Theocrasy

Entertainment / Literature / Theocrasy: Not to be confused with theocracy, theocrasy is the process by which aspects of two or more separate gods in mythology comingle or blend in the form of one deity. For example, the Greek goddess Hera combines features from a pre-Classical cow-spirit (thus her lingering Homeric epithet boopis, or 'cow-eyed'), and a high crown worn by various celestial queen figures, and aspects of her as the panton genthla, or mother-goddess. Through the slow process of theocrasy across the centuries, these three originally disparate deities merged into one, to produce the Hera known in Classical Greece. Much later, by Roman times, qualities of the Egyptian goddess Ishtar start to appear in Hera's iconography--another sign of theocrasy.
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