In the Olympian pantheon of classical Greek Mythology, Hera, (Greek Ήρα, IPA pronunciation ; or Here (Ήρη in Ionic and in Homer) was the wife and older sister of Zeus. Her chief function was as goddess of marriage. Her equivalent in Roman mythology was Juno. The cow and later the peacock are sacred to her.
Portrayed as majestic and solemn, often enthroned and crowned with the polos, the high cylindrical crown worn by several of the Great Goddesses, Hera may bear in her hand the pomegranate, emblem of fertile blood and death and a substitute for the narcotic capsule of the opium poppy. "Nevertheless, there are memories of an earlier, aniconic representation, as a pillar in Argos and as a plank in Samos".
"The name of Hera, the Queen of the gods, admits a variety of mutually exclusive etymologies; one possibility is to connect it with hora, season, and to interpret it as ripe for marriage." So begins the section on Hera in Walter Burkert, Greek Mythology In a note he records other scholars' arguments "for the meaning Mistress as a feminine to Heros, Master." Furthermore, A.J. van Windekens, offers "young cow, heifer", which is consonant with Hera's common epithet boopis, "cow-eyed". E-ra appears in Mycenaean tablets.