Hera
HeraThis major figure in the pantheon, daughter of Cronus and wife of Zeus, is already attested by name on two Mycenaean tablets, one from Thebes (TH Of 28), the other from Pylos (PY Tn 316), where she appears together with Zeus. Boeotia and especially the Peloponnese are precisely the two regions of Greece where the cult of Hera is most prevalent. According to Homer (Iliad 4. 51–2), Hera's favourite cities were Argos, Sparta, and Mycenae; several cults are actually attested at Sparta, and her most famous sanctuary was on the hill dominating the Argive plain, where there was a temple perhaps from the 8th cent. bc. Sanctuaries with buildings at least as ancient are known at Perachora, Tiryns (on the site of the megaron of the Mycenaean palace), and Olympia. Of island sites, the best known is the sanctuary on Samos, where the main building,...
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