Pantagathus Posted July 16, 2007 Report Share Posted July 16, 2007 One thing that I can't figure out for the life of me (& apparently baffles professional scholars as well) is the dynamics behind Hera's cult importance in Archaic Greece... Why would some of the most grandiose early sanctuaries be dedicated to Hera (Heraion) especially in city states which owed their prosperity to sea-borne commerce like Samos, Corinth & Argos when Homer and general mythology offer no explaination and paint her in an almost derisory light? I have some ideas but they would be SWAG's at best... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nephele Posted October 20, 2007 Report Share Posted October 20, 2007 One thing that I can't figure out for the life of me (& apparently baffles professional scholars as well) is the dynamics behind Hera's cult importance in Archaic Greece... Why would some of the most grandiose early sanctuaries be dedicated to Hera (Heraion) especially in city states which owed their prosperity to sea-borne commerce like Samos, Corinth & Argos when Homer and general mythology offer no explaination and paint her in an almost derisory light? I have some ideas but they would be SWAG's at best... I thought that Hera represented the idealized wife and that this was why she was revered? Not idealized for giving her husband grief over his amorous dalliances with other goddesses, nymphs, etc., but rather idealized because she didn't partake in such dalliances of her own? (Thus promoting the ancients' inequitable perception of "family values".) Have I got this right, Pan? Anyone? -- Nephele Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursus Posted October 21, 2007 Report Share Posted October 21, 2007 What Pan is saying is that the oldest temples built in Greece were decicated to Hera in the region of Greece he cited. There was a temple to Hera at Olympia, Zeus' main cult center, before there was a temple to Zeus ... suggesting that Zeus wasn't always the chief deity in that area. In a patriarchal Greek society it doesn't make sense for a marriage goddess, no matter how stately, to be afforded such honors. It is sometimes speculated that Hera was some type of Aegean great goddess in the time period before the Indo-European offshoots invaded Greece. It is then further theorized that the patriarchal, warlike Indo-European invaders couldn't very well demote their sky god to second rate status, but neither could they completely eradicate the existing Hera. The simplest solution was to make Hera the mythological wife of Zeus, making her in effect secondary to him. This must have caused certain tensions, which carried over in myth as the stormy marriage between the two deities. Creedence to this view comes from the fact that in other places of Greece where Hera was not pre-eminent, Zeus is linked to goddesses other than Hera. This suggests that the Indo-Europeans simply took whatever primary goddess existed in a given region and made her the consort of Zeus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nephele Posted October 21, 2007 Report Share Posted October 21, 2007 Ah, I see now. Thank you. I have an interest in these goddess cults, having read Robin Lorsch Wildfang's work on the Vestal Virgins. For the Quintus Libri project, Ursus, you posted 5 best intro books on Greco-Roman polytheism. Can you direct me to which of these books examine the goddess cults in the most depth? And... (here's a special request. ) Would you be inclined to compile another one of your lists for Quintus Libri, this one specifically focusing on the five best books dealing with Greco-Roman goddesses and their cults? One of my favorites is Bell's Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary, but I'd like to add to my collection. -- Nephele Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursus Posted October 21, 2007 Report Share Posted October 21, 2007 Walter Burkert's _Greek Religion_ has a full chapter on Hera, as well as the other major goddesses. Beyond that I am afraid I can't help you. I have little interest in Hera. My interests in goddesses focus on Isis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nephele Posted October 21, 2007 Report Share Posted October 21, 2007 Walter Burkert's _Greek Religion_ has a full chapter on Hera, as well as the other major goddesses. Beyond that I am afraid I can't help you. I have little interest in Hera. My interests in goddesses focus on Isis. Thanks for the recommendation, Ursus. And, yes, I find Isis an entirely more interesting goddess than Hera, as well. What I'd like, is to be pointed towards a book or books that cover goddesses exclusively. Another book I have is Goddesses in the World Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary by Martha Ann and Dorothy Myers Imel. Books of that nature (like the one by Bell I'd mentioned previously), are what I'm looking for. -- Nephele Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASCLEPIADES Posted October 21, 2007 Report Share Posted October 21, 2007 Walter Burkert's _Greek Religion_ has a full chapter on Hera, as well as the other major goddesses. Beyond that I am afraid I can't help you. I have little interest in Hera. My interests in goddesses focus on Isis. Thanks for the recommendation, Ursus. And, yes, I find Isis an entirely more interesting goddess than Hera, as well. What I'd like, is to be pointed towards a book or books that cover goddesses exclusively. Another book I have is Goddesses in the World Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary by Martha Ann and Dorothy Myers Imel. Books of that nature (like the one by Bell I'd mentioned previously), are what I'm looking for. -- Nephele Salve, Lady N. About Hera, the book of O'briem seems at least interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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