#zeus gamelios and hera gamelia

[likethexan]

Something so hot about Zeus and Hera being the prime example of an imperfect marriage and is shown to have many issues and yet both have no problem obliterating any couple who dares to compare their marriage to theirs or calls their spouse their names or that they loved each other more than the King of the Gods loves His Queen, Goddess of Marriage

[thequeer07puss]

About Zeus and Hera’s shared epithets

The Divine Couple shares a couple (pun intended) of epithets under which they were worried, and I have a few words about them (some of them are my interpretation of them)

The main one that comes to mind is the Gamelios-Gamelia pair which means “of marriage”. This is the epithet under which the Divine Couple would be prayed under during marriage ceremonies. Alternatively, the epithets Zygios-Zygia (meaning roughly the “spouse”) would be used for the same purpose.

Another one is the Teleios-Teleia pair, with Hera mostly being known for Her Teleia epithet. Meaning “complete”, this epithet is a bit more obscure and location-specific, with it being tied to the Argian/Boeotian areas of Greece (Hera’s main cult centres), where She was worshipped in the Pais-Teleia-Chera cycle. The Teleios-Teleia epithets designate the divine couple as married, settled down, and hence “complete” in the establishment of the Ancient Greek homestead (or oikos).

Now, the difference (my interpretation here) between Gamelios-Gamelia and Teleios-Teleia pairs is that the former is specifically for marriage ceremonies while the latter is more for matters regarding the life of a complete Greek person (ie married and settled down in a homestead with children), which despite how vague this distinction sounds, was specific enough for the people of Argos and Epidaurus to be considered as epithets under which to worship the Divine Couple, enough to add two different months in their calendars (namely Teleos and Gamos), and I think that’s beautiful.

[sag-dab-sar]

Lesson Learned: Theoi.com Isn't Perfect

*I'll probably be taking my modern Theogamia Ritual down. Maybe contacting reblogs to see if they'll delete it there were 4. Sigh

So when constructing my modern Theogamia ritual. I made a conscious decision to—in a sense— tell a progression story via the ritual by which epithets I invoked— with them beginning as "Adults", then "Marriage", then finally "King and Queen".

From my post

There is a purposeful timeline in this ritual: it starts with Zeus and Hera as “adults” [Teleios / Teleia], proceeds to Zeus and Hera being “marriage participants*” [Gamelius / Gamelia], and finally ends with them as married “King and Queen” [Basileus / Basileia] of the Gods.

*"marriage participants" wasn't a translation it was my intended meaning behind the epithet. Hera Gamelia is apparently a real epithet (but Gamelia doesn't have a wiktionary entry) but the source I had for Zeus Gamelius has vanished. So I guess I'm yeeting those two epithets in the ritual.

On Theoi dot com it translates epithets on the cult pages that I have used extensively

Teleia on Hera's Epithets is translated "adult woman." Written as: Τελεια — Link | Some epithets have elaborations on the page but this epithet does not.

Teleios on Zeus's Epithets page is translated "of marriage rites." Written as: Τελειος — Link | There is no elaboration on this epithet on his page either.

Turns out these epithets mean "perfect"

Now τέλειος— I had to add the tonos έ not ε to find it more readily—has this wiktionary entry under Ancient Greek

Now technically it does have "full grown / adult" listed, but as humans; it specifically has a different meaning listed for Gods which is "perfect omnipotent infinite." And no where in wikitionary does the word carry the definition "marriage rites" the closest is "a royal banquet." But that quotation mentions a royal dinner not in relation to a wedding dinner, apparently an annual dinner to a king (Herodotus, Histories 9.110) Link, though it could be something to do with a wedding........ I can't read ancient Greek.

As a non-academic this is supremely frustrating because

I can't trust easily accessible sources apparently. One I've used for a very long time

I don't know Greek well enough yet to spot anything off I can only go on translations

Even if I did know, ancient Greek is just different enough that research is hard; looking up Τελεια gave me Modern Greek Teleia meaning "full stop / period" and nothing more, with no Ancient Greek wiktionary entry for the word.

So if I wanted to keep the ritual story line I'd have to take Teleios/Teleia out of ancient context and also use the definition that denoted humans. Which is significantly less than ideal. So options:

Remove the story I enjoyed telling. And go with just Teleia / Teleios since I believe thats the ancient Theogamia's epithets ... though I can only find the claim on Helpol sites so I don't know.

As I said Hera Gamelia apparently exists but not Zeus Gamelios or Gamelius

Make modern epithets, which I usually do in modern Greek; "adult" or "fully grown" would be: enílikos/eniliki ενήλικος / ενήλικη; groom/bride; fiance; suitor; bachelorette/bachelor..... no idea. I prefer ones that exist already.

Or somehow magically find attested ones that actually fit my idea.

Also there is this on Theoi Project

ZYGIUS and ZYGIA (Zugia and Zugios), are surnames of Hera and Zeus, describing them as presiding over marriage. (Hesych. s. v.)

Which I have found more information on outside of Theoi project and also had discussed it with @/sisterofiris a long time ago so there is that

edit: *takes a big giant breather* I have an entire year to figure it out. I need to be nicer to myself