Hera the Blossoming

For the last post of this Hera series, I will be focusing on her Antheia epithet. This will be a rather short post, as information is limited, but I hope to cover the bases. Antheia means “blooming” or “blossoming” and is a word obviously closely linked to vegetation, and flowers in particular. While, as an

Hera Henioche, the charioteer

This will be a short deep dive into the curious epithet of “Henioche”, which translates to “charioteer”. This name is only found in Lebadaea in Boetia and is linked to the oracle Trophonius. In the context of this sanctuary, Hera Henioche received offerings alongside Zeus Basileus (“King”), implying that she was indeed worshipped in close

Hera and her ship models

When I wrote the post about the Samos Heraion, I quickly mentioned this impressive dedication of a boat in the sanctuary, but left out other ship and navigation related offerings that have been discovered there. The conservation state in Samos was expectional (allowing wooden objects to have survived!), which is why it is an important

Hera in Samos

Why Samos? Samos is an island located on the coasts of Asia Minor (of the coast of Turkey) which became, over time, one of the most important location of Hera cult. Her sanctuary gained in importance most likely thanks to trade. Despite this, the sanctuary has always been a local one and never became pan-hellenic,

About Hera – an info dump

The idea behind this post was not to make an essay about Hera as goddess in myth or in cult. It was more about looking into the ressources I had at hand and gather cultic information that I haven’t seen mentionned on tumblr.  But if there is one thing that I need everyone to understand