Hebe (deity)

Symbol: Cup; nectar pitcher

Culture: Greco-Roman

Mother: Hera

Father: Zeus

Siblings: Ares; Eileiythia; Enyo; Hephaestus

Children: Alexiares; Anicetus

Hebe is the Greek goddess of youth, one of the children of Zeus and Hera, the king and queen of the gods. Hebe also worked as the cupbearer of the gods, serving ambrosia and nectar at the banquets on Mount Olympus. And she became the wife of Heracles after he died on earth and became fully immortal. With the hero, Hebe had two children, Alexiares and Anicetus.

On ancient Greek vase paintings Hebe appears in just two ways, either as the bride of Heracles or as the cupbearer of the gods. She is most often shown pouring ambrosia from a pitcher. Sculptures of Hebe sometimes show her with her father, Zeus, usually with Hebe holding a pitcher of ambrosia. She may offer a cup to an eagle, one of the symbols of Zeus, or an eagle may appear as part of the composition. Occasionally the representation of Hebe shows her with wings, like the goddesses Iris or Nike.

As the goddess of youth, Hebe was the patron of young brides and one of Aphrodite’s attendants. She was known as Juventas in Roman mythology, and she was also called Ganymeda in Greek mythology, which connects her more strongly to her male counterpart, Ganymede. She is sometimes identified with another very ancient Greek deity, Dia. Her opposite on Olympus was Geras, the god of old age. To emphasize her youth, Hebe is usually shown wearing a sleeveless dress.

In Mythology

Hebe is not a key figure in many Greek myths, and only a few myths directly concern her. The two best-known stories involve her marriage to Heracles and her ability to restore youth or maintain perpetual youth in the immortals. She granted a restoration of youth to Iolaus in the most famous of the stories involving the goddess.

Iolaus was Heracles’s nephew and chariot driver who accompanied the hero on some of his twelve labors. These ordeals were the result of a dispute between Hera and Zeus about which man, Heracles or Eurystheus, would be the hero who would finally defeat the monsters of an earlier age and secure the rule of the twelve Olympians. Hera managed to give Eurystheus primacy, and he set the twelve labors as a means by which Heracles could atone for having murdered his family in a fit of madness caused by Hera.

As an elderly warrior, Iolaus engaged Eurystheus in a fight. Iolaus beseeched Hebe to restore his youth for a single day so that he would be a match for Eurystheus. Hebe debated whether or not to grant the mortal’s wish. Themis, the goddess of justice, reassured Hebe that restoring Iolaus’s youth would be fair, and his request was granted. He went on to defeat Eurystheus before his youth was gone again in a day.

Hebe was provided as a wife for Heracles after the hero died on earth. He ascended to Mount Olympus and was given full immortality. This wedding marked the reconciliation between Hera and her heroic namesake, whom she had detested throughout his mortal life. There is little information about the wedding, and it may be this myth developed after Homer.

The other myths involving Hebe revolve around her creation and her role as the cupbearer of the gods. In one version of Hebe’s birth, her mother Hera became pregnant as a result of eating a lettuce leaf while dining with Apollo. In another version, Zeus, who had in his mind the need for a goddess whose realm would be youth, conceived Hebe in the usual way.

Hebe was the cupbearer because this was a suitable job for a youth—important, but not too demanding. She was replaced in this role by the young god Ganymede because she displeased Zeus. In one myth, her transgression was to slip while carrying her pitcher, causing her gown to fall open and expose her breasts. In another tale, Hebe refused sexual advances from Zeus, who then replaced her with the more cooperative Ganymede.

Homer mentions two other tasks completed by Hebe. In one she helped Hera place wheels upon her chariot and helped her mother into the conveyance. In the other she bathed and dressed her brother Ares, the god of war, after he had been ill, so that he could sit again at the side of Zeus.

Origins & Cults

Although Hebe does not figure in many Greek myths, her role is an important one. Greek myths often focus on the brevity of youth and the inevitability of old age and the ravages of time. Thus Hebe had great symbolic meaning, the paucity of myths about her notwithstanding.

Her name comes from a Greek word that means "youth" or, idiomatically, "prime of life." Hebe is derived from an Indo-European word, yegwa, which means "power, youth, or strength." This word also seems to be the root of Freya, the name of the Norse goddess of love and beauty. From this root some scholars conclude that Hebe is an ancient deity that entered Greek mythology via Indo-European migrants from the north.

The origin of the goddess is unknown. The Phliasians, a group of ancient Greeks who lived near Corinth, called her Dia. They worshipped her by pardoning supplicants who appealed for relief from petty crimes. She was worshipped as a goddess of forgiveness. At Phlius there was a sacred grove and sanctuary to Hebe where freed prisoners would hang their chains. The grove was also a sanctuary for slaves. Thus to the extent that any cult surrounded Hebe (beyond the universal admiration of youth), it was centered in Phlius in the Peloponnesus and concerned her role in forgiveness and pardon for crimes.

Bibliography

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