(urth) Junie Moon (Again)

[James Wynn]

>>James said:
>>His employment to Eurystheus was assigned to him by the Oracle at Delphi 
>>(which originally belonged to Hera) because Hera drove Heracles mad and 
>>had him murder his family.
>
>Jeff said:
> When did it belong to Hera? I've only ever heard of it being transferred 
> from Gaea to Apollo upon his defeat of Python. Would this have something 
> do with the scandal that led to the use of crones as Pythias rather than 
> the seductible young women that served before?

That's a good point. I was trying to remember how I associated Hera with 
Gaea. It turns out it was our old pal Robert Graves in "The Greek Myths" (a 
book Wolfe has recommended), where he says flatly "Hera was Mother Earth 
or...Delphyne in her prophetic aspect" (TGM 21:3). He said it was Hera who 
sent the Python against Leto.

Anyway, it is certainly true that Hera and the Python were close cahoots. 
The Python was the nurse maid to her lil' baby Typhon. (Homeric Hymn To 
Pythian Apollo 300-370)
(http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?layout=;doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138;query=card%3D%2317;loc=3.305)