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.”