. The goddess is represented standing, fully draped, with the sceptre, and in many cases with a veil. Of busts, the oldest is the rude limestone head front Olympia. The most celebrated are probably the Hera Farnese in Naples, once believed to be a copy of the work of Polycleitus, though now recognized as belonging to an earlier period and different school, and the beautiful Hera Ludovisi, in Rome, a work probably of the fourth century B.C., though the date is still much discussed. In reliefs, paintings, and especially on vases, the type of Hera naturally varies much, but in general preserves the character of the matron and queen.

Juno (regarded by many as a shortened form of Iovino: cf. Iovis, an old name of Jupiter; the words come from a root meaning `to shine') was throughout Italy the consort of Jupiter and the queen of heaven. The whole worship of Juno shows the closest parallelism to that of her husband. To her the kalends (first) of each month were sacred, and in the earlier belief she also controlled the thunderbolt. This aspect of her cult is shown in her name, Regina, but it gradually passed into the background, and Juno became the goddess of women, especially of wives and mothers; her great festival as Lucina (q.v.), who helped in childbirth, was the Matronalia on the first of March---the day on which at first, for centuries, the Roman year began--and other prominent celebrations in her honor were in the hands of women. To her women appealed for aid at every crisis. On the Capitol she was not only honored in the shrine of Jupiter, but also had her own temple as Moneta, where later the Roman mint was situated. She was worshiped also, especially at Lanuvium (q.v.), as Juno Sospita, Juno the Preserver, giver of health and safety, to individual and to state. In later times Greek influence much affected the Roman cult, and the cult of Juno approached more and more closely that of Hera.