403 
HER 
HERiE'A, f. in Grecian antiquity, feftivals at Argos 
in honour of Juno, who was the patronefs of that city. 
They were alfo obferved by the colonies of tire Argives 
which had been planted at Samos and ^Egina. There 
were always two proceffions to the temple of the god- 
defs without the city walls: the firfl: was of the men 
in armour, the fecond of the women, among whom the 
prieftefs, a woman of the firfl quality, was drawn in a 
chariot by white oxen. The Argives always reckoned 
their years from her priefthood, as the Athenians from 
their archons, or the Romans from their confuls. When 
they came to the temple of the goddefs they offered a 
hecatomb of oxen. Hence the facrifice is often called 
Ey.arojw.Sta, and fometimes from *£%»?, a bed, 
becaufe Juno prefided over marriages, births. See .— 
There was a feftival of the fame name in Elis, celebrated 
every fifth year, in which fixteen matrons wove a>gar- 
ment for the goddefs.—There’were alfo others infiituted 
by Hippodamia, who had received affiltance from Juno 
when (lie married Pelops. Sixteen matrons, each at¬ 
tended by a maid, prefided at the celebration. The 
contenders were young virgins, who, being divided in 
claffes according to their age, ran races each in their 
order, beginning with the yotingeft. The habit of all 
was exattly the fame, their hair was diflievelled, and 
their right ftioulder bare to the bread, with coats reach¬ 
ing no lower than the knee. She who obtained the vic¬ 
tory was rewarded with crowns of olives, and obtained 
a part of the ox that was offered in facrifice, and was 
permitted to dedicate her picture <t-6' the goddefs.— 
There was alfo a folemn day of mourning at Corinth 
which bore the fame name, in commemoration of Medea’s 
children, who were buried in Juno’s temple. They had 
been fain by the Corinthians; who, as it is reported, 
to avert the fcandal which accompanied fo barbarous a 
murder, prefented Euripides with a large Aim of money 
to write a play, in which Medea is reprefented as the 
murderer of her children.—There was alfo another fef- 
tival of the fame name at Pallene, with games in which 
the viitor was rewarded with a garment. 
HER.ffi'1 MON'TES, in ancient geography, a chain 
of mountains at the north of Sicily. 
HERA'KRA, a town.of Sweden, in the province of 
Smaland : thirty miles north-weft of Calmar. 
HER'ALD,/. [from liejie, Sax. an army, and healb, 
a. champion ; kerault, i'ieraut , Fr. herald , Ger. araldo, Ita!. 
becaufe it was part of his ; office to charge or challenge 
unto battle or combat.] An officer whole bufinefs it is to 
regifier genealogies, adjnfl enligns armorial, regulate fu¬ 
nerals, and anciently to carry melfages between princes, 
and proclaim war and peace : 
When time fh’all ferve, let but the herald cry, 
And 1’il appear again. Shakefpeare. 
Search the herald's roll, 
Where thou Ihalt find thy famous pedigree. Drydcn. 
A precurfor, a forerunner; a harbinger; as, The lark, 
the herald of the morn. A proclaimer ; a publilher : 
After my death I wiffi no other herald. 
No other fpeaker of my living actions, 
But fuch an honelf chronicler as Griffith. Shakefpeare. 
Heralds were anciently called dukes at arms, probably 
becaufe the conducing of affairs concerning peace and 
war devolved upon them ; from the Latin ducere ad'arma\ 
their office being to-carry melfages to the enemy, and to 
denounce war, or proclaim peace. Hence the perfons 
of heralds were deemed /acred by the law of nations, and 
were received and protected by belligerent powers, as 
flags of truce are in the prefent day. 
Among the ancient Greeks, heralds were alfo held 
in the higheft eftimation. See the article Greece, vol. 
viii. p. 832. In conformity with mythology, they were 
placed under the protection of Mercury;, and were called 
. from x(u&, clamoy to cry. When Ulyffes was caff 
HER 
upon unknown coafts, he fent a herald to protect his men 
from danger or injury. They were called the meflen- 
gers, not of men only, but alfo of Jupiter ; and hence the 
facrednefs of their character. Statius Theb. ii. 371. The 
heralds of Athens were defeended from Ceryx, fon of 
Hermes, and Pandrofos, daughter of Cecrops king of that 
city. The Lacedemonian heralds were defeended from 
Talthybius, herald of Agamemnon, and who was ho¬ 
noured with a temple and divine worfliip at Sparta. Herod. 
Polym. c. 134. They had borne before them, or carried, a 
Half of laurel, called caduceus, around which were folded 
two ferpents, with erefted crefts, as an enfign of peace. 
Plin. 1. 29. c. 3. The Athenian heralds ufually bore, 
as the enfign of peace, an olive-branch covered with 
wool,, and adorned with the fruits of the earth : whence 
tile modern epithet, “ olive-branch of peace.” The 
xygvxec, or heralds, fays Suidas, were fuppofed to differ 
from wp so-Sek, ambaffadors; inafmuch as the latter were 
employed in treaties of peace, the former to declare war : 
but this diftin&ion was not permanent. It was the cuf- 
tom of the Spartans to appoint men to the'fe offices, be¬ 
tween whom there was not a good underfianding ; as it 
was fuppofed that they would not truft each other in 
any confpiracy againft the good of the commonwealth. 
Thefe heralds bade the prince or perfon who had given 
the injury, either to make rellitution, or prepare for an 
invafion ; in anfwer to which fometimes a fpear was caff, 
in token of defiance. The Athenians frequently let loofe 
a lamb into the territories of their enemies ; intimating 
that they (hould be laid wafte, and become a pafture for 
Iheep. Hence «pa wpoSaMsn', was ufed by them for en¬ 
tering into a fiate of war. And fo juft and honourable 
was this previous interpofition of the heralds, that all 
invafions made without them, were conlidered rather as 
robberies, than legitimate wars. 
The Romans, copying from the Greeks, confidered 
their heralds, whom they called feciales, as facred and 
privileged perfons. This word is often fpelt fctialis, 
and might have been derived from feedus , as if it were 
fiedialis, fedialis, the letter t taking often the place .of d. 
They very early founded a college of heralds, under a 
principal Officer, called Pater patratus ; and their office 
was to decide whether the cauies or propofitions for war 
were juft or unjuft; and in either cafe.-to prevent open 
hoftilities, until every honourable mean had been em¬ 
ployed to decide the difference or difpute, by friendly 
and pacific meafures. Thus we fee that the origin and 
life of heralds is of Very high antiquity ; and that per¬ 
fons of the utmoft fidelity were the only ones eligible 
for fo important a truft. We have in Livy a minute 
defeription of the ceremony attending the creation of 
the chief of the heralds, tiie Pater patratus, by touching 
his head and hairs with a branch of vervain,"and repeat¬ 
ing a long form of confecration in verfe, Which the hif- 
torian did not think it worth his while to record. See 
Liv. l.i. c. 24. The plant-above-mentioned was always 
made ufe of on thofe occafions, and went by the name 
of verbena, or fagmen, which give us reafon to think that 
the leaves adorning the crown of the kings of arms, are 
intended to reprefent that herb, with which their tem¬ 
ples were conftantly wreathed when oh duty. 
To HER'ALD, v. a. To introduce as by an herald. 
Obfolele. 
We are fent from our royal mafter, 
Only to herald thee into his fight. Shakefpeare. 
HER'ALD, adj. Performing the office of an herald; 
as, herald angels. Afh. 
HER'ALDS’ COL'LEGE, an ancient royal corpora¬ 
tion, fir ft inftituted by Richard III. in the year 148! ; 
- and confifts of an extenfive quadrangular range of build¬ 
ings, fituated on St. Bennet’s-hill, near St. Paul’s, in 
the city of London. This corporation is endowed with 
certain privileges by the kings of this realm : Concejferunt, 
( 3 c. Heraldi Armorum, et omnes alii Heraldi, pro/ecutores 
