Hera

(Lady) Greek Queen of Olympus, sister and wife of Zeus, daughter of Cronus and Rhea. Known as Juno by the Romans. Mother of Ares, Hebe, Hephaestus, and Eileithya. The patroness of marriage, Hera was the goddess most concerned with the welfare of women and children. Hera was an ancient goddess, existing long before the new gods, including Zeus. Her original name is unknown: Hera is a title, meaning "Lady." Her original cult was so strong that the newcomers to the Greek peninsula from the North had to acknowledge it and absorb it into their own religion by making Hera the consort of Zeus, the king of the Olympian Gods. Hera was depicted as a young woman, fully clad and of regal beauty, sometimes wearing a high, cylindrical crown. Her emblems include a scepter topped with a cuckoo and a pomegranate, symbol of married love and fruitfulness. The peacock is sacred to Hera, testifying to the services of the hundred-eyed Argus (1). The marriage of Hera and Zeus was not a happy one, because Zeus was unfaithful to his wife and Hera was angry and jealous. She sought to avenge herself on Zeus and his loves in various ways. The many quarrels between Hera and Zeus may reflect the conflicts between the old gods, where woman was the Earth Mother and Queen, and the new maledominated religion of Zeus and the Olympians. Hera and the Cuckoo There are several legends about how the marriage of Zeus, chief god of the Olympians, and Hera, queen of Olympus, came about. The writer Pausanius tells the most famous one. In this story, Zeus appears before Hera in the shape of a cuckoo, a small, shivering bird, drenched with rain. Tenderhearted Hera takes the poor creature to her bosom to warm it. Zeus at once resumes his normal form and Hera finally agrees to become his wife. The gods solemnly celebrated the marriage on Olympus, but the ceremony did not put an end to the amorous adventures of Zeus. With Zeus, Hera had two sons, Ares and Hephaestus, and a daughter, Hebe. Some legends say that Hera conceived and gave birth to Hephaestus without any help from Zeus. Some say that she was also the mother of Eileithya, about whom little is known. Hera and Ixion Hera was ever faithful to her fickle husband, Zeus. However, she was very beautiful and men found her desirable. Ephialtes, one of the Aloeids, was determined to capture Hera and make her his wife. Thus he and his brother started a war with the Olympians. Another admirer, King Ixion of Lapith, fell in love with Hera at a banquet at Olympus. When Zeus found out about Ixion's advances, he was angry and jealous and used his magic to shape a cloud in the likeness of Hera. Ixion made love to the cloud, whose name was Nephele, and from this union was born Centaurus, father of the Centaurs. Ixion was bound to a fiery wheel and doomed to whirl perpetually through the sky. Hera and Io One of the loves of Zeus was the maiden Io. Zeus turned Io into a beautiful white cow to protect her from Hera, but Hera was not deceived. She demanded to be given the heifer and Zeus could not refuse her. Hera then tied up the heifer and the hundred-eyed Argus guarded her. The god Hermes rescued Io by using songs and stories to close all the eyes of Argus in sleep, and then killing him. But Io remained a heifer, relentlessly pursued by a gadfly sent by Hera, until she reached Egypt. Hera transferred the eyes of Argus onto the magnificent tail of the peacock, where, legend has it, they remain to this day. Some scholars believe that Io was a form of Hera as an ancient goddess dispossessed by the Olympians. In Homer's work, the goddess Hera is often described as "ox-eyed."