Editing Hera (section)

==Cult==
[[File:Marriage of Zeus and Hera (detail) Pompeian Art.jpg|thumb|right|Hera on an antique fresco from [[Pompeii]]]]
The worship of Hera was sparse in [[Thessaly]], [[Attica]], [[Phocis]] and [[Achaea]]. In [[Boeotia]] she is related to the fest [[Daedala]]. The main center of her cult was North-Eastern [[Peloponnese]], especially [[Argolis]]. ( [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]], [[Tiryns]], [[Corinth]], [[Sicyon]], [[Epidaurus]] and [[Hermione (Argolis)|Hermione]]). She was worshipped at the [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadian]] cities  [[Mantineia]], [[Megalopolis, Greece|Megalopolis]], [[Stymphalus (Arcadia)|Stymphalus]] and at [[Sparta]]. The oldest temple at [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]] belonged to Hera. In the islands she was worshipped at [[Samos]], [[Paros]], [[Delos]], [[Amorgos]], [[Santorini|Thera]], [[Kos]], [[Rhodes]] and [[Crete]]. The island [[Euboea]] was considered her holy place. A month was named after Hera at [[Delphi]] (''Heraios''), [[Olous]], [[Laconia]], [[Tinos]] (''Heraiōn''), [[Pergamon|Pergamos]] (''Heraos'').<ref>Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I, p. 427-428</ref><ref>Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus Digital Library :[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=hrai%2Fos&la=greek#lexicon Ἡραίος ]</ref> Hera is the  ''Olympia'', ''Queen'', ''[[Anax|Anassa]]'' , the Queen of heaven. The royal quality of her was preserved by the monuments of Greek art.<ref>Farnell, Cults I, p.197-198</ref>
    
Hera may have been the first deity to whom the Greeks dedicated an enclosed roofed temple sanctuary, at [[Samos]] about 800 BCE. It was replaced later by the [[Heraion of Samos]], one of the largest of all Greek temples (altars were in front of the temples under the open sky). There were many temples built on this site, so the evidence is somewhat confusing, and archaeological dates are uncertain.

The temple created by the [[Rhoecus]] sculptors and architects was destroyed between 570 and 560 BCE. This was replaced by the [[Polycrates|Polycratean]] temple of 540–530 BCE. In one of these temples, we see a forest of 155 columns. There is also no evidence of tiles on this temple suggesting either the temple was never finished or that the temple was open to the sky.

Earlier sanctuaries, whose dedication to Hera is less certain, were of the Mycenaean type called "house sanctuaries".<ref>Martin Persson Nilsson, ''The Minoan-Mycenaean Religion and Its Survival in Greek Religion'' (Lund) 1950 pt. I.ii "House Sanctuaries", pp 77-116; H. W. Catling, "A Late Bronze Age House- or Sanctuary-Model from the Menelaion, Sparta," ''BSA'' '''84''' (1989) 171-175.</ref> Samos excavations have revealed votive offerings, many of them late 8th and 7th centuries BCE, which show that Hera at Samos was not merely a local Greek goddess of the [[Aegean civilizations|Aegean]]. The museum there contains figures of gods and suppliants and other votive offerings from [[Armenia]], [[Babylon]], [[Iran]], [[Assyria]], and [[Egypt]], testimony to the reputation which this sanctuary of Hera enjoyed, and the large influx of pilgrims. Compared to this mighty goddess, who also possessed the earliest temple at [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]] and two of the great fifth and sixth-century temples of [[Paestum]], the termagant of [[Homer]] and the myths is an "almost... comic figure," according to [[Walter Burkert|Burkert]].<ref>[[Walter Burkert|Burkert]], p. 132, including quote; Burkert: ''Orientalizing Revolution''.</ref>

[[Image:Temple of Hera - Agrigento - Italy 2015.JPG|thumb|left|The Temple of Hera at [[Agrigento]], [[Magna Graecia]].]]
Though the greatest and earliest free-standing temple to Hera was the [[Heraion of Samos]], in the Greek mainland Hera was especially worshipped as "Argive Hera" (''Hera Argeia'') at her sanctuary that stood between the former Mycenaean city-states of [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]] and [[Mycenae]],<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' 3.13.6</ref><ref>Her name appears, with Zeus and Hermes, in a [[Linear B]] inscription (Tn 316) at Mycenean [[Pylos]] (John Chadwick, ''The Mycenaean World'' [Cambridge University Press] 1976:89).</ref> where the festivals in her honor called ''[[Heraean Games|Heraia]]'' were celebrated. "The three cities I love best," she declares in the ''[[Iliad]]'', book iv, "are Argos, Sparta and Mycenae of the broad streets." There were also temples to Hera in [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]], [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]], [[Tiryns]], [[Perachora]] and the sacred island of [[Delos]]. In [[Magna Graecia]], two Doric temples to Hera were constructed at [[Paestum]], about 550 BCE and about 450 BCE. One of them, long called the ''Temple of Poseidon'' was identified in the 1950s as a temple of Hera.<ref>P.C. Sestieri, ''Paestum, the City, the Prehistoric Acropolis in Contrada Gaudo, and the Heraion at the Mouth of the Sele'' (Rome 1960), p. 11, etc. "It is odd that there was no temple dedicated to Poseidon in a city named for him (Paestum was originally called Poseidonia). Perhaps there was one at Sele, the settlement that preceded Paestum," Sarantis Symeonoglou suggested (Symeonoglou, "The Doric Temples of Paestum" ''Journal of Aesthetic Education'', '''19'''.1, Special Issue: Paestum and Classical Culture: Past and Present [Spring 1985:49-66] p. 50.</ref>

The [[Daedala]] fire festival on [[Cithaeron]] near [[Plataea]], included an account of Hera's quarrel with Zeus and their reconciliation.<ref name=Burkert63p>Burkert (1998), "Greek religion", p. 63.</ref>

Hera's importance in the early archaic period is attested by the large building projects undertaken in her honor. The temples of Hera in the two main centers of her [[cult (religion)|cult]], the [[Heraion of Samos]] and the [[Heraion of Argos]] in the [[Argolis]], were the very earliest monumental [[Greek temple]]s constructed, in the 8th century BCE.<ref name=Obrien4/> At Argos the [[Dorians|Dorian]] "Heraion" was built on the hill of [[Prosymna]] near [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenean]] hero-tombs.<ref name=Obrien4/> At Samos the cult activity near the altar begun in late Mycenean period and a big altar was built in the 9th century BC.<ref>Kyrieleis, H. (1993). "The Heraion at Samos".p.128</ref>

During the [[Hellenistic period]] ({{circa|330 BCE &ndash; 300 CE}}), Greek culture spread outside Greece across the Eastern Mediterranean region as a result of the conquests of Alexander the Great.  The [[Hellenistic religion]] was often [[syncretic]], and the Greek gods were identified with local deities as different aspects or names of the same divinity.  Hera was identified with various local [[mother goddess|mother deities]].  As an example, the work ''[[On the Syrian Goddess]]'' suggests a cult worshipped a goddess that was simultaneously the Syrian goddess [[Atargatis]] and Hera.  This even extended to [[early Christianity]] some; the ''[[Legend of Aphroditian]]'' identifies Hera with the [[Virgin Mary]], perhaps due to one of Hera's abilities being her miraculous restoration of her own virginity.<ref>{{cite book |last=Heyden |first=Katharina |author-link=Katharina Heyden |editor-last1=Edwards |editor-first1=J. Christopher |date=2022 |title=Early New Testament Apocrypha |publisher=Zondervan Academic |chapter=The Legend of Aphroditian |pages=115&ndash;127 |series=Ancient Literature for New Testament Studies 9 |isbn=9780310099710 }}</ref>

===Importance===
According to [[Walter Burkert]], both Hera and Demeter have many characteristic attributes of Pre-Greek [[Great Goddess]]es.<ref>"The goddesses of Greek polytheism, so different and complementary"; [[Greek mythology]] scholar [[Walter Burkert]] has observed, in ''Homo Necans'' (1972) 1983:79f, "are nonetheless, consistently similar at an earlier stage, with one or the other simply becoming dominant in a sanctuary or city. Each is the Great Goddess presiding over a male society; each is depicted in her attire as [[Potnia Theron]] "Mistress of the Beasts", and Mistress of the Sacrifice, even Hera and Demeter."</ref>

In the same vein, British scholar [[Charles Francis Keary]] suggests that Hera had some sort of "[[Mother goddess|Earth Goddess]]" worship in ancient times,<ref>Keary, Charles Francis. ''Outlines of primitive belief among the Indo-European races''. New York: C. Scibner's Sons. 1882. p. 176.</ref><ref>Renehan, Robert. ''HERA AS EARTH-GODDESS: A NEW PIECE OF EVIDENCE''. In: Rheinisches Museum für Philologie 
Neue Folge, 117. Bd., H. 3/4 (1974), pp. 193-201. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/41244783]</ref><ref name="sacred-texts.com">[https://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/mgr/mgr05.htm Harrison, Jane Ellen. ''Myths of Greece and Rome''. 1928. pp. 12-14]</ref> connected to her possible origin as a Pelasgian goddess (as mentioned by Herodotus).<ref>Keary, Charles Francis. ''Outlines of primitive belief among the Indo-European races''. New York: C. Scibner's Sons. 1882. p. 176 (footnote nr. ii).</ref><ref name="sacred-texts.com"/> In Greece the Mediterranean goddess of nature  is the bride of the Greek sky-god . In her fest [[Daedala]] Hera is related to the nymph Plataia (consort of [[Zeus]]), an old forgotten form of the Greek earth-goddess.<ref name="Burkert17"/> Plataia may be related to [[Gaia]] who is occasionally identified with Hera.<ref name=Kirk/><ref name="174-175">West (2007) "Indoeuropean poetry and myth" [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXrJA_5LKlYC&pg=PA174 174-175]</ref>

According to [[Homeric Hymn]] II to [[Delian Apollo]], Hera detained [[Eileithyia]] to prevent [[Leto]] from going into labor with Artemis and [[Apollo]], since the father was [[Zeus]]. The other goddesses present at the birthing on [[Delos]] sent [[Iris (mythology)|Iris]] to bring her. As she stepped upon the island, the divine birth began. In the myth of the birth of [[Heracles]], it is Hera herself who sits at the door, delaying the birth of Heracles until her protégé, [[Eurystheus]], had been born first.<ref name="Hom. Il. 19.95">[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Il.+19.95 19.95ff.]</ref>

The Homeric Hymn to [[Pythian Apollo]] makes the monster [[Typhon|Typhaon]] the offspring of archaic Hera in her ancient form, produced out of herself, like a monstrous version of [[Hephaestus]], and whelped in a cave in [[Cilicia]].<ref>''Iliad'', ii. 781-783)</ref> She gave the creature to [[Python (mythology)|Python]] to raise.

[[Image:Hera Barberini Chiaramonti Inv1210.jpg|thumb|upright|Roman copy of a Greek 5th century Hera of the "[[Barberini Hera]]" type, from the [[Museo Chiaramonti]]]]

In the [[Temple of Hera, Olympia]], Hera's seated cult figure was older than the warrior figure of Zeus that accompanied it. Homer expressed her relationship with Zeus delicately in the ''Iliad'', in which she declares to Zeus, "I am [[Cronus]]' eldest daughter, and am honourable not on this ground only, but also because I am your wife, and you are king of the gods."<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Homer |first=751? BCE-651? BCE |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2199 |title=The Iliad |date=2000-06-01 |language=English |translator-last=Butler |translator-first=Samuel}}</ref>

===Matriarchy===
There has been considerable scholarship, reaching back to [[Johann Jakob Bachofen]] in the mid-nineteenth century,<ref>Bachofen, ''Mutterrecht'' 1861, as '' Mother Right: An Investigation of the Religious and Juridical Character of Matriarchy in the Ancient World.'' Bachofen was seminal in the writings of [[Jane Ellen Harrison]] and other students of Greek myth.</ref> about the possibility that Hera, whose early importance in Greek religion is firmly established, was originally the goddess of a matriarchal people, presumably inhabiting Greece before the [[Hellenes]]. In this view, her activity as [[goddess]] of marriage established the patriarchal bond of her own subordination: her resistance to the conquests of Zeus is rendered as Hera's "jealousy", the main theme of literary anecdotes that undercut her ancient [[Cult (religion)|cult]].<ref>Slater 1968.</ref>

However, it remains a controversial claim that an ancient matriarchy or a cultural focus on a monotheistic Great Goddess existed among the ancient Greeks or elsewhere. The claim is generally rejected by modern scholars as insufficiently evidenced.<ref name="ELLER-BRITANNICA">See, for example, the following:
* Cynthia Eller, ''[[The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory]]: Why an Invented Past Won't Give Women a Future'', (Boston: Beacon Press, 2001);
* ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' describes this view as "consensus", listing matriarchy as a hypothetical social system. 'Matriarchy' ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 2007.
</ref> [[Walter Burkert]] notices that the ancient [[Kourotrophos]] figure is almost absent in [[Crete]], and the nomination [[Mother Goddess]] was not the underlying principle in the Minoan religion.<ref>Burkert(1985), "Greek religion":[https://books.google.com/books?id=sxurBtx6shoC p.41]</ref>

===Youth===
Hera was most known as the matron goddess, ''Hera Teleia'', but she presided over weddings as well. In myth and cult, fragmentary references and archaic practices remain of the [[sacred marriage]] of Hera and Zeus.<ref name=Farnell191>Farnell, Cults I 191-193</ref> At [[Plataea]], there was a sculpture of Hera seated as a bride by [[Callimachus]], as well as the matronly standing Hera.<ref>Pausanias, [http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+9.2.1 9.2.7- 9.3.3] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151106170825/http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+9.2.1 |date=2015-11-06 }}; Pausanias explains this by telling the myth of the [[Daedala]].</ref>

Hera was also worshipped as a [[virgin]]: there was a tradition in [[Stymphalus (Arcadia)|Stymphalia]] in [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]] that there had been a [[Triple Goddess (Neopaganism)|triple shrine]] to Hera the Girl (Παις [Pais]), the Adult Woman (Τελεια [Teleia]), and the Separated (Χήρη [Chḗrē] 'Widowed' or 'Divorced').<ref>Farnell, I 194, citing Pausanias [http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+8.22.1 8.22.2] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151106170827/http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+8.22.1|date=2015-11-06}}' [[Pindar]] refers to the "praises of Hera Parthenia [the Maidenly]" ''[[Olympian ode]]'' [http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Pind.+O.+6.1 6.88] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151106170829/http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Pind.+O.+6.1|date=2015-11-06}}</ref> In the [[Argolis|region around Argos]], the temple of Hera in [[Ermioni|Hermione]] near Argos was to Hera the Virgin.<ref>S. Casson: "Hera of Kanathos and the Ludovisi Throne" ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'' '''40'''.2 (1920), pp. 137-142, citing [[Stephanus of Byzantium]] ''sub'' ''Ernaion''.</ref> At the spring of [[Kanathos]], close to [[Nauplia]], Hera renewed her virginity annually, in rites that were not to be spoken of (''arrheton'').<ref name=Paus2381>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+2.38.1 2.38.2-3] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151106170831/http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+2.38.1 |date=2015-11-06 }}.</ref> In her fire-festival [[Daedala]] at [[Plataia]] the puppet of the goddess was bathed in the river Asopos before the wedding ceremony. In the festival "Toneia" at [[Samos]] the image of the goddess was purified, bounted in willows and then probably hanged on a tree.<ref name=Obrian54>O'Brian Joan (1993), "The transformation of Hera" , [https://books.google.com/books?id=a77yKM26GfYC&pg=PA54 p.54-55]</ref> [[Robert Graves]] interprets this as a representation of the new moon ([[Hebe (mythology)|Hebe]]), full moon (Hera), and old moon ([[Hecate]]), respectively personifying the Virgin (Spring), the Mother (Summer), and the destroying Crone (Autumn).<ref>[[Robert Graves]] (1955), ''[[The Greek Myths]]''.</ref><ref>[[Barbara G. Walker]] (1983), ''The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets'', p.392 {{ISBN|0-06-250925-X}}</ref>

===Festivals===
The marriage of Zeus with Hera is the main theme in most Greek festivals celebrated in honour of the goddess. In the cults of Hera the dances and rites are performed by young married women. These choral dances reenacted early myth and ritual.<ref>Claude Calame(1977), "Choruses of Young women in Ancient Greece", 2.126-133</ref> Burkert notices that "the disappearing and retrieval of Hera in some cults has parallels with other fertility cults".<ref name=Burkert129/> The Greek aetiological myths  ([[etiology|aitia]]) give a reasonable explanation of the ritual and replicate its structural form. This is accurate for "aitia" related to initiation rituals from youth to maturity.<ref name=Calame17>Claude Calame(2001), "Choruses of Young women in Ancient Greece" [https://books.google.com/books?id=DhfmgSz1eR4C p.17-18].</ref> Ancient accounts refer to the retirement of Hera  after a quarrel with Zeus. Hera's wrath may indicate the wrath and jealousy of the Greek wife.<ref>Comp. the myth of Typhon: Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I p.432</ref> Other accounts refer to cultic trees or pillars.<ref name=OBrian36>O'Brian (1993), "The transformation of Hera":[https://books.google.com/books?id=a77yKM26GfYC&pg=PA36 p.36]</ref> and rituals of the goddess of vegetation.<ref name=Bremmer/> Some accounts are related to rituals of the Bronze Age before the splitting of the "Mistress of the animals" into separate goddesses.<ref name=OBrian60>O'Brian (1993), "The transformation of Hera":[https://books.google.com/books?id=a77yKM26GfYC&pg=PA60 p.60-61]</ref>

* '''[[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]]'''. During Hera's famous fest "Hecatombaia"(one hundred oxen) -or Argive "Heraia"-the priestess of Hera was carried on a chart drawn by white-heifers to the sanctuary. The festival included an armed procession of male citizens and the prize of the contest was a bronze shield.<ref name=Farnell185>Farnell Cults I, p.185-187</ref> The Argive festival was a new year festival and the new male citizens introduced themselves in the community. It is not verified that the festival was originally a wedding processional ceremony.<ref>Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I, p.430.</ref> At Argos Hera controlled the seasonal goddesses [[Horae]].<ref name=Farnell194/><ref name=Obrien4/> Near the Heraion of Argos there was the stream "Eleutherion" (water of freedom). The priestess of Hera used it for purifications and the sacrifices were kept secret (''aporrheta'')<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.17.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias 2,17.1]</ref> 
*'''[[Plataia]]''' in [[Boeotia]]. The festival [[Daedala]] of Hera was a fire festival. The citizens of Plataia maintained from prehistoric times the processional wedding ceremony. A puppet named Hera was married with Zeus. The puppet was washed in the river Asopos and it was carried on a cow-drawn chart to the top of Kithairon. There the puppet was burned together with other idols. Pausanias in the aetiological myth mentions the retirement of Hera after a quarrel with Zeus and their reconciliation.<ref name=Burkert63p/> The nymph Plataia, consort of Zeus is an old form of the Greek earth-goddess and she may be related to [[Gaia]].<ref name="174-175"/>
*'''[[Samos]]'''.The name of the island was "Parthenia" in the [[Caria]]n period.<ref name=Farnell185/> In the Samian festival "Toneia", Hera was originally a goddess of fertility. The festival included initiation rites of girls and probably boys from youth to maturity.<ref name=OBrian60/> At the beginning of the festival a [[xoanon]] of Hera was carried on a plank to the sea and then back to the coast. This custom reminds the cult of the [[Hittites|Hittite]]-[[Hurrians|Hurrian]]  god of fertility [[Telipinu (mythology)|Telepinu]].<ref name=Burkert52/> In the aetiological myth of [[Menodotus of Nicomedia|Menedotus]] the image of Hera was bathed, bounted in willows and finally hidden (or hanged). The participants tried to find it.<ref name=Farnell185/><ref name=Bremmer/> Zeus was absent, and the processional wedding ceremony was introduced later.<ref name=OBrien53a/>
*'''[[Corinth]]'''. Hera-[[Acraea]] was the protectress of the castle. The [[Corinth]]ian "Heraia" was a mourning festival. Hera is related to [[Medea]] (the wife of [[Jason]]) a foreign goddess who was introduced in Greece. In the myth of the [[Argonauts]] Hera is the protectress of Jason. The scholiast of [[Euripides]] suggests that the cult of Acraea is related to the cult of [[Adonis]]. Every year seven boys and seven girls with shorn hair and wearing black garments were dedicated to the goddess. Annual sacrifices were performed for the killed children of Medea .<ref>Farnell Cults I, p. 201-202</ref>
*'''[[Stymphalus]]''' in  [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadia]]. Hera was worshipped as goddess of marriage. Three festivals  celebrated the three phases of Hera as "pais" (virgin), "teleia" (fulfilled) and "chera" (widowed). "Pais" may symbolize the arrival of the goddess in spring and "chera" her departure in winter. In the aetiological myth of Pausanias Hera retired after a quarrel with Zeus and then she came back. During her retirement people considered that she was divorced and she was worshipped as "chera".<ref name=Farnell191/>
*'''[[Euboea]]'''. The island was the holy place of Hera and the goddess was worshipped  near [[Elymnion]] or on the mountain [[Dirfi]]. Coins from [[Eretria]] verify that the citizens imitated the wedding of Zeus with Hera.<ref>Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I, p.430</ref>
*'''[[Athens]]'''. The "sacred marriage" of Zeus with Hera was celebrated in Athens during the month "Gamelion" (late winter).<ref name=Farnell185/>
*'''[[Hermione (Argolis)|Hermione]]''' in [[Argolis]]. Hera was worshipped as "parthenos" (virgin). In a Greek myth Zeus was transformed into a cuckoo to seduce Hera. There were two temples, one of Zeus on the mountain-Cuckoo and one of Hera on the mountain Pron.<ref name=Farnell185/>
*''' [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]]'''. In the festival [[Heraean Games|Heraia]] young girls competed in a footrace. The race was held every four years and only virgin women were allowed to attend the games. The prize was an olive wreath.<ref>Matthew Dillon (2002), Girls and women in Ancient Greek religion" p.131</ref> Traditionally the custom  was established by [[Hippodamia (daughter of Oenomaus)|Hipodameia]] and choral dances were performed in honour of her. A marriage-ceremony was probably part of the festival.<ref name=Farnell188>Farnell, Cults I, p.188 -190</ref> The choral dances and the dressing of "parthenoi" indicate that the festival was an initiation ritual from youth to maturity.<ref>[https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.2307/506363 Serwint Nancy (1993), "Heraia and the prenuptial initiation"]</ref> The relation of Hera with "parthenoi" (virgins) seems to connect her with the goddess of vegetation.<ref name=OBrian60/><ref name=Calame17/>
*'''[[Aegina]]''''. Traditionally the festival was introduced from Argos. The image of Hera was carried on a chart drawn by white heifers. The festival included games and sacrifices. There was a contest between young boys for killing a female goat with their spears and they got her as a prize. In the aetiological myth Hera retired to the woods after a quarrel with Zeus and her place was discovered by a female goat. Then she was obliged to return.<ref name=Farnell188/>
*'''[[Nauplia]]''' in [[Argolis]]. Like the bride who took her bride-bath, Hera bathed every year in the spring [[Kanathos]] and recovered annually her virginity. This is one of the holy secrets (''aporrheta'') at the mysteries which they celebrated in honour of Hera.<ref name=Paus2381/>
*'''[[Knossos]]''' in [[Crete]]. The "hieros gamos" of Zeus with the earth goddess (finally named Hera) was celebrated near the river Theren. The ritual continued unchanged from very ancient times.<ref name=Elder/> The original name of the Minoan goddess could be [[Britomartis]], [[Diktynna]] or "Hellopis".<ref name=Schach/> On a Minoan depiction the goddess seems to  arrive on a chariot during spring and she disappears in winter.<ref name=OBrien53a/>