Goldfinger (film)
Goldfinger is a 1964 British spy film and the third installment in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions, starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is based on the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming; the film stars Honor Blackman as Bond girl Pussy Galore and Gert Fröbe as the title character Auric Goldfinger, along with Shirley Eaton as the iconic Bond girl Jill Masterson. Goldfinger was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman and was the first of four Bond films directed by Guy Hamilton; the film's plot has Bond investigating gold smuggling by gold magnate Auric Goldfinger and uncovering Goldfinger's plans to contaminate the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox. Goldfinger was the first Bond blockbuster, with a budget equal to that of the two preceding films combined. Principal photography took place from January to July 1964 in the United Kingdom and the United States; the release of the film led to a number of promotional licensed tie-in items, including a toy Aston Martin DB5 car from Corgi Toys which became the biggest selling toy of 1964.
The promotion included an image of gold-painted Shirley Eaton as Jill Masterson on the cover of Life. Many of the elements introduced in the film appeared in many of the James Bond films, such as the extensive use of technology and gadgets by Bond, an extensive pre-credits sequence that stood alone from the main storyline, multiple foreign locales and tongue-in-cheek humour. Goldfinger was the first Bond film to win an Academy Award and opened to favourable critical reception; the film was a financial success. In 1999, it was ranked #70 on the BFI Top 100 British films list compiled by the British Film Institute. After destroying a drug laboratory in Latin America, MI6 agent James Bond travels to Miami Beach for a vacation, he receives instructions from his superior, M, via CIA agent Felix Leiter to observe bullion dealer Auric Goldfinger at the hotel there. Bond sees Goldfinger cheating at gin rummy and stops him by distracting his employee, Jill Masterson, blackmailing Goldfinger into losing.
After Bond and Jill consummate their new relationship, Bond is knocked out by Goldfinger's Korean manservant Oddjob. When Bond awakens, he finds Jill dead, covered in gold paint, having died from "skin suffocation". In London, the governor of the Bank of England and M explain to Bond that gold prices vary across the world, allowing one to profit by selling bullion internationally, his objective is determining how Goldfinger does it by smuggling. To help in his mission, Bond is given a modified Aston Martin DB5 and two radar trackers by Q. Bond arranges to meet Goldfinger at his country club in Kent, wins a high-stakes golf game against him with a recovered Nazi gold bar at stake. Aware of Bond’s ulterior motives, Goldfinger warns Bond not to interfere in his affairs, reinforcing the threat by having Oddjob demonstrate his steel-rimmed derby as a deadly weapon. Bond follows Goldfinger to Switzerland, where Tilly, Jill's sister, attempts to avenge her sister by assassinating Goldfinger with a rifle and fails.
Bond sneaks into Goldfinger's plant and discovers Goldfinger smuggles gold by melting it down and incorporating it into the bodywork of his Rolls-Royce Phantom III, which he takes with him whenever he travels. Bond overhears Goldfinger talking to Chinese nuclear physicist Mr. Ling about "Operation Grand Slam". Leaving, Bond encounters Tilly as she tries to kill Goldfinger again, but trips an alarm in the process. Oddjob kills Tilly with his hat, Bond is captured and tied to a cutting table underneath an industrial laser, which begins to slice a large sheet of gold in half, with Bond lying over it, he lies to Goldfinger that MI6 knows about Grand Slam, causing Goldfinger to spare Bond's life to mislead MI6 into believing Bond has things in hand. Bond is transported by Goldfinger's private jet, piloted by Pussy Galore, to his stud farm in Lexington, Kentucky. Bond escapes and witnesses Goldfinger's meeting with American mafiosi, who have brought the materials he needs for Operation Grand Slam.
Goldfinger reveals that his plan is to rob the U. S. Bullion Depository at Fort Knox by releasing Delta 9 nerve gas into the atmosphere. After Bond is recaptured by Pussy, Goldfinger has the mafiosi killed using the gas. Bond points out to Goldfinger that his plan to rob the depository will not work, as he will not have enough time to move the gold before the Americans intervene. Goldfinger hints he does not intend to steal the gold, Bond deduces that Goldfinger will detonate a dirty bomb inside the vault, designed to render the gold useless for 58 years; this will increase the value of Goldfinger's own gold and give the Chinese an advantage from the potential economic chaos. Goldfinger subtly threatens that should the Americans attempt to locate the bomb or interfere with his plan, he will have it detonated somewhere else of significance in the United States. Operation Grand Slam begins with Pussy Galore's Flying Circus spraying the gas over Fort Knox killing all of the military and government personnel nearby including Felix.
Goldfinger's private army breaks into Fort Knox and accesses the vault as Goldfinger arrives in a helicopter with the atomic device. In the vault, his henchman Kisch handcuffs Bond to the bomb. Unbeknownst to Goldfinger however, Bond has convinced Galore to alert the Americans and replace the gas with a harmless substance; the troops attack, killing many of Goldfinger's men. Seeing this, Goldfinger locks the vault, takes off his coat, revealing a US Army colonel's uniform, kills Mr. Ling and several troops, before escaping. Kisch realizes they are trapped and attempts to stop the bomb. Bond
The Square Peg
The Square Peg is a 1959 British war comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Norman Wisdom. Norman Wisdom plays two different characters: a man who digs and repairs roads, a Nazi general. During the Second World War, Norman Pitkin, a roadmender with the St Godric's Borough Council, enjoys annoying the soldiers of the nearby British Army camp a general. Despite the efforts of his boss, Borough Engineer Mr Grimsdale, Colonel Layton has both of them called up for service in the Pioneer Corps to exact retribution, they begin training at the same camp under the supervision of one of Pitkin's former victims, Sergeant Loder. The only bright spot for Pitkin is falling in love at first sight with the beautiful ATS officer Lesley Cartland, preparing to go behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied France. Pitkin and Grimsdale board the wrong lorry and end up parachuting into France, where they are put to work on road repairs, they inadvertently advance four miles into enemy territory, Grimsdale is captured and taken to local headquarters in a chateau.
Meanwhile, Pitkin goes to the nearby town of Fleury to purchase sugar and eggs, but does not notice German soldiers standing to attention and saluting him. It transpires that he is looks like the ruthless local commander, General Otto Schreiber. In a cafe, he recognises the waitress as Lesley Cartland, she is working with the local resistance group, but Pitkin inadvertently blows her cover and she is arrested, along with the cafe owner. Pitkin and Henri Le Blanc, the local resistance leader, break into the chateau through a tunnel that Pitkin digs to try to rescue them, but Henri is himself captured. Pitkin, unaware of this, climbs into Schreiber's suite; when Gretchen, the general's girlfriend, Schreiber leaves strict orders not to be disturbed, no matter what. In the next room, Pitkin awaits his chance, he watches through a keyhole as the couple dine unexpectedly sing a duet. When Schreiber leaves the room to attend to his throat, Pitkin is mistaken for him by Gretchen and has to attempt to sing Schubert lieder with her.
Luckily, Schreiber has locked himself in the bathroom. He gets out, but after some further hijinks, including a rendition of the Marx Brothers' mirror routine from Duck Soup, Pitkin knocks Schreiber out. By pretending to be Schreiber, Pitkin manages to free the prisoners, they escape. As the execution is about to be carried out, he inadvertently falls into the camouflaged tunnel he dug and escapes, he ties up Schreiber, unseen After the war ends, Grimsdale is still Borough Engineer, but Pitkin is now the mayor. Norman Wisdom as Norman Pitkin/General Schreiber Honor Blackman as Lesley Cartland Edward Chapman as Mr. Grimsdale Campbell Singer as Sergeant Loder Hattie Jacques as Gretchen Brian Worth as Henri Le Blanc Terence Alexander as Captain Wharton John Warwick as Colonel Layton Arnold Bell as General Hunt André Maranne as Jean-Claude Victor Beaumont as Jogenkraut Frank Williams as Captain Ford Eddie Leslie as Medical Officer The popularity of Norman Wisdom films had declined through the 1950s but The Square Peg halted the trend.
The film was the 7th most popular movie at the British box office in 1959. The Square Peg on IMDb The Square Peg at BFI Screenonline
Pussy Galore
Pussy Galore is a fictional character in the 1959 Ian Fleming James Bond novel Goldfinger and the 1964 film of the same name. In the film, she is played by Honor Blackman; the character returns in the 2015 Bond continuation novel Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz, set in the 1950s two weeks after the events of Goldfinger. Blanche Blackwell, a Jamaican of Anglo-Jewish descent, is thought to have been the love of Fleming's life and his model for Pussy Galore. In Fleming's 1959 novel Goldfinger, Pussy Galore is the only woman in the United States known to be running an Organized crime gang. Trapeze artists, her group of performing catwomen, "Pussy Galore and her Abrocats", is unsuccessful, so the women train as cat burglars instead, her group evolves into an all-lesbian organization, known as the Cement Mixers. In the novel, she has black hair, pale skin, the only violet eyes that Bond has seen, she is in her voice low and attractive. Pussy tells Bond that she became a lesbian after she was sexually abused by her uncle at the age of 12.
Auric Goldfinger enlists the help of Pussy and her Cement Mixers to carry out "Operation Grand Slam", a scheme to kill all the soldiers guarding Fort Knox by poisoning their water supply with a water-borne nerve agent, to use a stolen nuclear weapon to blow open the U. S. Bullion Depository there and steal one billion dollars in gold bullion from it. Goldfinger chooses the Cement Mixers because he needs a group of women to impersonate the nurses in the fake emergency medical teams he plans to send into the poison-stricken Fort Knox. After Bond and Felix Leiter foil "Grand Slam", Galore runs into Bond while impersonating a stewardess on Goldfinger's hijacked escape flight to the Soviet Union. Bond, having been drugged by a fake vaccination, has been kidnapped and transported onto the plane to join Goldfinger, determined to kill him at last. However, Bond punctures one of the airplane's windows with a knife tackles Goldfinger, and, in the ensuing struggle, kills him. Bond forces the crew of the airplane to reverse course.
When the gold-heavy craft runs out of fuel, the crew must ditch it in the ocean and Pussy are the only ones who manage to escape into a life raft. It is hinted at the end of the novel that Pussy is sent to prison, as she says to Bond, "Will you write to me in Sing Sing?" Her original band of Amazonian catwomen appear as characters in the film, but as small-aircraft pilots rather than trapeze artists. Pussy returns in the 2015 Bond continuation novel Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz, set in the 1950s two weeks after the events of Goldfinger; the novel contains material written, but unreleased, by Fleming. In the film, Galore is first seen when Bond wakes up in Goldfinger's private jet, having been knocked out with a tranquiliser gun by a Goldfinger henchman, he is lying on a couch when he regains consciousness, since the first thing he sees when he opens his eyes is her stunning blonde-framed visage leaning over him, the dialog runs as follows: James Bond: Who are you? Pussy Galore: My name is Pussy Galore.
James Bond: I must be dreaming. She asserts that the nature of her employment for Goldfinger is that she's "a damn good pilot" intending to suggest that there is no relationship of a more intimate nature between them, tells Bond, "You can turn off the charm. I'm immune." She is the leader of Pussy Galore's Flying Circus, a group of women aviators connected with Goldfinger's "Operation Grand Slam". In a scene, Pussy uses judo to attack Bond after she catches him eavesdropping on Goldfinger's plan, turns him over to Goldfinger. However, Bond corners Galore in a barn and forcibly holds her down and kisses her, while she returns the kiss passionately; the film shows a massive change in personality where she seems to welcome the earlier assault, putting her arms around Bond. She secretly turns against Goldfinger. Having foiled Goldfinger's plan, Bond boards the President's private plane to travel to the White House. Goldfinger, now a fugitive, forces Galore to participate in hijacking the plane in order to force the pilot to fly him to Cuba.
However, Bond defeats Goldfinger, blown out the window at high altitude, thus suffering what, in the novel, had been Oddjob's fate. Bond saves Galore from the crashing plane: they both bail out, land safely in an unidentified tropical region, make love under their parachute. Pussy ranked second in a poll of favourite Bond girls by Entertainment Weekly in 2007, beaten only by Ursula Andress' character Honey Rider. Yahoo! Movies had her name included in the 2012 list of the best Bond girl names, calling it "The most famous Bond Girl name, the rudest – US censors cut it from Goldfinger." The 1997 parody film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery features a character named Alotta Fagina in an apparent reference to Galore. The Rolex GMT-Master reference 6542 is nicknamed "Pussy Galore" because the movie character wears this particular watch, her name is the inspiration for a character, Pussy LaGore, in the Carmageddon video game series
Perth Festival
The Perth Festival is Australia's longest running cultural festival, held annually in Western Australia. The program features contemporary and classical music, theatre, visual arts, large-scale public works, Lotterywest Film Festival and the Perth Writers Festival; the festival runs every year from February to March, the Lotterywest Film Festival runs from November to April, the Perth Writers Festival occurs in February. The artistic director from 2016 to 2019 is Wendy Martin; the current executive director is Nathan Bennett. The festival was created in 1953 by the University of Western Australia, making it the oldest international arts festival in Australia, the oldest annual international multi-arts festival in the southern hemisphere. Activities across the state include theatre, music, visual arts and literature. Artists from around the world have participated in the festival; the festival was founded by and has operated from the University of Western Australia Nedlands campus since 1953. The University of Western Australia further supports the festival through the provision of services and resources.
Lotterywest has supported the festival financially since 1992. The festival relies on corporate sponsors and partnerships for funding, with new organisations becoming involved each year; the array of corporate partners changes each year, however some partners have committed to long term sponsorship of the festival. The partners are separated into six distinct groups: Partners Leadership partners Major Partners Public Funding Partners Trusts International PartnersSignificant long term partners include Lotterywest and Wesfarmers; the 2012 festival was the 60th Perth International Arts Festival. This year attracted 194,522 paid audience members and a total attendance figure of over 700,000; the opening of the festival featured a'DAWN:DUSK' opening, where hundreds of people gathered on Cottesloe Beach to watch vocalists and musicians. The festival was held from 10 February to 4 March, was the first year led by new artistic director, Jonathan Holloway. A number of events sold out including tickets to Bon Iver.
The 2013 festival was held from 8 February to 2 March. With 750 artists, 820 events and 250 film screenings, it is the biggest yet; this year marked the announcement of Chevron Corporation. This partnership was recognised through the renaming of the Festival Gardens to Chevron Festival Gardens. At the 2012/2013 Lotterywest Film Festival, 26 films were screened, with the winner of the BHP Billiton audience award being The First Grader, directed by Justin Chadwick; this year featured sold out event, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, who played at the Chevron City Gardens. The 2014 festival was the 62nd Perth International Arts Festival held from 7 February until 1 March 2014. Earlier Perth Festivals had literature as a component of the larger festival. By the 1990s the Writers' Festival was marketed separately. By the 2000s its status was raised to being well recognised by publishers from interstate and overseas. In the 2000s openers, keynote speakers and featured authors included notable writers from Australia and overseas, such as Germaine Greer and Hilary Mantel.
John Birman David Blenkinsop Sean Doran Lindy Hume Shelagh Magadza Jonathan Holloway Wendy Martin Venues for festival events have included: Official website Media related to Perth International Arts Festival at Wikimedia Commons
Brigitte Bardot
Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot referred to by the initials B. B. is a French animal rights activist and former actress, singer and model. Famous for portraying sexually emancipated personae with hedonistic lifestyles, she was one of the best known sex symbols of the 1950s and 1960s. Although having withdrawn from the entertainment industry since 1973, she remains a major popular culture icon. Born and raised in Paris, Bardot was an aspiring ballerina in her early life, she started her acting career in 1952. She achieved international recognition in 1957 for her role in the controversial And God Created Woman. Bardot caught the attention of French intellectuals, she was the subject of Simone de Beauvoir's 1959 essay, The Lolita Syndrome, which described Bardot as a "locomotive of women's history" and built upon existentialist themes to declare her the first and most liberated woman of post-war France. She starred in Jean-Luc Godard's 1963 film Le Mépris. For her role in Louis Malle's 1965 film Viva Maria!
Bardot was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress. Bardot retired from the entertainment industry in 1973, she had performed in several musicals and recorded more than 60 songs. She was refused to accept it. After retiring, she became an animal rights activist. During the 2000s, she generated controversy by criticizing immigration and Islam in France and has been fined five times for inciting racial hatred. Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot was born on 28 September 1934 in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, France to Louis Bardot and Anne-Marie Mucel. Bardot's father, originated from Ligny-en-Barrois, was an engineer and the proprietor of several industrial factories in Paris, her mother was the daughter of an insurance company director. She grew up in a conservative Catholic family, as with her father's upbringing, she suffered from amblyopia as a child. She has Mijanou. Bardot's childhood was one of prosperity, as she lived in her family's seven-bedroom apartment in the luxurious 16th arrondissement.
However, she recalled. Her father demanded her to follow strict behavioural standards, including appropriate clothes and table manners, her mother was selective in choosing companions for Bardot, resulting in her having few childhood friends. Bardot cited a personal traumatic incident when she and her sister broke her parents' favourite vase while they were playing in the house; the incident decisively led to Bardot's grievance for future rebellious lifestyle. During World War II, when Paris was occupied by Nazi Germany, Bardot spent more time at home due to strict civilian surveillance, she became engrossed in dancing to phonograph records, which her mother saw as a potential for a ballet career. When she was seven, Bardot was admitted to the private school Cours Hattemer, she went to school three days a week, which gave her ample time to take dance lessons at a local studio, under her mother's arrangements. In 1949, Bardot was accepted to the Conservatoire de Paris. For three years, she attended ballet classes by Russian choreographer Boris Knyazev.
She studied at the Instistut de la Tour, a private Catholic high school near her home. Hélène Gordon-Lazareff, the then-director of the magazines Elle and Le Jardin des Modes, hired Bardot in 1949 as a "junior" fashion model. On 8 March 1950, Bardot appeared on the cover of Elle, which brought her an acting offer for the film Les Lauriers sont coupés from director Marc Allégret, her parents opposed to her becoming an actress, but her grandfather was supportive, saying that "If this little girl is to become a whore, cinema will not be the cause." At the audition, Bardot met Roger Vadim, who notified to her that she did not get the role. They subsequently fell in love, her parents fiercely opposed their relationship. Bardot reacted by putting her head in the oven with open fire. Bardot appeared on the cover of Elle again in 1952, which landed her a movie offer for the comedy Crazy for Love, starring Bourvil and directed by Jean Boyer, she was paid 200,000 franc for the small role portraying a cousin of the main character.
On 21 December 1952, Bardot married Vadim, under the consent of her parents. The wedding was held at the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Church of Passy in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. Bardot had her second film role in the Girl in the Bikini, directed by Willy Rozier, she had roles in the 1953 films The Long Teeth and His Father's Portrait. Bardot had a small role in a Hollywood-financed film being shot in Paris, Act of Love, starring Kirk Douglas, she received media attention when she attended the Cannes Film Festival in April 1953. Bardot had a leading role in an Italian melodrama, Concert of Intrigue and in a French adventure film and the Rebels, she had a good part as a flirtatious student in School for Love, opposite Jean Marais for director Marc Allégret. Bardot played her first sizeable English-language role in Doctor at Sea, as the love interest for Dirk Bogarde; the film was the third most popular m
Quartet (1948 film)
Quartet is a 1948 British anthology film with four segments, each based on a story by W. Somerset Maugham; each segment is introduced by the author. It was successful enough to produce two sequels and Encore, popularised the compendium film format, leading to films such as O. Henry's Full House in 1952; the screenplays for the stories were all written by R. C. Sherriff. Based on "The Facts of Life", included in the 1940 collection of Maugham stories The Mixture as Before. Director: Ralph Smart Cinematographer: Ray Elton Jack Watling as Nicky Mai Zetterling as Jeanne Basil Radford as Henry Garnet Angela Baddeley as Mrs. Garnet Naunton Wayne as Leslie Ian Fleming as Ralph Jack Raine as Thomas James Robertson Justice as Branksome Despite their reservations, Mr. and Mrs. Garnet allow their promising tennis player son, nineteen-year-old Nicky Garnet, to travel by himself to Monte Carlo to compete in a tournament. Mr. Garnet gives him some advice: never gamble, never lend money, don't have anything to do with women.
On the last night of his stay, he disregards all three: he wins a large amount of money at roulette and meets a beautiful woman named Jeanne, who borrows from him before he can react. She repays him takes him dancing at a nightclub, it is so late, his hotel has closed for the night. She offers to let him sleep on her sofa; that night, he awakens to find her stealing his winnings. He sees her hide the money in a vase. After she leaves, he retrieves the money; the next morning, on the plane returning home, he counts his money and finds there is more than there should be. A friend suggests. Upon his return home, his father laments to his friends that his son ignored everything he had told him and profited from it! Director: Harold French Cinematographer: Ray Elton Dirk Bogarde as George Bland Raymond Lovell as Sir Frederick Bland Irene Browne as Lady Bland Honor Blackman as Paula Françoise Rosay as Lea Markart On George Bland's twenty-first birthday, his father, of the landed gentry, asks him what he intends to do with his life.
George's answer is incomprehensible to his entire family: he wants to become a concert pianist. His family, who want him to succeed to his father's place and title, try to talk him out of it, his cousin Paula comes up with a compromise: he will study in Paris for two years, after which an impartial expert will determine whether he has it in him to reach his goal. The two years ended, Paula gets a world-famous pianist, to do the judging. After listening to George's recital, Markart tells him that, while his technique is excellent, he lacks the talent and inspiration of a true artist and could never be more than a good amateur. George is killed that day with a blast to the chest from a gun he was cleaning, his family is anxious that his death be ruled accidental, and, at the inquest, the coroner's jury returns such a verdict with clear consciences, since, in the words of the plainspoken foreman, the jurors cannot accept that a gentleman such as the deceased would have killed himself "just'cause he couldn't play piano good."
Based on "The Kite", included in the 1947 collection of Maugham stories Creatures of Circumstance. Director: Arthur Crabtree Cinematographer: Ray Elton George Cole as Herbert Sunbury Hermione Baddeley as Beatrice Sunbury Susan Shaw as Betty Mervyn Johns as Samuel Sunbury Bernard Lee as Prison Visitor Herbert Sunbury marries Betty, despite his overly involved mother's dislike for the woman; the newlyweds are happy, except for Herbert's lifelong enthusiasm for flying kites. Herbert and his father had designed and flown their creations every Saturday on the common since Herbert was a young lad. Betty considers. However, the lure of his latest, unflown kite proves too great for him; when Betty finds out, they have a fight and Herbert moves back in with his parents, much to his mother's delight. Betty has second thoughts and tries to make up with her husband. Out of anger, she destroys his new kite. Aghast, Herbert angrily refuses to give her any further financial support and is put in prison as a result.
A prison visitor is told his curious story. He advises Betty on how to save her marriage; when Herbert goes to the common, he discovers Betty there flying a kite. Based on "The Colonel's Lady", included in the 1947 collection of Maugham stories Creatures of Circumstance. Director: Ken Annakin Cinematographer: Reg Wyer Cecil Parker as Colonel George Peregrine Nora Swinburne as Evie Peregrine Wilfrid Hyde-White as 2nd. Club Man Ernest Thesiger as Henry Dashwood Henry Edwards as Duke of Heverel Linden Travers as Daphne Felix Aylmer as Martin A colonel's mousy wife writes a book of poetry under a pseudonym, but is unmasked by the papers; the colonel does not read the poetry and is surprised when a friend says it is "not suitable for children." Another friend says it has "naked, earthy passion", compares it to Sappho. The book sells "like hot-cakes", becoming the talk of the town; the colonel's mistress has an interest in it. After listening to much talk about how "sexy" the book is, the colonel asks his mistress to borrow her copy insists she tell him about it.
The book is about a middle-aged woman falling in love with, having an affair with, a younger man, told in the first person. After a torrid affair, the younger man dies; the mistress says it is so vivid that it must be based on a real experience, but the colonel insists his wife is "too much of a lady", that it must be fiction. Still, he is tortured by the i
Hera
Hera is the goddess of women, marriage and childbirth in ancient Greek religion and myth, one of the Twelve Olympians and the sister-wife of Zeus. She is the daughter of the Titans Rhea. Hera rules over Mount Olympus as queen of the gods. A matronly figure, Hera served as both the patroness and protectress of married women, presiding over weddings and blessing marital unions. One of Hera's defining characteristics is her jealous and vengeful nature against Zeus' numerous lovers and illegitimate offspring, as well as the mortals who cross her. Hera is seen with the animals she considers sacred including the cow and the peacock. Portrayed as majestic and solemn enthroned, crowned with the polos, Hera may hold a pomegranate in her hand, emblem of fertile blood and death and a substitute for the narcotic capsule of the opium poppy. Scholar of Greek mythology Walter Burkert writes in Greek Religion, "Nevertheless, there are memories of an earlier aniconic representation, as a pillar in Argos and as a plank in Samos."Her Roman counterpart is Juno.
The name of Hera has several mutually exclusive etymologies. According to Plutarch, Hera was an anagram of aēr. So begins the section on Hera in Walter Burkert's Greek Religion. In a note, he records other scholars' arguments "for the meaning Mistress as a feminine to Heros, Master." John Chadwick, a decipherer of Linear B, remarks "her name may be connected with hērōs, ἥρως,'hero', but, no help, since it too is etymologically obscure." A. J. van Windekens, offers "young cow, heifer", consonant with Hera's common epithet βοῶπις. R. S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin, her name is attested in Mycenaean Greek written in the Linear B syllabic script as e-ra, appearing on tablets found in Pylos and Thebes. Hera may have been the first deity to whom the Greeks dedicated an enclosed roofed temple sanctuary, at Samos about 800 BCE, it was replaced by the Heraion of Samos, one of the largest of all Greek temples. There were many temples built on this site so evidence is somewhat confusing and archaeological dates are uncertain.
The temple created by the Rhoecus sculptors and architects was destroyed between 570–560 BCE. This was replaced by the Polycratean temple of 540–530 BCE. In one of these temples we see a forest of 155 columns. There is no evidence of tiles on this temple suggesting either the temple was never finished or that the temple was open to the sky. Earlier sanctuaries, whose dedication to Hera is less certain, were of the Mycenaean type called "house sanctuaries". Samos excavations have revealed votive offerings, many of them late 8th and 7th centuries BCE, which show that Hera at Samos was not a local Greek goddess of the Aegean: the museum there contains figures of gods and suppliants and other votive offerings from Armenia, Iran, Egypt, testimony to the reputation which this sanctuary of Hera enjoyed and to the large influx of pilgrims. Compared to this mighty goddess, who possessed the earliest temple at Olympia and two of the great fifth and sixth century temples of Paestum, the termagant of Homer and the myths is an "almost... comic figure", according to Burkert.
Though greatest and earliest free-standing temple to Hera was the Heraion of Samos, in the Greek mainland Hera was worshipped as "Argive Hera" at her sanctuary that stood between the former Mycenaean city-states of Argos and Mycenae, where the festivals in her honor called Heraia were celebrated. "The three cities I love best," the ox-eyed Queen of Heaven declares in the Iliad, book iv, "are Argos and Mycenae of the broad streets." There were temples to Hera in Olympia, Tiryns and the sacred island of Delos. In Magna Graecia, two Doric temples to Hera were constructed at Paestum, about 550 BCE and about 450 BCE. One of them, long called the Temple of Poseidon was identified in the 1950s as a second temple there of Hera. In Euboea, the festival of the Great Daedala, sacred to Hera, was celebrated on a sixty-year cycle. Hera's importance in the early archaic period is attested by the large building projects undertaken in her honor; the temples of Hera in the two main centers of her cult, the Heraion of Samos and the Heraion of Argos in the Argolis, were the earliest monumental Greek temples constructed, in the 8th century BCE.
According to Walter Burkert, both Hera and Demeter have many characteristic attributes of Pre-Greek Great Goddesses. According to Homeric Hymn III to Delian Apollo, Hera detained Eileithyia to prevent Leto from going into labor with Artemis and Apollo, since the father was Zeus; the other goddesses present at the birthing on Delos sent Iris to bring her. As she stepped upon the island, the divine birth began. In the myth of the birth of Heracles, it is Hera herself who sits at the door, delaying the birth of Heracles until her protégé, had been born first; the Homeric Hymn to Pythian Apollo makes the monster Typhaon the offspring of archaic Hera in her Minoan form, produced out of herself, like a monstrous version of Hephaestus, whelped in a cave in Cilicia. She gave the creature to Python to raise. In the Temple of Hera, Hera's seated cult figure was older than the warrior figure of Zeus that accompanied it. Homer expressed her relationship with Zeus delicately in the Iliad, in which she declares to Zeus, "I am
