Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 3,2): Zeus god of the dark sky (earthquake, clouds, wind, dew, rain, meteorits) (Cambridge, 1940)

The Hierbs Gdmos

1047

(9) The Hierbs Gdmos at Athens.

At Athens, and at Athens alone, we have evidence of the rite without the
myth. The Athenians had a definite festival called the Hierbs Gdmos, at which
they commemorated the marriage of Zeus and Hera1. A. Mommsen2 rightly
identified this festival with the Theogamia, which took place towards the end:l
of Gamelion, the month of Hera4 (our January to February). H. Usener" drew
attention to a passage of Menandros8, which enables us to fix the date more
exactly as the twenty-fourth or the twenty-seventh of that month". H. von
Prott8 and L. Deubner9 further connect with the same festival the sacrifice of a
pig for Zeus Heraios recorded in a ritual calendar of the early fifth century
found on the Akropolis at Athens10. The unique epithet by which the husband
is named after the wife11 recalls the fact that at Samos1- and perhaps elsewhere13
Zeus in deference to Hera wore the bridal veil14.

I Hesych. Upbs yafios' ioprri Aibs ko.1 "Upas, Phot. lex. s.v. Upbv yi.fi.ov 'AOrfvatoi
ioprrfv Aids dyouai Kal"Hpas, iepbv ydfiov KaXovvres, et. mag. p. 468, 56 f. Upbv ydfiov
'AOrfvaioL eopr-qv Aids dyovai ko.1 "Hpas, ovtuj kcl\ovvt€s (text reconstituted by T. Gaisford).

" Mommsen Feste d. Stadl A/hen p. 382 f. But his subsequent contention that
HephaistOS and Athena, conceived at the Theogamia, were born nine months later at
tlie Chalkeia and Athenaia respectively is neither proved nor probable.

3 Prokl. in Hes. o.d. 780 616 ko.1 'Adifvaioi rets irpbs ovvobov iffiipas e&MyovTO wpbs
ya.fj.ovs ko.1 ra Qeoydpua £t£\ovv, rbre (pvoLKGis elvaL irpwrov oibfjevoi ya.fj.ov, tt)s aekTfvqs
ovotjs (H. Usenet cj. iovo-qs) nrpbs 17X101) avvobov. T. Bergk Bcitriige zur grieehischen
Monatskniidc Giessen 1845 p. 36 f. and W. H. Roscher Juno und Hera Leipzig 1875
p. 75 and in his Lex. Myth. i. 2100 held that Proklos was referring to the first day of the
month. But A. Mommsen Heortologie Leipzig 1864 p. 343 and A. Schmidt Haiidbuch
der grieehischen Chronologic Jena 1888 p. 524 showed that the reference must be to the
last third of the month, when the conjunction of sun and moon was approaching.

4 Hesych. Tafj.7]\taiv b (f) t&v /jlt}vujv, ttjs "Hpay Upbs.
6 H. Usener in the Rhein. Afus. 1879 xxxiv. 428.

6 Menand. Afelhe frag. 2 (Frag. com. Gr. iv. 162 Meineke) ap. Athen. 243 a—B i/ii
yap dL€TpL\j/ev b | KOfj^pbraros dvbpGiv Xcupe<£ujp iepbv ydfjov \ (pdatcuiv irorfffeiv bevrepq. /xer'
etVdSas (so Usener for devr^pav fier' dicaba) | Kad' avrdv, 'Lva rrj rerpddt denrvr/ Trap'
eripois- | to tv}s OeoS yap iravraxois ixiLV KaXQs. J. de Prott lieges Graecorum sacrae
Lipsiae 1896 Fasti sacri p. 4 expounds: 'gloriatur Chaerepho calliditate sua dicens
matrimonium Iovis ac Iunonis, quod Gamelionis diei ultimo adtribuisse usum sacrum
sumendum est, domi sese die nefasto [cp. el. mag. p. 131, 13 ft".] antecedente celebraturum
esse, ne hospites accedant; at Anthesterionis sollemni Veneris apud alios esse cenaturum.'

7 F. G. Allinson ad loc: 'here the "Fourth" may mean the 24th, i.e. the fourth day
after the twentieth, or, more probably, the 27th, i.e. the fourth (the third) day before the
"New and the Old.'"

8 J. de Prott op. cit. p. 4.

II L. Deubner Attische Feste Berlin 1932 p. 177 f.

10 J. de Prott op. cit. p. 1 ft", no. 1, 20 f., Inscr. Gr. ed. min. i no. 840, A 20 f.
[ A]|i! hepaloi : xo['P°s---]• Class. Rev. 1906 xx. 416 n. 6.

11 J. de Prott op. cit. p. 4 'Plane singularem esse Ala 'Hpawv ipse fateor. Non est
quod miremur 'Adrfvav 'H<paiariav [supra p. 216 n. 2], 'AfupiTpiTrjv Noaubuivlav (schol.
Horn. 791) aut 'AirbWwva Ao.ti^oj', Alovvo-ov Qvaivla. At deum ab uxore denominari aliud
est.' He adds ib. n. 4 ' Non habeo exemplum simile nisi Hesychii glossam "Hpawv ■
HpaK\(a [supra p. 216 n. l].1

12 Supra p. 1028 figs. 829 and 830. 13 Supra p. 1033 pi. lxxii.
14 Class. Rev. 1906 xx. 378.