DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14695#0523
Hera and the Cow 445
post with a pair of cow's horns attached near the top of it. Hera,
in fact, bore some resemblance to the horned Astarte of the
Semites1. And her originally bovine character doubtless facilitated
the later identification of her with Isis2—witness the Ovidian story
that, when the gods fled before Typhoeus into Egypt3, Hera
became a snow-white cow4. Again, the great Argive Heraion was
situated at the foot of a mountain (1744 ft in height), which in
ancient times was called Euboia and is still known as Evvia5.
Pausanias was told that the neighbouring river Asterion had three
daughters Etiboia, Prosymna, and Akraia, that they were the nurses
of Hera6, and that the ground about the Heraion, the district
below it, and the mountain opposite to it were named after
them7. Dr Farnell, however, points out8 that Prosymna, 'She to
Fig- 3*3- Fig. 314.
whom the hymn is raised9,' and Akrata, 'She who is worshipped
on the summit10,' were two cult-titles of Hera in the Argolid, and
' modius, round which serpent twines'). The notion that Hera's head is surmounted by
a snake seems to be based on a few examples {e.g. Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Ionia p. 380
pi. 37, 5, Iulia Mamaea), which show one horn pointing up and the other down—as on
coins of Lappa (J. N. Svoronos Numismatiqtte de la Crete ancienite Macon 1890 i. 211 f.
pi. 19, 28—36). It must, however, be admitted that the head-gear of the Samian Hera
is very variously represented on the coins (Overbeck Gr. Kunstmyth. Hera p. 15 Munztaf.
r, a—g).
1 W. Robertson Smith Lectures on the Religion of the Semites'2 London 1907 p. 310,
S. R. Driver Modem Research as illustrating the Bible (The Schweich Lectures 1908)
London 1909 p. 58 fig.
2 W. Drexler in Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 513 fF- 3 Supra p. 370 n. 1.
4 Ov. met. 5. 330 nivea Saturnia vacca (latuit).
5 Paus. 2. 17. 1 with J. G. Frazer ad loc.
6 Plout. symp. 3. 9. 2 makes Eu/3ota the sole nurse of Hera, cp. et. mag. p. 388, 54 ff.
7 Paus. 2. 17. 1. On Prosymna see further A. Frickenhaus in Tiryns i. 118—120.
8 Farnell Cults of Gk. States i. 182.
9 Strab. 373 ravrri 8' o/xopos Upbav < p.va €<ttl,> kcu avrr) iepbv £xovaa Hpas, Plout. de
fluv. 18. 3 KeivTaL de iroXkoi (sc. stones like beryls, which turn black when the man holding
them is about to forswear himself) ev rqi rep.lvei rf)s Hpoav/uLvaias "Upas, KaBihs icrropeT
Tip.66eos ev Tois'ApyoXiKols (Brag. hist. gr. iv. 522 Miiller), Stat. Theb. r. 383 celsae Iunonia
templa Prosymnae with Lact. Plac. ad loc. Prosymna civitas est, ubi colitur Iuno.
10 Paus. 2. 24. 1 states that on the way up to the akropolis of Argos there was a
post with a pair of cow's horns attached near the top of it. Hera,
in fact, bore some resemblance to the horned Astarte of the
Semites1. And her originally bovine character doubtless facilitated
the later identification of her with Isis2—witness the Ovidian story
that, when the gods fled before Typhoeus into Egypt3, Hera
became a snow-white cow4. Again, the great Argive Heraion was
situated at the foot of a mountain (1744 ft in height), which in
ancient times was called Euboia and is still known as Evvia5.
Pausanias was told that the neighbouring river Asterion had three
daughters Etiboia, Prosymna, and Akraia, that they were the nurses
of Hera6, and that the ground about the Heraion, the district
below it, and the mountain opposite to it were named after
them7. Dr Farnell, however, points out8 that Prosymna, 'She to
Fig- 3*3- Fig. 314.
whom the hymn is raised9,' and Akrata, 'She who is worshipped
on the summit10,' were two cult-titles of Hera in the Argolid, and
' modius, round which serpent twines'). The notion that Hera's head is surmounted by
a snake seems to be based on a few examples {e.g. Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Ionia p. 380
pi. 37, 5, Iulia Mamaea), which show one horn pointing up and the other down—as on
coins of Lappa (J. N. Svoronos Numismatiqtte de la Crete ancienite Macon 1890 i. 211 f.
pi. 19, 28—36). It must, however, be admitted that the head-gear of the Samian Hera
is very variously represented on the coins (Overbeck Gr. Kunstmyth. Hera p. 15 Munztaf.
r, a—g).
1 W. Robertson Smith Lectures on the Religion of the Semites'2 London 1907 p. 310,
S. R. Driver Modem Research as illustrating the Bible (The Schweich Lectures 1908)
London 1909 p. 58 fig.
2 W. Drexler in Roscher Lex. Myth. ii. 513 fF- 3 Supra p. 370 n. 1.
4 Ov. met. 5. 330 nivea Saturnia vacca (latuit).
5 Paus. 2. 17. 1 with J. G. Frazer ad loc.
6 Plout. symp. 3. 9. 2 makes Eu/3ota the sole nurse of Hera, cp. et. mag. p. 388, 54 ff.
7 Paus. 2. 17. 1. On Prosymna see further A. Frickenhaus in Tiryns i. 118—120.
8 Farnell Cults of Gk. States i. 182.
9 Strab. 373 ravrri 8' o/xopos Upbav < p.va €<ttl,> kcu avrr) iepbv £xovaa Hpas, Plout. de
fluv. 18. 3 KeivTaL de iroXkoi (sc. stones like beryls, which turn black when the man holding
them is about to forswear himself) ev rqi rep.lvei rf)s Hpoav/uLvaias "Upas, KaBihs icrropeT
Tip.66eos ev Tois'ApyoXiKols (Brag. hist. gr. iv. 522 Miiller), Stat. Theb. r. 383 celsae Iunonia
templa Prosymnae with Lact. Plac. ad loc. Prosymna civitas est, ubi colitur Iuno.
10 Paus. 2. 24. 1 states that on the way up to the akropolis of Argos there was a