Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities ...

, Hegemone ( grc, Ἡγεμόνη means "mastery" derived from ''hegemon'' "leader, ruler, queen") was a Greek goddess of

plants Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclude ...

, specifically making them bloom and bear fruit. According to

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: *Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC * Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...

, Hegemone was a name given by the Athenians to one of the

Graces In Greek mythology, the Charites ( ), singular ''Charis'', or Graces, were three or more goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity, goodwill, and fertility. Hesiod names three – Aglaea ("Shining"), Euphrosyne ("Joy"), and Thali ...

Auxo In Greek mythology the Horae () or Horai () or Hours ( grc-gre, Ὧραι, Hōrai, , "Seasons") were the goddesses of the seasons and the natural portions of time. Etymology The term ''horae'' comes from the Proto-Indo-European ("year"). ...

represented the spring, and Hegemone autumn.

Myths and legends

Hegemone was known for creating plants that would bloom and bear fruit. She is often associated with the season of autumn, along with Carpho, who is known to bring plants to their state of harvest. Hegemone was the eldest of the elder Charites, worshipped alongside Auxo, representing the spring. Hegemone was worshipped in Boeotian Orchomenus - known as Viota in modern mainland Greece - in the form of pieces of meteorites.

Genealogy

Hegemone is generally considered to be a descendant of Zeus and the Oceanid,

Eurynome Eurynomê (; Ancient Greek: Εὐρυνόμη, from , ''eurys'', "broad" and , ''nomos'', "pasture" or "law") is a name that refers to the following characters in Greek mythology: *Eurynome, pre-Olympian queen and wife of Ophion *Eurynome (Ocean ...

, though sources vary. She is sometimes referred to as a descendant of "The Sun", likely referring to either

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label= Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label ...

or Helios.

Other

Hegemone is at the origin of the word

hegemony Hegemony (, , ) is the political, economic, and military predominance of one State (polity), state over other states. In Ancient Greece (8th BC – AD 6th ), hegemony denoted the politico-military dominance of the ''hegemon'' city-state over oth ...

and one of Jupiter's moon.

References

Greek goddesses Fertility goddesses Harvest goddesses Nature goddesses {{Greek-deity-stub