Hera Apia: Pears of the Argolid A Proposed Modern Epithet 🍐

Inakhos lead the people from the mountains to the plains of the Argolid, where wild pears grew abundantly. His son, Phoroneus, then gathered the tribes of people together and formed the first city, named Phoronikon. Phoroneus' son, one of many, named Apis, was said to be a tyrannical king and named the land after himself as well.

This is a simplified version of the very complicated mortal and divine genealogy of Argos, but it sets the stage for the link between the Argolid and pears, apia.

The word apios was used by various authors to refer to the Peloponnese, as it means distant, far-away, or far-off land. Characters in Homer, Aeschylus, and Sophocles' works refer to their homes or other characters as apian. However apios also means pear-tree, specifically the cultivated pear of a settled peoples. Akhrades is the correct term for the wild pear that grew in the Argolid, the first appearance of pears in Greece.

In mythology, Phoroneus introduced the worship of Hera to the Argolid, and either his father Inakhos or Phoroneus himself declared that the land belonged to Hera, in a contest between the goddess and Poseidon. Poseidon, in his fury, drained all the rivers of the Argolid. Inakhos is often portrayed as a man and King in the genealogy of Argos, but also as a river-god of the eponymous river, and I have spoken before about Hera's connection with rivers and river-gods.

Plutarch is our only source for a festival in which Argive children playing call themselves ballakhradai, 'pear-throwers.' Plutarch questions whether the link is due to the arrival of Inakhos and the wild pears of the area, but also states the area was already named Apia, and so pears were named apioi after the region. The most ancient xoanon of a seated Hera belonged to Tiryns before it was transferred to the Heraion. This wooden statue was said to be made of pear wood.

Between the fertility inherent in rivers, and wild pears in the area keeping men nourished as they settled the plains belonging to Hera, the repeated connection with Hera shows her to be a goddess concerned with the survival and success of her people. That she is known to be in favour of Argos and the Argolid, a land known also for pears, and that people hailing from her region were known to be apian, show a possible strong link between the worship of Hera and apia.

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Homer, Iliad 1.270; Aeschylus, Agamemnon 248; Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 1303

Pausanias 2.17.5

Plutarch, Greek Questions 51

Callimachean Istrus and the Land of the Pears

Thank you anon. Is this in response to this post?

So I decided I am willing to let other people create an oc with this species I made for my dnd session! The species is called Cosmoseon! They are made of stardust and the life force of a galaxy! So for every galaxy, the looks may differ. In my OC's galaxy they have pale white skin and colorful hair but there are many possibilities! They can have black skin like the void with colorful hair or colorful skin with either black or white cosmos hair! Typically, theyll have monochrome skin if they're colorful but it is possible to have a tie dye like skin or something like that. They usually choose to be monochrome since it makes normal people sick to their stomachs to look at the tie dye skin. But it is possible! The hair doesnt have to be matching all the way either!! It could be in ripples or something like that! The only times it stays monochrome (both hair and skin) is when its black or white! And it doesnt have to be poofy like my OC's! It could be straight hair too! Just as long as its wispy its fine!! Also they technically have no gender but they can prefer genders! They can change their genders too of they wanted so if my female preferring OC wanted to be Male at some point, she could!!

His name is Phoroneus. Prefers to be Male but is willing to make do if need be. Very Tired™. Will die protecting his heiress Astraeus (my other cosmos character I shared earlier who prefers to be female).