Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

HERAKLES 121king of Athens. In the Odyssey he is said to be theconsort of APHRODITE. In the Iliad he is marriedto CHARIS (Grace). He made a famous shield forAchilles which was said to reflect the world and allthat was in it.HERAORIGIN Greek. The wife of Zeus.KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP circa 800 BC, butprobably earlier, until Christianization (circaAD 400).SYNONYMS none.CENTER(S) OF CULT Plataea (Boeotia) and others.ART REFERENCES sculptures and carvings.LITERARY SOURCES Iliad (Homer); Theogony(Hesiod).As the long-suffering, but also jealous and quarrelsome,wife of the philandering and all-powerfulgod ZEUS, HERA adopts a position in the Greekpantheon that is at times ambiguous. The relationshipwith Zeus is incestuous since she is alsothe eldest daughter of KRONOS and thereforeZeus’s full sister. Mythology views her both as anindependent and wilful senior goddess, and as atragi-comic figure. Her marriage involves a degreeof subterfuge, persuading Zeus by means of amagic girdle momentarily to forget his preoccupationswith the Trojan War. In another piece of legendZeus turns himself into a cuckoo so that hemay fly into Hera’s bosom. Who seduced whomthus remains ambiguous. Curiously, neither in literaturenor in art is Hera perceived as a mothergoddess. She seems to have borne only a limitednumber of Zeus’s named children. The mostprominent is ARES, yet he is also the least favoredby the god. Other minor offspring included HEBEand EILEITHYIA. Hera relates to Zeus in threedistinct “phases”—consummation in which she ispais the girl; wedding and fulfillment as teleia; andseparation when she becomes chera.As stepmother to Zeus’s illegitimate children,Hera displays a jealous and malicious character,directing her anger at HERAKLES and DIONYSOSin particular. In a fire festival practiced in Boeotiato the “great Daedala,” wooden images wereburned to enact a legend whereby Plataea, one ofZeus’s concubines, was stripped naked, humiliatedand immolated by a jealous Hera.During a New Year festival, the Heraia, tohonor Hera, her priestesses were carried to thesanctuary on a cart drawn by oxen which alsopresumably contained a statue of the goddess.Traditionally a women’s games festival dedicatedto Hera was also held on Olympus every fouryears.HERAKLES (the fame of Hera?)ORIGIN Greek. Heroic god.KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP circa 800 BC, butprobably originating from a prehistoric model,until Christianization (circa AD 400).SYNONYMS Heracles (Roman).CENTER(S) OF CULT none specific.ART REFERENCES sculptures and carvings; pillarsof Herakles.LITERARY SOURCES Herakles (Euripedes); Iliadand Odyssey (Homer); Catalogues (Hesiod);Dodekathlos (Peisandros); votive inscriptions.Herakles probably originates out of a diffusion ofheroic myths about hunting spirits, as a shaman whoprotected the tribe against wild animals and whopossessed the necessary supernatural skills to ensurea safe outcome to the chase. This foundation maythen have drawn on role models such as NINURTA,found in ancient Near Eastern culture. Herakles isa son of ZEUS and HERA and the consort ofDeianeira (destroyer of man). He is a heroic god ofmassive stature and prodigious appetite (see alsoTHOR) who performs many feats of strength and