Hens and Cocks in Religion, Folklore and Myth
by Aelian wrote in the second century A.D. of two Greek temples separated by a river, one consecrated to Hercules and the other to his wife, Hebe. Cocks were kept in the temple of the god, and hens in that of the goddess.
The roosters would cross the waters once a year to mate, returning with any male offspring and leaving the females for the hens to raise. The arrangement is not very plausible, among other reasons because cocks generally cannot stay together without fighting, which is why barnyards have only one. Nevertheless, this account shows how cock and hen, even more than other animals, seem to be defined by their gender, to the point where they hardly appear to belong to the same species. Both cock and hen were indeed kept for sacrifice in temples throughout the ancient world from Egypt to Greece. On the altars, their entrails were used to predict the future. Until historically recent times, even urban dwellers would generally be awakened by the call of a rooster at dawn. From ancient times through much of the Middle Ages, the crowing of the cock at certain times was so predictable that it was used to signal the changing of the guard. It had a triumphant ring and was said to frighten away the spirits of darkness. The crowing of a cock served as the voice of conscience in the Bible after Peter had denied knowing Jesus, since the sound moved him to tears of regret. The red comb of a cock heightened its association with the sun. Cocks have always been celebrated for their fierceness, as they seemed to lord over the barnyard.
The cock is also a solar animal in East Asia, where it is the tenth sign of the Chinese zodiac. According to one Japanese tale, the sun goddess Ameratsu, angry at the violence of the storm god, moodily withdrew into a cave, leaving the world in darkness. When a cock crowed, she wondered if the dawn had come without her and went to the entrance of her cavern to find out. There, indeed, it was bright day. Hens, by contrast, are symbols of domesticity and maternal care. Especially when brooding on their eggs, they seem unconcerned about all else, even the cock.
Long before Christ, the cock symbolized resurrection. The cock was associated with Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, who as a mortal physician once raised a man from the dead. The last words of Socrates, as recorded in Plato’s dialogue “Phaedo”: “Crito, we ought to offer a cock to Asclepius. See to it and don’t forget” (section 118a). Perhaps Socrates wished to thank the god for spiritual healing as he moved on to the next world.
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