HERA. - Wife of Zeus, one of the most important Greek divinities. Her nature is debated: a chthonic goddess, or of the lunar light, or of the air and atmospheric storms, or of female fertility, or the "goddess spouse."
She is generally considered to be originally from the Argolid; a recent hypothesis makes her the domestic divinity of the Mycenaean kings of Argos, from Argos she would have spread through the Peloponnese, the principal seat of the cult, and throughout all of Greece. Important sanctuaries were, besides the Heraion of Argos, where at the Heraia there were contests of horsemen with a shield as the prize, those of Olympia, of Samos where she had festivals with processions of armed men and contests of maidens, and in Italy those of the promontory of Lacinium near Croton and of Posidonia. She was venerated principally as a symbol of female dignity and of marriage; in spring the commemoration of the sacred marriage with Zeus was celebrated.
Bibliography6 worksL. R. Farnell, The cults of the greek states, I, Oxford 1896, p. 179 ff.; S. Eitrem, s. v. in Pauly Wissowa, VIII, col. 369 ff.; U. v. Wilam
BIBL.: L. R. Farnell, The cults of the greek states, I, Oxford 1896, p. 179 ff.; S. Eitrem, s. v. in Pauly Wissowa, VIII, col. 369 ff.; U. v. Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Der Glaube der Hellenen, I, Berlin 1931, p. 237 ff.; B. Pace, s. v. in Enc. Ital., XIV (1932), p. 169 ff.; U. Pestalozzi, Βοβιτς δέννια "Hgr. in Athenaeum, 12 (1930), p. 105 ff.; M. Nilsson, Geschichte der Griechischen Religion, I, Munich 1941, p. 400 ff. For southern Italy: G. Giannelli, Culti e miti della Magna Grecia, Florence 1924, p. 144 ff.
Banti, Luisa. “Era.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. V, coll. 461–462. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1950. https://azioneromana.com/article/era-3.
MLA
Banti, Luisa. “Era.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. V, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1950, coll. 461–462. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/era-3.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec5_era_3,
author = {Banti, Luisa},
title = {Era},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {V},
pages = {461--462},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1950},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/era-3}
}
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