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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14695#0534
456 Hera and Io
or riding on a steer1, or at least drawn in a chariot by white steers
or cows2.
Whether Io or Hera had anything to do with the moon before
this oriental influence began to operate, is a difficult question.
E. Siecke has attempted to bring the story of Io into line with
sundry other moon-myths, which he refers to a common Indo-
Europaean stock3.' But, if we abandon the argument from analogy,
and confine ourselves to definite literary tradition relating to Argos
and the Argive cult, we cannot satisfactorily prove either that Io
or that Hera was originally connected with the moon. At most
we can put together the following indications. The Argives in
historical times associated the cult of Hera with that of Zeus
Nemeios4. Nemea, however, was not, as we should have expected,
the daughter of Zeus and Hera, but the daughter of Selene and
Zeus5. Again, whereas Hesiod spoke of the famous Nemean lion—
Whom Hera reared, the noble wife of Zeus,
And placed on Nemea's knees, a bane to men6,—
Hyginus says 'the Nemean lion, whom the Moon had reared7.'
Epimenides, in a passage quoted by Aelian, wrote :
For I too am a child of the fair-tressed Moon,
Who with dread shudder cast the monstrous lion
At Nemea, bearing him for lady Hera8.
1
1 Ach. Tat. 1. 4 eidov eyw wot' iiri ratipip yeypafx/xeurjv ^eXrjvijv, Lact. Plac. in Stat.
Theb. 1. 720 mire autem cornua posuit, ut Lunam manifestius posset exprimere, non
animal (sc. taurum), quo ilia vehi figuratur. Cp. W. H. Roscher in Roscher Lex. Myth.
ii. 3137 with figs. 9 and 11.
2 For evidence, literary and monumental, see W. H. Roscher ib. ii. 3137.
s E. Siecke Beitrdge zur genaueren Erkenntnis der Mondgottheit bei den Griechen
Berlin 1885 p. 46°., Die Liebesgeschichte des Himmels Strassburg 1892 pp. 83, 104, 118. So
too F. L. W. Schwartz Der Ursprung der Mythologie Berlin i860 p. 189^, though he
subsequently modified his opinion in his Indogermanischer Volksglaube Berlin 1885 p. 209
n. 3. Cp. also A. de Gubernatis Zoological Mythology London 1872 i. 264.
4 Paus. 2. 24. 2, 4. 27. 6, cp. 2. 20. 3, schol. Soph. El. 6, Dittenberger Syll. inscr.
6V.2 no. 291, [3 7/7r6Ais rj'Apyeiwv | xpv<r(? aT€(P<^vV I Kai 8eco(p)odoKLa rod | Aids rod Ne/meiov
Kai I t7)s "Upas Trjs 'Apyeias = Michel Recneil d?Inscr. gr. no. 1312, Lebas—Waddington
Asie Mineure no. 1730 a, supra p. 236 n. 10.
s Schol. Pind. Nem. p. 425 Boeckh. Zeus and Nemea appear together on the
Archemoros-vase (Inghirami Vas. fitt. iv pi. 371). See further Roscher Lex. Myth.
ii. 115 f.
6 Hes. theog. 328 f. yovvoiaiv Karhaaae Ne/te«?s, irrj/ui' avdp&irois. The line was
perhaps applied to Alkibiades, whom Aristophanes (ran. 1431ft".) calls a lion, after
his Nemean victory (Paus. 1. 22. 6f.); for Aglaophon (Plout. v. Alcib. 16 says Aristo-
phon) painted a picture in which lS.ep.ea 7)v Kadrj^PT) Kai i-nrl raw yovarwv avrrjs 'A\ia[3ia5r]s
(Athen. 534 d).
7 Hyg. fab. 30 leonem Nemeum, quern Luna nutrierat.
8 Epimen./ra^-. 5 Kern ap. Ail. de nat. an. 12. 7.
or riding on a steer1, or at least drawn in a chariot by white steers
or cows2.
Whether Io or Hera had anything to do with the moon before
this oriental influence began to operate, is a difficult question.
E. Siecke has attempted to bring the story of Io into line with
sundry other moon-myths, which he refers to a common Indo-
Europaean stock3.' But, if we abandon the argument from analogy,
and confine ourselves to definite literary tradition relating to Argos
and the Argive cult, we cannot satisfactorily prove either that Io
or that Hera was originally connected with the moon. At most
we can put together the following indications. The Argives in
historical times associated the cult of Hera with that of Zeus
Nemeios4. Nemea, however, was not, as we should have expected,
the daughter of Zeus and Hera, but the daughter of Selene and
Zeus5. Again, whereas Hesiod spoke of the famous Nemean lion—
Whom Hera reared, the noble wife of Zeus,
And placed on Nemea's knees, a bane to men6,—
Hyginus says 'the Nemean lion, whom the Moon had reared7.'
Epimenides, in a passage quoted by Aelian, wrote :
For I too am a child of the fair-tressed Moon,
Who with dread shudder cast the monstrous lion
At Nemea, bearing him for lady Hera8.
1
1 Ach. Tat. 1. 4 eidov eyw wot' iiri ratipip yeypafx/xeurjv ^eXrjvijv, Lact. Plac. in Stat.
Theb. 1. 720 mire autem cornua posuit, ut Lunam manifestius posset exprimere, non
animal (sc. taurum), quo ilia vehi figuratur. Cp. W. H. Roscher in Roscher Lex. Myth.
ii. 3137 with figs. 9 and 11.
2 For evidence, literary and monumental, see W. H. Roscher ib. ii. 3137.
s E. Siecke Beitrdge zur genaueren Erkenntnis der Mondgottheit bei den Griechen
Berlin 1885 p. 46°., Die Liebesgeschichte des Himmels Strassburg 1892 pp. 83, 104, 118. So
too F. L. W. Schwartz Der Ursprung der Mythologie Berlin i860 p. 189^, though he
subsequently modified his opinion in his Indogermanischer Volksglaube Berlin 1885 p. 209
n. 3. Cp. also A. de Gubernatis Zoological Mythology London 1872 i. 264.
4 Paus. 2. 24. 2, 4. 27. 6, cp. 2. 20. 3, schol. Soph. El. 6, Dittenberger Syll. inscr.
6V.2 no. 291, [3 7/7r6Ais rj'Apyeiwv | xpv<r(? aT€(P<^vV I Kai 8eco(p)odoKLa rod | Aids rod Ne/meiov
Kai I t7)s "Upas Trjs 'Apyeias = Michel Recneil d?Inscr. gr. no. 1312, Lebas—Waddington
Asie Mineure no. 1730 a, supra p. 236 n. 10.
s Schol. Pind. Nem. p. 425 Boeckh. Zeus and Nemea appear together on the
Archemoros-vase (Inghirami Vas. fitt. iv pi. 371). See further Roscher Lex. Myth.
ii. 115 f.
6 Hes. theog. 328 f. yovvoiaiv Karhaaae Ne/te«?s, irrj/ui' avdp&irois. The line was
perhaps applied to Alkibiades, whom Aristophanes (ran. 1431ft".) calls a lion, after
his Nemean victory (Paus. 1. 22. 6f.); for Aglaophon (Plout. v. Alcib. 16 says Aristo-
phon) painted a picture in which lS.ep.ea 7)v Kadrj^PT) Kai i-nrl raw yovarwv avrrjs 'A\ia[3ia5r]s
(Athen. 534 d).
7 Hyg. fab. 30 leonem Nemeum, quern Luna nutrierat.
8 Epimen./ra^-. 5 Kern ap. Ail. de nat. an. 12. 7.