The provenance file on Hēra
The provenance file for Hēra. Nothing here is unsourced; that is what the file is for.
Provenance
1. The attestation. Ἥρα — "Lady, mistress (possibly related to ἥρως)". On record: Homer, Iliad 1.396–406, Pindar, Nemean 1.33–72, Pausanias 7.4.4; 9.2.7–9.3.8, Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.566–723.
2. The preserved evidence. e → ē (Eta: long epsilon) — absent from the ASCII form hera, present in the restoration, verifiable against the sources above.
3. The narrative record. The Cuckoo and the Daedala — Greek tradition set the wooing of Hēra at Plataea in Boeotia. Pausanias (9. The Persecution of Hēraklēs — Hēra's most famous feud is with Hēraklēs, living proof of Zeús's adultery with the mortal Alkmene. She sent two serpents to his cradle, and the infant strangled both (Pindar, Nemean 1.
4. The physical record. The Argive Heraion, on a terrace above the Argive plain, was among the greatest sanctuaries of the Greek world: votives run back to the Geometric period, and a colossal fifth-century Doric temple rose under Argive patronage, excavated by the American School from 1892. On Samos the Heraion — whose first great temple was built by the architect Rhoikos around 560 BCE — held a wooden image so old the Samians said it had fallen from the sky (Pausanias 7.4.4–5). At Olympia the Heraion (c. 590 BCE) is the earliest known Doric temple whose columns still stand, and Pausanias (5.16.2–8) records the Heraia, athletic games for maidens run in her honor every fourth year.
5. The current holding. The temple at /hera/, classified Tier 1. Tier-1 is not a compliment; it is a measurement. This restoration keeps something the ASCII form provably loses, and the measurement is repeatable.
6. The documented resonances. Wedding, Family & Maternity, Women's Health & Femtech, Leadership, Governance & Public Administration — seats argued and weighted in the pattern atlas, read through the myths in this temple's Resonance File.
7. The primary sources. Theogony, Homeric Hymns, Works and Days — the library this file answers to, open at the Sacred Texts collection.
8. The continuing record. Hēra is the archetype of the queen consort — powerful because of her position, dangerous because of her pride. Her peacock remains a symbol of beauty and watchfulness; her jealousy has been a literary theme from Euripides to opera.
At a Glance
- Restored name: Hēra
- ASCII form: hera
- Meaning: "Lady, mistress (possibly related to ἥρως)"
- Domain of influence: Marriage, Women, Queen of Gods
- Pantheon: Greek
- Classification: Tier 1
- Original script: Ἥρα
- Series: The Restoration Files, No. 206 of 546
The File Continues
Read the founding dispatch for the name's full story, the Resonance File for the archetype at work — or the whole archive in one sitting.
Continue the series — previous file: Hēphaistos (read it here) · next file: Hēraklēs (read it here).
The Restoration Files are written from the same canonical record as the temples themselves: the lexicon, the lore catalog, the pattern atlas, and the cited scholarly sources. If a file ever disagrees with its temple, the temple is right — tell us, and the file will be corrected.