So begins the section on Hera in Walter Burkert's Greek Religion. According to Plutarch, Hera was an allegorical name and an anagram of aēr (ἀήρ, 'air'). The name of Hera has several possible and mutually exclusive etymologies one possibility is to connect it with Greek ὥρα hōra, season, and to interpret it as ripe for marriage and according to Plato ἐρατή eratē, 'beloved' as Zeus is said to have married her for love. She is sometimes shown holding a pomegranate, as an emblem of immortality. Her sacred animals include the cow, cuckoo and the peacock.
She presides over weddings, blesses and legalises marital unions, and protects women from harm during childbirth. She is the patron goddess of lawful marriage. Her iconography usually presents her as a dignified, matronly figure, upright or enthroned, crowned with a polos or diadem, sometimes veiled as a married woman. One of her defining characteristics in myth is her jealous and vengeful nature in dealing with any who offend her, especially Zeus' numerous adulterous lovers and illegitimate offspring. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Olympus, sister and wife of Zeus, and daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. Hḗrā Ἥρη, Hḗrē in Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In ancient Greek religion, Hera ( / ˈ h ɛr ə, ˈ h ɪər ə/ Greek: Ἥρα, translit.
