Plataea
A Boeotian city sacred to Hera where the goddess was said to have been married to Zeus, and site of a curious ritual re-enactment.
The Story of Plataea
Plataea claimed a unique mythological distinction: it was the site of Zeus's marriage to Hera, and the city maintained this tradition through a remarkable annual ritual called the Daidala. Wooden statues — daidala — were dressed as brides and processed through the city, then burned on a huge pyre on Mount Cithaeron. The myth behind this explained that when Hera quarrelled with Zeus and withdrew, Zeus arranged a mock wedding with a veiled wooden statue to make her jealous; when Hera tore away the veil and found only wood, she laughed and was reconciled. The ritual re-enacted the original reconciliation.
Children
{Plataea (daughter of Asopus, namesake)}
Symbols
Fun Fact
Plataea's Daidala festival was held every 60 years for the "great" version — making it the rarest religious festival in the Greek world, celebrated perhaps only once in a lifetime.
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