Leo
July 24 – August 23
Designated Goddess: Arinna(Anatolia)
Other Goddesses: Cybele, Neshto, Juno, Sun Woman
The Goddess Book of Days
Diane Stein
the Roman Goddess of War
Discover the legends and myths and religious beliefs surrounding Bellona, the Roman goddess of war and the war-cry. She was believed to have inspired a warlike frenzy, in which Roman legionnaires would fight in a nearly uncontrollable, rage and fury. Dies Sanguinis (Day of Blood) was a festival held in Ancient Rome on the 24th March, called Bellona’s Day, when devout adherents and priests of the cult of Bellona cut themselves and drank the sacrificial blood to propitiate the goddess. Her name is derived from the Latin word ‘bellum’ meaning war. The Greek counterparts of Bellona were Enyo and Eris.
Bellona, the Roman goddess of war
Bellona, the Roman goddess of war was believed to have been introduced to Roman soldiers during campaigns in Asia Minor under General Pompey and Sulla during the last century of the Roman Republic. Her cult also introduced the ferocious, masochistic and orgiastic rites (similar to those of the goddess Cybele) performed by Asian priests. Bellona is often depicted wearing a plumed helmet and armed with a spear and a torch. In the picture by Rubens of Bellona she carries a shield, called the Aegis, displaying the head of Medusa, the gorgon an attribute that is usually associated with Minerva
Temple of Bellona
The first temple to Bellona was built in the year 296 by the consul Appius Claudius and it was erected by the Circus Flaminius, located in the southern end of the Campus Martius. Campus Martius was located outside the city walls of Rome and was dedicated to Mars, the Roman god of war, with an ancient altar and became closely linked to soldiers and the army. Events, rituals and festivals associated with underworld deities were held in the Campus Martius. The festival in honor of Bellona was celebrated on June 3. Bellona also had had several shrines in Rome and another temple was dedicated to her in Ostia Antica, the harbour city of ancient Rome. Priests of Bellona would perform furious dances using weapons and armor in honor of the goddess of war and were known to wound and gash themselves in a frightful manner.
Priests of Bellona – the Bellonarii and Belladonna
The priests of Bellona were called the Bellonarii who practised a variety of masochistic rituals. These rites took place on the 24 March and on the day that was called the dies sanguinis meaning the “day of blood”. On the dies sanguinis, the “day of blood” the Bellonarii mutilated their own arms and legs with sharp knives, collecting the blood to either drink or offer to Bellona to invoke the war fury. The bellonaria plant (solanum) was used by priests at this festival. Its seeds were eaten by priests to induce hallucinogenic, prophetic and oracular states. The name Belladonna, deadly nightshade, is a corruption of the word bellonaria. Another festival called Megalesia was celebrated between April 4 – 10 in honor of Cybele, the fertility goddess. Her eunuch priests, called the Galli, also practised mutilation leading to incorrect historical connections between the worship of two goddesses and their festivals.
The Worship of Bellona, the Roman goddess of war
The Romans were highly practical and believed that their gods and goddesses controlled everything in their lives and therefore every occupation and task had its presiding Roman goddess or god. Bellona the Roman goddess of war was worshipped in the same way as any other Roman divinity with prayers and making vows, dedicating altars, sacrificing blood, animals, birds and offerings of milk, honey, grain, fruit, cakes, flowers, perfumes and wine. Black victims to the deities of the Underworld. The sex of a sacrificial animal had to correspond to the sex of the goddess to whom it was offered. The blood sacrifices made to Bellona, the goddess of war, would therefore have been a black ewe, cow or heifer, sow, hen or other female birds and conducted outside a temple. An even darker side to Bellona is revealed in relation to blood offerings as the earliest sacrifices are said to have been human.
In the Hawaiian religion, Pele (pronounced /ˈpeɪleɪ/ pay-lay or [ˈpɛlɛ] pel-lə), the Fire Goddess, is the goddess of fire, lightning, wind and volcanoes and the creator of the Hawaiian Islands. Often referred to as “Madame Pele” or “Tūtū Pele” as a sign of respect, she is a well-known deity within Hawaiian mythology, and is notable for her contemporary presence and cultural influence as an enduring figure from ancient Hawaii. Epithets of the goddess include Pele-honua-mea (“Pele of the sacred land”) and Ka wahine ʻai honua (“The earth-eating woman”).
There are several traditional legends associated with Pele in Hawaiian mythology. In addition to being recognized as the goddess of volcanoes, Pele is also known for her power, passion, jealousy, and capriciousness. She has numerous siblings, including Kāne Milohai, Kamohoaliʻi, Nāmaka and numerous sisters named Hiʻiaka, the most famous being Hiʻiakaikapoliopele (Hiʻiaka in the bosom of Pele). They are usually considered to be the offspring of Haumea. Pele’s siblings include deities of various types of wind, rain, fire, ocean wave forms, and cloud forms. Her home is believed to be the fire pit called Halemaʻumaʻu crater, at the summit caldera of Kīlauea, one of the Earth’s most active volcanoes; but her domain encompasses all volcanic activity on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi.
Pele shares features similar to other malignant deities inhabiting volcanoes, as in the case of the devil as responsible for the eruptions of the volcano.
In one version of the story, Pele is the daughter of Kanehoalani and Haumea in the mystical land of Kuaihelani, a floating free land like Fata Morgana. Kuaihelani was in the region of Kahiki (Kukulu o Kahiki). She stays so close to her mother’s fireplace with the fire-keeper Lono-makua. Her older sister Nā-maka-o-Kahaʻi, a sea goddess, fears that Pele’s ambition would smother the home-land and drives Pele away. Kamohoali’i drives Pele south in a canoe called Honua-i-a-kea with her younger sister Hiʻiaka and with her brothers Kamohoaliʻi, Kanemilohai, Kaneapua, and arrives at the islets above Hawaii. There Kane-milo-hai is left on Mokupapapa, just a reef, to build it up in fitness for human residence. On Nihoa, 800 feet above the ocean she leaves Kane-apua after her visit to Lehua and crowning a wreath of kau-no’a. Pele feels sorry for her younger brother and picks him up again. Pele used the divining rod, Pa‘oa to pick a new home. A group of chants tells of a pursuit by Namakaokaha’i and Pele is torn apart. Her bones, KaiwioPele form a hill on Kahikinui, while her spirit escaped to the island of Hawaiʻi.:157 (Pele & Hi’iaka A myth from Hawaii by Nathaniel B. Emerson)
In another version, Pele comes from a land said to be “close to the clouds,” with parents Kane-hoa-lani and Ka-hina-liʻi, and brothers Ka-moho-aliʻi and Kahuila-o-ka-lani. From her husband Wahieloa (also called Wahialoa) she has a daughter Laka and a son Menehune. Pele-kumu-honua entices her husband and Pele travels in search of him. The sea pours from her head over the land of Kanaloa (perhaps the island now known as Kahoʻolawe) and her brothers say:
O the sea, the great sea!
Forth bursts the sea:
Behold, it bursts on Kanaloa!
The sea floods the land, then recedes; this flooding is called Kai a Kahhinalii (“The sea of Ka-hina-liʻi”), as Pele’s connection to the sea was passed down from her mother Kahinalii.:158
Pele was considered to be a rival of the Hawaiian goddess of snow, Poliʻahu, and her sisters Lilinoe (a goddess of fine rain), Waiau (goddess of Lake Waiau), and Kahoupokane (a kapa maker whose kapa making activities create thunder, rain, and lightning). All except Kahoupokane reside on Mauna Kea. The kapa maker lives on Hualalai.
One myth tells that Poliʻahu had come from Mauna Kea with her friends to attend sled races down the grassy hills south of Hamakua. Pele came disguised as a beautiful stranger and was greeted by Poliʻahu. However, Pele became jealously enraged at the goddess of Mauna Kea. She opened the subterranean caverns of Mauna Kea and threw fire from them towards Poliʻahu, with the snow goddess fleeing towards the summit. Poliʻahu was finally able to grab her now-burning snow mantle and throw it over the mountain. Earthquakes shook the island as the snow mantle unfolded until it reached the fire fountains, chilling and hardening the lava. The rivers of lava were driven back to Mauna Loa and Kīlauea. Later battles also led to the defeat of Pele and confirmed the supremacy of the snow goddesses in the northern portion of the island and of Pele in the southern portion.
Pele belief continued after the old religion was officially abolished in 1819. In the summer of 1823 English missionary William Ellis toured the island to determine locations for mission stations.:236 After a long journey to the volcano Kīlauea with little food, Ellis eagerly ate the wild berries he found growing there.:128 The berries of the ʻōhelo (Vaccinium reticulatum) plant were considered sacred to Pele. Traditionally prayers and offerings to Pele were always made before eating the berries. The volcano crater was an active lava lake, which the natives feared was a sign that Pele was not pleased with the violation.:143 Although wood carvings and thatched temples were easily destroyed, the volcano was a natural monument to the goddess.
In December 1824 the High Chiefess Kapiʻolani descended into the Halemaʻumaʻu crater after reciting a Christian prayer instead of the traditional one to Pele. She was not killed as predicted, and this story was often told by missionaries to show the superiority of their faith.[10] Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) wrote a poem about the incident in 1892.
When businessman George Lycurgus ran a hotel at the rim of Kīlauea, called the Volcano House, he would often “pray” to Pele for the sake of the tourists. Park officials took a dim view of his habit of tossing items such as gin bottles (after drinking their contents) into the crater.
Plantation owner William Hyde Rice published a version of the story in his collection of legends.In 2003 the Volcano Art Center had a special competition for Pele paintings to replace one done in the early 20th century by D. Howard Hitchcock displayed in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park visitors center. Some criticized what looked like a blond caucasian as the Hawaiian goddess. Over 140 paintings were submitted, and finalists were displayed at sites within the park. The winner of the contest was Pahoa, Hawaii artist Arthur Johnsen. This version shows the goddess in shades of red, with a digging stick in her left hand (theʻōʻō, for which the currently erupting vent was named), and an embryonic form of Hiʻiaka-i-ka-poli-o-Pele in her right hand. The painting is now on display at the Kīlauea Visitor Center on the edge of the Kīlauea crater.
Reference
The Greek Goddess Who Became The First Spider.
Arachne was a young woman from Lydia, sometimes said to be a princess, who offended Athena, and suffered the consequences. Her story helped serve as a warning to all to take care to not offend the gods.
Arachne was gifted in the art of weaving. Not only were her finished products beautiful to look at, but the very act of her weaving was a sight to behold. Nymphs were said to abandon their frolicking to come observe Arachne practice her magic. So remarkable were her works that observers often commented that she must have been trained by the very patron goddess of weaving, Athena herself. Arachne scoffed at this. She was disgusted at being placed in an inferior place to the goddess and proclaimed that Athena herself could not do better than her.
Athena was quite perturbed at Arachne’s bold claim, but she decided to give the young woman a chance to redeem herself. She came to Arachne disguised as an old woman and warned her to be careful not to offend the gods, lest she incur their wrath. But Arachne told the old woman to save her breath. She welcomed a contest with Athena, and, if she lost, would suffer whatever punishment the goddess deemed necessary.
The goddess accepted the challenge and revealed her true form. The nymphs who had come to watch Arachne’s weaving shrunk back in fear, but Arachne stood her shaky ground. She had made a claim, and she was sticking to it. So the contest began, the mortal at her loom, the goddess at hers. Athena began to weave the scene of her contest with Poseidon for the city of Athens. A beautiful scene developed from the threads, showing Poseidon and the salt water spring, and Athena with an olive tree, gifts to the people who would name Athena as their patron, and their city after her. The bystanders marveled at the goddess’ work.
Arachne, for her part, created a tapestry showcasing scenes of Zeus’ various infidelities: Leda with the Swan, Europa with the bull, Dana and the golden rain shower. So exquisite was the mortal’s work that the bull seemed lifelike, swimming across the tapestry with a real girl on his shoulders. Even Athena herself was forced to admit that Arachne’s work was flawless. (Whether or not Arachne was actually better than Athena is still a mystery.)
Angered at Arachne’s challenge, as well as the presumptuousness of her choice of subjects, Athena tore the tapestry to pieces and destroyed the loom. Then she touched Arachne’s forehead, making sure that she felt full guilt for her actions. Arachne was ashamed, but the guilt was far too deep for her poor, mortal mind. Depressed, she hanged herself.
Athena took pity on Arachne. She most likely did not expect that Arachne would commit suicide. She brought her back to life, but not as a human. By sprinkling her with the juices of aconite, Athena transformed the woman into a spider, her and her descendants to forever hang from threads and to be great weavers.
Author: Melissa Lee
Website: Encyclopedia Mythica™
Astarte, Aphrodite, Erzulie, Aida Wooo, Eve, Venus, Diana, Isis, the Witch of Gaeta, Chalchiuhtlique
The Goddess Book of Days
Diane Stein
Luna, Selene, Diana, Re, Gealach, Ida, Artemis, the Witches, Yemaya, Erzulie Tuesday Soorejnaree, Pinga1la, Anna, Aine, Danu, Yngona,
The Goddess Book of Days
Diane Stein
Ops, Rhea, Tellus Mater, Gaia, Eartha, Ge, Tonantzin, Ashera, Anath, the Shekinah, the Matronit, Mary, Gula, Herodias, Oddudua, Demeter
The Goddess Book of Days
Diane Stein
Astarte, Aphrodite, Erzulie, Aida Wooo, Eve, Venus, Diana, Isis, the Witch of Gaeta, Chalchiuhtlique
The Goddess Book of Days
Diane Stein
Juno, Hera, Kwan Yin, Mary, Cybele, Tara, Mawu, Mbaba Mwana Waresa, Ishtar
The Goddess Book of Days
Diane Stein
Traditional: For Juno, Great Mother, Goddess of Women
Flower – Rose
Birthstone – moonstone, pearl, alexandrite
Goddesses: Ishtar, Apt, Apet, Athena, Demeter, Juno, Persephone, Luna, Hera, Rosea, Mawu
The Goddess Book of Days
Diane Stein
Definition:
In Greek mythology, the beautiful goddess Hera was queen of the Greek gods and the wife of Zeus, the king. Hera was goddess of marriage and childbirth. Since Hera’s husband was Zeus, king not only of gods, but of philanderers, Hera spent a lot of time in Greek mythology angry with Zeus. So Hera is described as jealous and quarrelsome.
Hera’s Jealousy
Among the more famous victims of Hera’s jealousy is Hercules (aka “Heracles,” whose name means the glory of Hera). Hera persecuted the famous hero from before the time he could walk for the simple reason that Zeus was his father, but another woman — Alcmene — was his mother. Despite the fact that Hera was not Hercules’ mother, and despite her hostile actions — such as sending snakes to kill him when he was a newborn baby, she served as his nurse when he was an infant.
Hera persecuted many of the other women Zeus seduced, in one way or another.
“The anger of Hera, who murmured terrible against all child-bearing women that bare children to Zeus….”
Theoi Hera: Callimachus, Hymn 4 to Delos 51 ff (trans. Mair)
“Leto had relations with Zeus, for which she was hounded by Hera all over the earth.”
Theoi Hera: Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 21 (trans. Aldrich)
Hera’s Children
Hera is usually counted single parent mother of Hephaestus and the normal biological mother of Hebe and Ares. Their father is usually said to be her husband, Zeus, although Clark [“Who Was the Wife of Zeus?” by Arthur Bernard Clark; The Classical Review, (1906), pp. 365-378] explains the identities and births of Hebe, Ares, and Eiletheiya, goddess of childbirth, and sometimes named child of the divine couple, otherwise.
Clark argues that the king and queen of the gods had no children together.
Hebe may have been fathered by a lettuce. The association between Hebe and Zeus may have been sexual rather than familial.
Ares might have been conceived via a special flower from the fields of Olenus. Zeus’ free admission of his paternity of Ares, Clark hints, may be only to avoid the scandal of being a cuckold.
On her own, Hera gave birth to Hephaestus.
Parents of Hera
Like brother Zeus, Hera’s parents were Cronos and Rhea, who were Titans.
Roman Hera
In Roman mythology, the goddess Hera is known as Juno.
N.S. Gill’s Ancient/Classical History Glossary
Article published on & owned by About.com
Sunne, Sol, Frau Sonne, Aditi, Igaehindvo, Amaterasu, Arinna, Izanami, Ochumare
The Goddess Book of Days
Diane Stein
Thor, Juno, Hera, Kwan Yin, Mary, Cybele, Tara, Mawu, Mbaba Mwana Waresa, Ishtar
The Goddess Book of Days
Diane Stein
Woden, Isis, Demeter, Ceres, Spider Woman, Bona Dea, Oya, Devi-Kali, Hella, Rhiannon, Coatlique, Maman Brigette
The Goddess Book of Days
Diane Stein
The Easter Egg
The holiday of Easter, known as Paschal in some regions, is celebrated across many many nations and peoples around the globe, especially if they are pre-dominantly affiliated in religious culture as Christian. However, Easter Sunday as we know it now, has a pretty interesting background of traditions going back into the times of pagan Europe and even becoming such creative symbols as the exquisitely jeweled eggs of Russia’s House Faberge. Let us take a look at this hallmark springtime festivity and check out some of its rich history. At the end, we can all enjoy a hand at DIY non-toxic natural egg dye options for some creative, de-stressing fun no matter how old you are or how you’ll be celebrating the holiday!
Lore
Easter originally was a pagan European holiday that centered around a feast to the Germanic Goddess of Spring Eostre/Ostara around the Spring Equinox of March 21st. A mother goddess of Northern Europe who was honored as the bringer of the dawn and of springtime, Ostara had a couple of stories about her regarding white rabbits and bird eggs (symbols that would come to represent the Easter feast). One of the myths of Ostara features the bunny. As the story goes, Ostara, was late bringing spring one year. As her energy swooped across the land, she came upon a little bird whose wings had been frozen in the snow. Filled with compassion for him since he could no longer fly, she turned him into a snow hare and gave him the gift of incredible speed, to flee from the hunters. Still partially a bird, the hare showed its gratitude to the goddess by laying eggs as gifts and painting them pretty colors. The Goddess loved the gifts so much, she ordained that her feast would always feature this activity henceforth.
Such is as the saying goes…
So how did the Easter feast get turned into Easter Sunday?
In his 1835 Deutsche Mythologie, Jacob Grimm cites comparative evidence to reconstruct a potential continental Germanic goddess whose name would have been preserved in the Old High German name of Easter, *Ostara. Addressing skepticism towards goddesses mentioned by Bede, Grimm comments that “there is nothing improbable in them, nay the first of them is justified by clear traces in the vocabularies of Germanic tribes.” Specifically regarding Ēostre, Grimm continues that:
- We Germans to this day call April ostermonat, and ôstarmânoth is found as early as Eginhart (temp. Car. Mag.). The great Christian festival, which usually falls in April or the end of March, bears in the oldest of OHG remains the name ôstarâ … it is mostly found in the plural, because two days … were kept at Easter. This Ostarâ, like the [Anglo-Saxon] Eástre, must in heathen religion have denoted a higher being, whose worship was so firmly rooted, that the Christian teachers tolerated the name, and applied it to one of their own grandest anniversaries.
Thus, as Christianity spread throughout all of Europe, Easter (originally a celebration of the renewal of life during springtime) became transformed into Easter Sunday (the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ) to help the new religion integrate with the natives of whom were the primary converts to such.
Inspiration
The beautiful painted eggs became a symbol widely recognized across not only Western Europe, but later on Eastern Europe, North America, South America, and beyond as a tradition that still holds weight to this day. In fact, some artists took their inspiration from these eggs to scale their fame quite far.
The House of Fabergé (French pronunciation: fabɛʁʒe) (Russian: Дом Фаберже) is a jewelry firm founded in 1842 in St. Petersburg, Imperial Russia, by Gustav Faberge. Using the accented name “Fabergé”, Gustav was followed by his son Peter Carl Fabergé, until the firm was nationalized by the Bolsheviks in 1918. The firm has been famous for designing elaborate jewel-encrusted Fabergé eggs for the Russian Tsars and a range of other high quality and intricate works. Faberge is a brand you might recognize in a lot of places, especially if you see one of these delicate lavish pieces of art:
DIY all-natural dyes
Whether your Easter weekend will be filled with children, family and traditional Easter activities or drinking wine, donning bonnets, and making vegan chocolate rabbits in a friend’s apartment kitchen, I encourage you to take up with the season and make the brightest, most colorful Easter eggs you can dream up—without using artificial colors and potentially toxic dyes. These eggs can eventually be eaten, displayed (if drained), and just plain recycled at the end by burying the shells in your garden (makes for great plant fertilizer!).
You can keep things safe (and thrifty) by making your own natural dyes from things you probably already have in your kitchen.
For Orange, use yellow onions. mix 1 cup yellow onion skin (about 2 onions’ worth), 1 teaspoon vinegar, and 3 cups water in a pot. Boil for one half hour, cool to room temperature, strain out the onion skins, then soak hard-boiled eggs in the dye for one half hour.
For Red, use beets. Combine 2 cups of grated raw beets with one tablespoon vinegar and 2 cups of water. Boil for 15 minutes. Let water cool, then add eggs; the longer you soak, the deeper the red color will be.
For Yellow, use cumin or turmeric. Boil three tablespoons turmeric or cumin. Strain the ingredient (if necessary) and add one tablespoon vinegar to the dye. Allow the dye to cool a bit before (adding) the eggs.
For Lavender, use Hibiscus tea bags.
For Blue, use purple or red cabbage. Dice ¼ head of cabbage and add to 4 cups boiling water. Stir in 2 tablespoons vinegar. Let cool to room temperature and strain before adding eggs.
For Green, use parsley and/or spinach.
Want to make intricate designs easily on these eggs? Check this video out.
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I hope you had fun learning!
For those who don’t want to go the DIY route but still want to keep things natural, check out these natural dye kits on Eupterra Foundation’s article page.
For more on all-natural DIY, visit Eupterra’s homepage.
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Areas of Influence: Eos, Goddess of the dawn in ancient Greece was one of the Titans.
Every morning she awoke and used her rosy fingers to open the gates of heaven. This enabled her brother Helios (the sun God) to ride his chariot across the sky. She also brought forth the hope of a new day.
The dew was said to be her tears.
This female deity is most noted for her insatiable appetite for young men. Her desire is said to have been the result of a curse, placed upon her by Aphrodite, when she discovered her affair with Ares. She also kidnapped four lovers: Cephalus, Clitus, Ganymede and Tithonus. The later was a Trojan prince whom she begged Zeus to grant immortality. What she forgot to ask for was eternal youth. Eventually he shriveled up with old age and she turned him into a grasshopper.
Her love for Orion was unrequited.
Origins and Genealogy: She was daughter of the Titans Theia and Hyperion. She had two close siblings Helios (the sun) and Selene (the moon).
With Aeolus the keeper of the winds, she bore four sons these became the winds of the cardinal directions.
Strengths: Passion.
Weaknesses: Insatiable desire.
Roman Equivalent: Aurora.
Depicted in art with rosy fingers, wearing a saffron robe and a tiara or diadem.
In pictures of Eos she is usually shown winged or riding a winged golden chariot. Follow this link and discover a variety of artist representations of the Goddess including a winged almost angelic looking one by artist Evelyn De Morgan.
Sacred Plant: Saffron.
Roman Equivalent: Aurora.
The Femme Fatale:
This Archetype represents the seductress or enchantress who manipulates men for sex, status or money. The complete lack of emotional envolvement with their victim, results in the symbolic killing or getting rid of her lover when he has served his purpose.
On the more positive side rejection by the male can result in the opening her heart.
Eos fits this Archetype with her relentless pursuit of young men. She displayed these tendencies even before Aphrodite’s curse. This pattern of behaviour appears to be a family trait as her sister Selene also has numerous lovers.
The Femme Fatale:
The Femme Fatale reminds you to be honest and look at why you are staying in a relationship? Is it the money, the house and status etc or are you emotionally connected to your lover.
If on the other hand you are looking for a new partner ask yourself how importantly you rank his earnings potential and status in your list of desirable qualities.
Hera is the queen of the gods. She is usually plotting either to favor the Greeks over the Trojans, as in Homer’s Iliad, or against one of the females who has caught the roving eye of her philandering husband, Zeus. At other times, Hera is shown plotting mischief against Heracles.
Occupation:
Goddess
Family of Origin:
The Greek goddess Hera is one of the daughters of Cronus and Rhea. She is the sister and wife of the king of the gods, Zeus.
Roman Equivalent:
The Greek goddess Hera was known as the goddess Juno by the Romans. It is Juno who torments Aeneas on his trip from Troy to Italy to found the Roman race. Of course, this is the same goddess who so vehemently opposed the Trojans in the stories about the Trojan War, so she would try to put obstacles in the path of a Trojan prince who escaped the destruction of her hated city..
In Rome, Juno was part of the Capitoline triad, along with her husband and Minerva. As part of the triad, she is Juno Capitolina. The Romans also worshiped a Juno Lucina, Juno Moneta, Juno Sospita, and Juno Caprotina, among other epithets.
Attributes of Hera:
Peacock, cow, crow and pomegranate for fertility. She is described as cow-eyed.
Powers of Hera:
Hera is the queen of the gods and the wife of Zeus. She is the goddess of marriage and is one of the childbirth goddesses. She created the Milky Way when she was lactating.
Sources on Hera:
Ancient sources for Hera include: Apollodorus, Cicero, Euripides, Hesiod, Homer, Hyginus, and Nonnius.
Children of Hera:
Hera was the mother of Hephaestus. Sometimes she is credited with giving birth to him without the input of a male as a response to Zeus’ giving birth to Athena from his head. Hera was not pleased with the clubfoot of her son. Either she or her husband threw Hephaestus from Olympus. He fell to earth where he was tended by Thetis, the mother of Achilles, for which reason he created Achilles’ great shield.
Hera was also the mother, with Zeus, of Ares and Hebe, the cupbearer of the gods who marries Heracles.
N.S. Gill, Ancient/Classical History Expert
Article published on & owned by About.com
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