Hera (deity)

Symbols: Apple; cow; pomegranate; cuckoo; peacock

Culture: Greco-Roman

Mother: Rhea

Father: Cronos

Siblings: Demeter; Hades; Hestia; Poseidon; Zeus

Children: Ares; Hebe; Hephaestus

Hera was the goddess of marriage and women in Greek mythology. Her husband and brother Zeus was the king of the gods and goddesses, and Hera was the queen. They lived on Mount Olympus with the other eleven major gods and goddesses, who were either Hera’s siblings, Hera’s children, or Zeus’s children.

Hera’s three children were Ares, the god of war; Hebe, the goddess of youth and cupbearer to the gods; and Hephaestus, the god of fire and metalwork.

Sometimes Hera was credited with a fourth child, Eileithyia (or Ilithyia), the goddess of childbirth. Others said that one of Hera’s incarnations was that of Eileithyia. In Argos and Athens where she was the patron saint, Hera was also called Eileithyia.

Hera’s role as the goddess of marriage was demonstrated by her fidelity to Zeus. However, Zeus was constantly unfaithful and Hera was jealous and vindictive about his many love affairs. This, too, was considered to be part of her role as the goddess of marriage.

Several symbols are associated with Hera. The pomegranate symbolizes love and fertility within marriage. Zeus was said to have taken the form of a cuckoo when he courted Hera and that bird was one of her symbols. Later the peacock became important as it carried the eyes of Argus in its tail and it was said to pull Hera’s chariot through the sky. Golden apples were a wedding gift to Hera from the earth mother Gaia, and Hera had them guarded in the garden of the Hesperides. Cows were sacred to Hera and she was described as having cow eyes. This was believed to signify that her eyes were large, brown, and wide open.

In Mythology

Hera was the daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea, who were the ruling gods of the time. Cronus swallowed Hera and four of her brothers and sisters for fear that they would overthrow him. Zeus was hidden by his mother Rhea and he later forced his father to vomit up his siblings. Zeus and his brothers defeated Cronus and Zeus became the ruler of the gods.

There are several versions of how Hera was raised. She was variously brought up by the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, Temenus of Arcadia, the Hours in Euboea, or by the daughters of the river god Asterion.

After Hera married Zeus, she was depicted as jealous of Zeus’s other lovers. She took revenge on the women and if the women had children, Hera punished them, too. When Heracles was born from the union of Zeus and the mortal woman Alcmene, Hera sent two snakes to kill the baby in his cradle. Heracles, who later became famous for his incredible strength, strangled them. Later Hera made Heracles temporarily insane and he killed his wife and children. It was not until the mortal part of Heracles died that Hera relented and allowed him to marry her daughter, Hebe.

Another famous instance of Hera’s revenge was in the myth of Io. Zeus turned his lover Io into a white cow to protect her from Hera. But Hera tied her to a tree and had her one hundred-eyed servant Argus guard Io. When Zeus had Argus killed, Hera put Argus’s eyes into the peacock’s tail. Hera sent a horsefly to badger Io and it chased her across many lands until Zeus promised to stay away from Io. Hera allowed him to change Io back to a woman.

Hera was also jealous and vengeful on other occasions. When the goddess of discord was not invited to a wedding, she rolled a golden apple labeled "For the fairest" into the crowd of guests. Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite all claimed the apple. Zeus decreed that Paris, the Prince of Troy, would decide who was the most beautiful goddess. Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite tried to bribe him by promising him gifts. Paris awarded the golden apple to Aphrodite, who promised him the most beautiful woman in the world for a wife. A Greek woman named Helen was the most beautiful woman and when Paris kidnapped her, he started the Trojan War. In revenge for Paris’s judgment, Hera sided with the Greeks during the war.

In Roman mythology the goddess Juno was identified with Hera. There was little difference in the Roman myths about Juno and the Greek myths about Hera, although the Romans focused on the faithful marriage and family aspects of the goddess. Juno was connected with the moon and fertility. The month of June was named for Juno and was believed to be the best month for weddings.

Origins and Cults

Hera was worshipped from the earliest times as the goddess of nature and the fertile earth. This aspect of Hera preceded that of Zeus and the Olympians. She was then worshipped in all parts of ancient Greece in her role as the goddess of women and marriage. Many temples were dedicated to her including those in Argos, Olympia, Sparta, and the island of Samos.

Hera was the focus of, or included in, many works of art where she was typically shown as a dignified young matron. The sculptor Polyclitus created a statue of her made of gold and ivory. Located in her temple in Argos, it showed her on a throne with a crown on her head, and a pomegranate and a cuckoo-topped scepter in her hand. Several statues of Hera still exist.

The Matronalia festival held in Rome in June was in her honor. Only married women were allowed to attend the festival. Another festival was the Juno Caprotina. It took place under a fig tree on July 7.

Festivals were held throughout Greece to celebrate the wedding of Hera and Zeus. The wedding location is claimed by several places, including the Garden of the Hesperides, the top of Mount Ida in Anatolia, and the island of Euboea in the Aegean Sea.

Bibliography

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Freeman, Philip. Oh My Gods: A Modern Retelling of Greek and Roman Myths. New York: Simon, 2012. Print.

Morford, Mark P. O., Robert J. Lenardon, and Michael Sham. Classical Mythology. 10th ed. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2013. Print.

Nardo, Don. Greek Mythology. Detroit: Lucent, 2012. Print.

Riordan, Rick. Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods. Los Angeles: Disney-Hyperion, 2014. Print.

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