Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Lykeia

Queen of the Starry Heavens. Queen of the Gods. Bearer of the Lotus Staff. Bearer of the Pomegranate. Goddess of Marriage. Goddess of Women. Mistress of the Spring Rains. Mistress of the Golden Apples. Lady of the Cuckoo and the Peacock. Maligned in scholarship and modern popular culture as the shrewish wife of Zeus, Hera was much loved in ancient Greece. Worship of the Queen of the Milky Way spread from Argos to the sacred isle of Samos, from the mountains of Asia Minor to the shores of Carthage, from the hills of Rome to the banks of the Thames. The Protector of Women and the Guardian of Marriage, She was also called White-Armed and Cow-Eyed as the Goddess of Cattle. The mother of Ares, Eileithyia, Hebe, Hephaestus, and the monstrous Typhaon, Hera championed such heroes as Jason and the Argonauts while driving others -- most notably Herakles -- to madness and greatness. The Roman Iuno (or Juno), often considered to be the same Goddess as Hera, has even less in common with the petty, jealous stereotype. One of the Capitoline Triad, Iuno was honored by the Romans as a great Goddess of civilization, of war, of government and law, of marriage and health and childbirth. Today, devotees of Hera and Iuno are reviving their worship. In the pages of this anthology, we share our love of the Mother of Gods and Men. In poems and hymns, essays and rituals, artwork and music, we explore the nature of this most complex and glorious Goddess, she who is Queen of Olympos.

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