View reverse
of coin
Stater. Obverse: Hera
421-385 B.C.
Elis, Peloponnesus
Silver
Diameter - 24 mm; weight - 11.91 g
Hera could always be found alongside her husband Zeus.
She is a very peculiar personage in Greek mythology. Hera is older than
Zeus and symbolizes the time when the chief deity was female. Not without
reason, her character and behaviour display traces of an archaic, elemental,
irrational force. On the one hand, her qualities and characteristics
make her a complete match for her husband; on the other, there are serious
conflicts between them. Zeus might confide in her and even take her
advice, but he never had complete trust in Hera. At the same time she
became firmly established among the Greek gods and became the protectress
of heroes and cities. Besides, Hera was the patron goddess of marriages,
guardian of the family and the family way of life.
Attitudes to Hera were far from straightforward. While
in mythology and poetry she is depicted as having a stubborn, shrewish
character, in the visual arts she was invested with an austere, majestic
beauty.
Her image, of course, also appeared on coins. It should
be noted, however, that Hera featured on money considerably less often
than her spouse or such deities as Athena and Apollo. Evidently people
were nonetheless wary of entrusting her with such an important matter
as guardianship of the coinage and the circulation of money generally.
The coin from Elis shown here bears a depiction of a young woman with
curls falling to her shoulders. She wears a sort of crown decorated
with plant ornament. The headgear has a highly distinctive shape and
was associated with this deity alone. We can say that here Hera is presented
as a mighty goddess, the equal of her husband Zeus.
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