PS268 Lecture Notes - Lecture 22: Homeric Hymns, Hieros Gamos, Kythira
Document Summary
Queen of heaven as main wife of zeus. Attributes are symbols of sovereignty: sceptre and crown; peacock her special bird. Famous sanctuary: argive heraion, c. 5th c. bce. Heras gold and ivory at argos( cuckoo on sceptre symbol of her marriage to zeus and pomegranate symbol of fertility. Oldest and holiest temple: temple of hera, olympia, c. 590 bce- built 150 years before temple of zeus. Heraia in honour of hera: footrace of unmarried girls --virgin( parthenoi) with 3 age categories; held every 4 yrs, footrace uncommon within women, mostly men. Early sanctuary of hera on samos--pomegranates offered to her, worshiped as tree goddess. Marriage of zeus and hera ( theme of trickery again) Sacred marriage (hieros gamos) of earth goddess and sky god. Zeus and hera> ares (god of war); hebe ( blooming youth ), eileithyia ( coming goddess of sexual function of childbirth)
