The polos crown (plural poloi; Greek: πόλος) is a high cylindrical crown worn by mythological goddesses of the Ancient Near East and Anatolia and adopted by the ancient Greeks for imaging the mother goddesses Rhea, Cybele and Hera.
The word also meant an axis or pivot and is cognate with the English, 'pole'. It was often open at the top with hair cascading down from the sides, or it could be reduced to a ring.
In ancient Greek religion, Hera (/ˈhɛrə, ˈhɪərə/; Ancient Greek: Ἥρα, romanized: Hḗrā; Ἥρη, Hḗrē in Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Olympus, sister and wife of Zeus, and daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. One of her defining characteristics in myth is her jealous and vengeful nature in dealing with any who offended her, especially Zeus's numerous adulterous lovers and illegitimate offspring.
Her iconography usually presents her as a dignified, matronly figure, upright or enthroned, crowned with a polos or diadem, sometimes veiled as a married woman. She is the patron goddess of lawful marriage. She presides over weddings, blesses and legalises marital unions, and protects women from harm during childbirth. Her sacred animals include the cow, cuckoo, and peacock. She is sometimes shown holding a pomegranate as an emblem of immortality. Her Roman counterpart is Juno.
Psi, phi and tau were types of terracotta figurines made in Mycenaean Greece during the Late Helladic period. They were typically about 10 to 20 centimetres (3.9 to 7.9 in) high and are found in tombs, shrines and settlement areas. They fall into three distinct typologies, each named for the letter of the Greek alphabet that it resembles. The earliest such figures date to the Late Helladic II period (c. 1450 – c. 1400 BCE), and they continued to be made until the end of the Late Helladic III (c. 1050 BCE).
The figurines depict female forms, often wearing a polos headdress that may indicate a goddess or a worshipper. Some, known as the kourotrophos (lit. 'child-rearer') type, include a model of an infant. The function and original meaning of these figures is unclear, and may not have been the same to all Mycenaeans or at all stages in the object's use-life: some are found in clearly sacred or ritual contexts, such as sanctuaries or as offerings in tombs, while others are found in domestic contexts, household rubbish, or used for utilitarian functions such as stopping a vessel or as part of the temper used in mud-brick building.