Abstract
The paper offers an interpretation of the symbolic complex of the goddess Hera, focusing especially on the connection between the chief areas of her patronage, that of marriage and of sovereignty. Building on the recent ground-breaking study of the goddess by Vinciane Pirenne-Delforge and Gabriella Pironti, I attempt to go one step further in my analysis in that I do not just examine the internal coherence of Hera's symbolic network, but try to relate it to the Greek system of ideas and social institutions, asking in what way it complements this system and which of its inherent contradictions it mediates.
I try to show that the network of Hera's myths and cults does not just embody and protect the positive categories of marriage and sovereignty, but that it also expresses their limits and paradoxes, thus offering an opportunity for their indirect symbolic reflection, while at the same time being able to transform the danger entailed in them into protective power with which the goddess supports the sociocultural system in turn. It is for this reason that Hera may act both as an intimate enemy of Zeus and as a dignified queen safeguarding the order he has established.