Hera

Nationality/Culture

Greek

Pronunciation

HAIR-uh

Alternate Names

Juno (Roman)

Appears In

Hesiod's Theogony, Ovid's Metamorphoses

Lineage

Daughter of Cronus and Rhea

Character Overview

The queen of heaven in Greek mythology , Hera was the sister and wife of Zeus (pronounced ZOOS), the king of the gods. The Greeks worshipped her as a mother goddess and considered her a protector of marriage and childbirth and a guardian of women. Many of the myths and legends about Hera concern her terrible jealousy of and revenge against Zeus's numerous lovers and children. Hera's counterpart in Roman mythology was the goddess Juno (pronounced JOO-noh). Juno closely resembled Hera, and myths about her were basically the same. However, there were some differences. In Roman mythology, for example, Juno's origin is sometimes associated with an Italian mother goddess closely connected to fertility. She is often linked with the moon, and the month that the Romans named in her honor—June—was considered the most favorable time of the year for weddings.

As the wife of Zeus, Hera bore him four children: Hephaestus (pronounced hi-FES-tuhs), the god of fire and crafts; Ares (pronounced AIR-eez), the god of war; Ilithyia (pronounced ee-LEE-thee-uh), the goddess of childbirth; and Hebe (pronounced HEE-bee), the cupbearer of the gods. Zeus and Hera often quarreled, and their arguments sometimes became fierce enough to shake the halls of Olympus (pronounced oh-LIM-puhs), the home of the gods. Most of their arguments concerned Zeus's seduction of other women.

Major Myths

The daughter of the Titans Cronus (pronounced KROH-nuhs) and Rhea (pronounced REE-uh), Hera was swallowed after birth by Cronus. Her siblings Demeter (pronounced di-MEE-ter), Hades (pronounced HAY-deez), Poseidon (pronounced poh-SYE-dun), and Hestia (pronounced HESS-tee-uh) suffered the same fate. However, Rhea managed to save Zeus, the youngest brother. Later Zeus rescued his brothers and sisters by giving Cronus a potion that caused him to vomit them out. Some stories say that Hera was raised by the Titans Oceanus (pronounced oh-SEE-uh-nuhs) and Tethys (pronounced TEE-this); others claim that she grew up under the care of Temenus (pronounced TEM-uh-nuhs), who ruled the region of Arcadia (pronounced ar-KAY-dee-uh) in Greece.

When Zeus and his brothers defeated the Titans and divided the universe among themselves, they gave nothing to their sisters. Hera was furious at being left out, and this anger persisted throughout her relationship with Zeus. According to some myths, Zeus seduced Hera while disguised as a cuckoo. Other tales say that he found her on an island and carried her away to a cave. Stories place their wedding at various sites: in the Garden of the Hesperides (pronounced heh-SPER-uh-deez), at the top of Mount Ida in Anatolia (present-day Turkey), or on the island of Euboea (pronounced yoo-BEE-uh) in the Aegean (pronounced i-JEE-uhn) Sea. Festivals commemorating the marriage took place throughout Greece.

Zeus wandered the world seducing beautiful women, goddesses, and nymphs —often while disguised as a mortal or an animal. His unfaithfulness made Hera insanely jealous. Most of her anger was directed at Zeus's lovers and their children, whom she persecuted and punished mercilessly. One of the greatest victims of Hera's anger was Heracles , the son of Zeus and a mortal woman named Alcmena (pronounced alk-MEE-nuh). Hera hounded and punished Heracles throughout his life. Soon after his birth, she sent two snakes to kill him, but the infant Heracles, who would become known for his tremendous strength, strangled the snakes instead. Another time, Hera drove Heracles temporarily insane, causing him to kill his own wife and children. Once, when she raised a storm against Heracles' ship, Zeus retaliated by hanging Hera from Mount Olympus by her wrists, with anvils attached to her feet.

Another of Hera's victims was Io (pronounced EE-oh), a Greek princess with whom Zeus had an affair. Hera suspected that Zeus had a new lover and went searching for him. To save Io from his wife's jealousy, Zeus turned the girl into a white calf. When Hera found Zeus, she asked to have the calf as a gift. Not daring to refuse, he agreed. Io roamed the meadows as a calf for a long time, constantly pestered by a horsefly sent by Hera to torment her. Feeling pity for Io, Zeus often visited her in the shape of a bull. Finally, he promised Hera that he would pay no more attention to Io, and Hera agreed to transform her back into a woman.

Semele (pronounced SEM-uh-lee), a mortal woman who gave birth to Zeus's son Dionysus (pronounced dye-uh-NYE-suhs), was another of Hera's victims. Hera suggested to Semele that she ask her lover to appear in his full glory. Zeus, who had promised to grant Semele any wish, sadly did so and appeared with his thunderbolts, causing Semele to burn to death immediately. Athamas (pronounced ATH-uh-mas), the king of Thebes (pronounced THEEBZ), and his wife Ino (pronounced EYE-noh), who later became a sea goddess, raised Dionysus after his mother's death. Hera punished them as well by making them go mad.

Hera's vengeful nature was directed mainly at her husband's unfaithfulness, but there were other victims too. One famous story tells of a beauty contest between Hera and the goddesses Athena (pronounced uh-THEE-nuh) and Aphrodite (pronounced af-ro-DYE-tee). The judge of the contest, the Trojan prince Paris, chose Aphrodite as the most beautiful of the three. The angry Hera punished Paris by siding with the Greeks against the Trojans in the Trojan War and by acting as protector of the Greek hero Achilles (pronounced uh-KILL-eez).

One of the principal Roman myths of Juno concerns Minerva (pronounced mi-NUR-vuh), the Roman counterpart of the Greek goddess Athena. According to this story, Minerva was born from the head of Jupiter (pronounced JOO-pi-tur), which angered Juno. She complained to Flora (pronounced FLOR-uh), the goddess of flowers and gardens, who touched Juno with a magic herb that caused her to give birth to the god Mars. A similar myth exists in Greek mythology, but in some versions of that story, Hera gives birth to the monster Typhon (pronounced TYE-fon), who tries to defeat Zeus and take his power. While the Greek myth illustrates Hera's vengeful nature, the Roman story emphasizes fertility and motherhood.

Hera in Context

The worship of Hera appears to be older than the worship of Zeus, even though, as the king of the other gods, he has more power and importance than Hera. Archeological evidence suggests that the temples built in Hera's honor are the oldest of any of the other Greek deities; this fact may indicate that Hera developed from a goddess of an earlier matriarchal society (a society in which women hold power) when goddesses could be more powerful than their male counterparts. In the patriarchal society (ruled by men) of the Greeks, Hera became a figure who was powerful in her own right, but not as powerful as her husband. She could not control him, and the constant fighting between the two may reflect the conflict between the older cult worship of Hera versus the newer and more powerful cult worship of Zeus.

Hera's long-lasting bond with Zeus—despite its many problems— reflects the importance of the marriage bond in Greece, and also highlights how husbands and wives were treated differently in ancient Greece. Men spent more time away from home, where their actions could not be seen by household servants; women, being in charge of the household—and with the home being considered the safest place, particularly in times of conflict—had limited contact with men other than their husbands or servants. It seems likely that Greek husbands had more opportunity to be unfaithful than their wives did. Although divorces caused by cheating spouses were not uncommon, a wife would usually have to get the permission of her family before seeking a divorce. This meant that the divorce process was more difficult for a woman than for a man, especially since divorce often meant that her children would remain with her husband. For these reasons, wives tended to remain married even if their husbands were unfaithful. However, the myths of Hera illustrate the kinds of vengeance a wife could inflict upon her husband and his lovers; these may have served as “cautionary tales” for men engaging in affairs with other women.

Key Themes and Symbols

Hera stood as a symbol of motherhood, as well as a symbol of loyalty to her husband Zeus. However, she also represented vengeance in many myths involving Zeus's lovers. The theme of jealousy is continuous in the myths of Hera. Indeed, her jealousy extends not just to those women who are involved with Zeus, but also to their children, as shown in the tales of Heracles.

Both the cow and the peacock were sacred animals to Hera. Like the Egyptian goddess Hathor , Hera was a cow-goddess, described often as “ox-eyed.” The pomegranate fruit also represents Hera as a fertility goddess.

Hera in Art, Literature, and Everyday Life

As the wife of Zeus, Hera was one of the more honored gods among the Greeks. She was often depicted in statue form, numerous examples of which have survived to modern times. Many temples were built in her honor, and one can still be seen in the Italian city of Paestum.

Although Hera is not as readily found in art and literature from the Renaissance to present day, she has still made some notable appearances. Carolyn Kizer's poem “Hera, Hung from the Sky” (1973) offers a feminist take on Zeus's legendary punishment of his wife. Hera appears in the 1963 film Jason and the Argonauts, as well as the 1997 Disney animated film Hercules; in the latter case, however, Hera's role in the myth of Hercules was greatly reduced. A somewhat more accurate portrayal of Hera's relationship with Hercules is shown in the television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, in which the character of Hera appeared in two episodes.

Read, Write, Think, Discuss

The purpose of marriage in ancient Greece was to bear and raise children who would continue the family bloodline, so marriages often ended when this purpose could not be fulfilled for some reason—for instance, when the couple found they could not have children, or because the wife's unfaithfulness could result in her bearing another man's children. Like in the ancient Greek society, divorce is common in the United States, with half of the marriages ending in divorce. What are the primary reasons for divorce in American society? How do these reasons reflect the purposes for marriage in modern culture?

SEE ALSO Greek Mythology; Heracles; Roman Mythology; Zeus