by Linda Falk

Created on: February 17, 2009

In the pantheon of the ancient Greek gods Hera was the goddess of women, marriage and, in some traditions, of virginity. Hera's mother was Rhea, the mother earth and mother of the Greek gods. Hera's father was the titan Cronus. After her birth Hera was swallowed by her father because of a prophecy saying that one of his children would take over his throne. Rhea then gave him a herb and told him it would make him invincible, instead it made him regurgitate Hera and the other four Olympians he had swallowed. So Hera was saved by her mother. Later she became the wife of her brother Zeus, with whom she had the children Ares, Hebe and Eris and Eileithyia. From jealousy she also had her son Hephaestus outside of the marriage. An alternative version of the myth is that Hera had all of the children only by beating her hand on the earth.

Initially the cow was Heras sacred animal, later in history the peacock became her symbol as her wagon was portraied to be pulled by such birds. Her primary archaic association was the cow, though, and she has been described as the "cow-eyed goddess" and named the Cow Goddess. The name Hera and it's origin is debated. It has been interpreted as coming from the word for season, mistress, hero and heifer.

Hera was often portrayed as a solemn and majestically be crowned woman. In her hands she held the symbol of blood and death, the pomegranate, also believed to be a representation of the narcotic capsule of the poppy plant. She was known to be vengefull of any god or human who would dare to cross her. There are many stories about Hera's jealousy and the revenges she took. She was the nemesis of her stepson Heracles, son of Zeus and his mistress Alcmene. When Heracles was only an infant she sent two snakes to his cot, meaning for them to bite and kill him. Heracles, the divine hero, took one serpent in each hand and strangled them. Also other characters in the Greek Olympe felt the wrath of Hera. The nymphs Echo and Callosto and the goddesses Io and Leto were all punished by her for their relationships to Heras husband Zeus.

The cult of Hera was biggest in the area of the Mycenaean city-states of Argos and Mycenae, where great Heraian festivals where held. Also in Olympia Corinth, Tiryns and Perachora and on the islands of Samos and Delos, Hera was worshipped. She was maybe the first divinity to have a roofed temple in a culture where places of worship were always under open sky. This first dedicated temple was built on Samos around 800 BC.

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