The gate of the year

Marble statue of Hera, a Roman copy of Imperial age (I century A.D.) from a Greek original (IV century B.C.), in the National Archaeological Museum (Museo Archeologico Nazionale), Naples, Italy. Goddess of marriage and of childbirth, Hera was the wife of Zeus, the most prominent god of the Olympus. She was regarded as the mother of two gods: Ares, the god of war, and Hephaestus, the lame god master in the arts of metalworking, and two goddesses: Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth, and Hebe, the goddess of youth and cupbearer for the gods. In mythology, Hera is represented as the jealous and vengeful spouse of Zeus, eternally enraged against the innumerable loves of the latter. The traditions regarding her cult, however, reveal that Hera was a very ancient goddess, worshiped mainly by women (Bremmer 2005b). The etymology of her name is uncertain, regarded by some scholar as signifying “Lady”, but one hypothesis reattaches it to a root similar to that of hora, “season”, thus assigning it the meaning of “goddess of the year” or “of the changing of the seasons” (Chantraine, 1968, p.416). Some traditions relate that she was born on the island of Samos or in Argos, and that the Seasons (Horae) were her nurses.
Samos and Argos were the places were Hera’s cult was most prominent. The Heraion (Hera’s sanctuary) in Argos was a particularly ancient and sacred place: the temple can be traced to about 800 B.C., while some remains have been ascribed to the Mycenaean period (XVII-XII centuries B.C.). It was located in a dominant position on the slopes of a mountain. At Stymphalus, the goddess was worshiped in three aspects: as a maiden, as a bride and as a widow, representing the three ages of a woman, but also the cycle of the vegetative year and, perhaps, the phases of the moon (Graves 1960, p. 52). It was also said that Hera regained her virginity, that is became young again, bathing regularly in the sacred spring of Canathus, near Argos. The Kanathos fountain still exists today, near the nun monastery of Agia Moni, of the XII century, at about three kilometers from the city of Nafplio, Greece. The church is dedicated to Zoodochos Pigi (the “Life-giving Spring”), one of the epithets attributed in Orthodox Christianity to the Mother of God.

[Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hera_Farnese_MAN_Napoli_ Inv6027.jpg]




Female Symbols

Back

Marble statue of Hera, a Roman copy of Imperial age (I century A.D.) from a Greek original (IV century B.C.), in the National Archaeological Museum (Museo Archeologico Nazionale), Naples, Italy. Goddess of marriage and of childbirth, Hera was the wife of Zeus, the most prominent god of the Olympus. She was regarded as the mother of two gods: Ares, the god of war, and Hephaestus, the lame god master in the arts of metalworking, and two goddesses: Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth, and Hebe, the goddess of youth and cupbearer for the gods. In mythology, Hera is represented as the jealous and vengeful spouse of Zeus, eternally enraged against the innumerable loves of the latter. The traditions regarding her cult, however, reveal that Hera was a very ancient goddess, worshiped mainly by women (Bremmer 2005b). The etymology of her name is uncertain, regarded by some scholar as signifying “Lady”, but one hypothesis reattaches it to a root similar to that of hora, “season”, thus assigning it the meaning of “goddess of the year” or “of the changing of the seasons” (Chantraine, 1968, p.416). Some traditions relate that she was born on the island of Samos or in Argos, and that the Seasons (Horae) were her nurses. Samos and Argos were the places were Hera’s cult was most prominent. The Heraion (Hera’s sanctuary) in Argos was a particularly ancient and sacred place: the temple can be traced to about 800 B.C., while some remains have been ascribed to the Mycenaean period (XVII-XII centuries B.C.). It was located in a dominant position on the slopes of a mountain. At Stymphalus, the goddess was worshiped in three aspects: as a maiden, as a bride and as a widow, representing the three ages of a woman, but also the cycle of the vegetative year and, perhaps, the phases of the moon (Graves 1960, p. 52). It was also said that Hera regained her virginity, that is became young again, bathing regularly in the sacred spring of Canathus, near Argos. The Kanathos fountain still exists today, near the nun monastery of Agia Moni, of the XII century, at about three kilometers from the city of Nafplio, Greece. The church is dedicated to Zoodochos Pigi (the “Life-giving Spring”), one of the epithets attributed in Orthodox Christianity to the Mother of God. [Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hera_Farnese_MAN_Napoli_ Inv6027.jpg]