Hera

Hera is the wife and sister of Zeus, the queen of the Olympian gods, and the goddess of marriage. Homer calls her the “white-armed” and “ox-eyed” queen, and the Homeric Hymn describes her as the golden-throned daughter of Rhea who surpasses all in beauty. She is also the goddess who tormented Zeus’ lovers and their children, and was the great opponent of Heracles.

Hera’s Role

Hera's Name

The Greeks addressed her as Hera, and the Romans identified her with Juno, whom Virgil calls “stern Juno” in the opening lines of the Aeneid (1.4). She was invoked as Hera Teleia, “Hera the Fulfiller”, the patroness of marriage: the Furies in Aeschylus speak of “the pledges of Hera, the Fulfiller, and Zeus” that bind husband and wife (Eumenides 213–214). Homer says she was nursed in the halls of Oceanus and Tethys (Iliad 14.200–204). Her chief cities, she says in the Iliad, were Argos, Sparta and Mycenae (Iliad 4.51–52), and Virgil adds that Juno loved Carthage even more than Samos (Aeneid 1.15–16).

Hera's Portrayal and Symbolism

Pausanias describes the great seated statue of Hera at the Argive Heraion, made by Polycleitus of gold and ivory. She wears a crown with the Graces and the Seasons worked on it, and carries a pomegranate in one hand and a sceptre in the other. A cuckoo sits on the sceptre, and the Argives explained it by the story that when Zeus loved Hera in her maidenhood he changed himself into this bird and she caught it as a pet (Pausanias 2.17.4). Pausanias adds that he would say nothing of the pomegranate, because its story was a sacred mystery. Ovid says that Juno set the eyes of the dead Argus in the tail of her peacock, which draws her chariot (Metamorphoses 1.722–723, 2.531–533).

Hera's Epithets

Homer most often calls Hera “white-armed” (Iliad 1.55, 1.195) and “ox-eyed” or “cow-eyed” (Iliad 1.551, 4.50), and she is “golden-throned” in the Homeric Hymn (12.1). The Argives said that Hera bathed every year in the spring Canathus at Nauplia and recovered her maidenhood (Pausanias 2.38.2).

Hera's Family

Hera was the daughter of Cronus and Rhea. In Hesiod, Rhea bore Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus, and Cronus swallowed each of them as it came from the womb until Zeus was saved (Theogony 453–467). Hera was therefore the third of the three sisters, and a sister of Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hestia and Demeter. Yet in the Iliad Hera calls herself Cronus’ “eldest daughter” (Iliad 4.58–59); Hesiod says only that Cronus disgorged the children again after Zeus gave him the emetic (Theogony 493–497).

Hesiod says that Zeus made Hera his wife last of all (Theogony 921–923). She bore Hebe, Ares and Eileithyia, and, in a separate account, Hephaestus, whom she bore without union with Zeus, because she was angry at him (Theogony 921–929). In the Iliad Hephaestus speaks of Hera as his mother and Zeus as his father (Iliad 1.571–579). The Homeric Hymn to Apollo says that Hera was angry at Zeus because he had borne Athena from his own head, and prayed to Earth, the Titans and the heavens for a son as strong as Zeus. She struck the earth, and she bore the monster Typhaon, whom she gave to the she-dragon of Delphi to rear (Homeric Hymn to Apollo 305–355).

The Archetypal Married Couple: Hera and Zeus

Hera was the guardian of marriage, and in the myths she and Zeus are a couple whose quarrels are known to all. In the Iliad the gods take their seats in Zeus’ hall and Hera upbraids him, and he threatens her (Iliad 1.536–570). Few dared lay hands on Hera herself. Ixion, whom Zeus had welcomed among the gods, desired Hera, and Zeus tricked him with a cloud shaped like her; from the cloud and Ixion came Centaurus, and Ixion was bound to a spinning wheel (Pindar, Pythian 2.21–48). In the Gigantomachy, Apollodorus says, the giant Porphyrion attacked Hera and Heracles; Zeus inspired him with lust for Hera, and when he tore her robe, she called for help and Zeus struck him with a thunderbolt (Library 1.6.2).

By most accounts, Hera gave Zeus four children: Ares, god of war, Eileithyia, goddess of childbirth, Hebe, goddess of youth (Hesiod, Theogony 921–923), and Hephaestus, god of fire and craftsmanship, who in Homer calls Zeus his father (Iliad 1.571–579) though Hesiod has Hera bear him alone (Theogony 927–929). Hera also appears in the Iliad as the great supporter of the Greeks. She named Argos, Sparta and Mycenae as her three dearest cities, which Zeus could destroy if he wished (Iliad 4.50–56), and in the fourteenth book she borrowed Aphrodite’s charms to lure Zeus to sleep on Mount Gargarus so that Poseidon could help the Greeks (Iliad 14.153–353).

Hera, a Vengeful Wife

The Wooing of Hera

The Argives told that Zeus won Hera by changing into a cuckoo. Pausanias says the story explained the cuckoo on the sceptre of her statue, and that the mountain above Hermione was called Mount Cuckoo because the transformation of Zeus was said to have happened there (Pausanias 2.17.4, 2.36.1). Pausanias reports the tale without believing it. Hera was said to have caught the bird as a pet.

Hera Challenges Zeus

Hera also conspired against Zeus. In the first book of the Iliad, Achilles asks Thetis to remind Zeus how she once saved him when the other Olympians, Hera, Poseidon and Pallas Athena, wished to bind him; she called the hundred-handed Briareus, whom the gods call Briareus but men Aegaeon, to sit by Zeus, and the gods did not bind him (Iliad 1.396–406). Homer does not say that Hera drugged Zeus. In another passage Zeus reminds Hera how he once hung her from the sky with two anvils on her feet and a golden chain round her wrists, because she had stirred up a storm against Heracles (Iliad 15.14–31). Homer does not say that she swore never to rebel again.

Hera and Semele

Zeus loved Semele, daughter of Cadmus, and Hera, deceiving her, persuaded her to ask Zeus to come to her as he had come when wooing Hera. He could not refuse, came with lightning and thunder, and Semele died of fright; Zeus took the unborn Dionysus from her and sewed him into his thigh (Apollodorus, Library 3.4.3). Hera then drove Athamas and Ino, who had been entrusted with the infant Dionysus, mad (Library 3.4.3).

Hera and Callisto

Callisto, daughter of Lycaon, was loved by Zeus. In Pausanias, Hera discovered the affair and changed Callisto into a bear, and Artemis, to please Hera, shot the bear; Zeus sent Hermes to save the child she was carrying, Arcas (Pausanias 8.3.6). Writers differ over who changed her; Apollodorus notes that her change into a bear was ascribed to Zeus, to Hera or to Artemis, and Hyginus tells that she was set among the stars as the Bear (Library 3.8.2; Hyginus, Astronomica 2.1).

Hera and the Delaying of Births

Hera used the goddess of childbirth against her rivals. In the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, Leto suffered nine days and nine nights in labour on Delos because Hera had kept Eileithyia on Olympus out of envy; the goddesses sent Iris to bring her (Homeric Hymn to Apollo 91–114). More famously, she did the same with Heracles. When Zeus announced that a descendant of his born that day would rule his neighbours, Hera made him swear an oath, hurried to Argos, brought on the birth of Eurystheus, son of Sthenelus, and held back the birth of Heracles (Iliad 19.95–133). The result was that Eurystheus became ruler over the Argives and Heracles served him.

Hera and Io

Io was the priestess of Hera whom Zeus seduced; when Hera detected him, Zeus changed Io into a white cow. Hera asked him for the cow and set Argus Panoptes, the All-seeing, to guard it; Zeus sent Hermes, who killed Argus. Hera then sent a gadfly to torment the cow, which wandered through many lands until she reached Egypt, regained her shape, and bore Epaphus (Apollodorus, Library 2.1.3; Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 561–886). In Aeschylus, Io is driven on by a gadfly and says that the ghost of Argus also follows her (Prometheus Bound 567–569).

Hera and Heracles

Hera was the great enemy of Heracles. Homer says that even the mighty Heracles did not escape death, for fate and “the dread wrath of Hera” overcame him (Iliad 18.117–119). When he was eight months old she sent two huge serpents to his cradle, and he strangled them (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.8).

Hera, the Vain Goddess

Like most of the Greek goddesses, Hera was quick to anger when her beauty was slighted.

Hera and Orion

Apollodorus says that Orion’s wife Side was cast into Hades by Hera because she rivalled her in beauty (Library 1.4.3). Ovid, describing the tapestry of Arachne, mentions Antigone, who dared to compare herself to Juno and was turned into a stork (Metamorphoses 6.93–95). After Paris chose Aphrodite in the contest of beauty, Hera became an enemy of Troy: the Iliad says that Troy became hateful to Hera, Poseidon and Athena because Alexander, Paris, had reproached the goddesses when they came to his sheepfold and gave precedence to her who furthered his fatal lust (Iliad 24.25–30).

Hera: Myths and Hidden Truths

Hera’s Throne on Mount Olympus

Pausanias reports a Greek story that Hephaestus, after Hera threw him from heaven when he was born, sent her a golden chair with invisible fetters. Hera sat down and was held fast, and Hephaestus would listen to none of the gods except Dionysus, who made him drunk and brought him to Olympus (Pausanias 1.20.3).

Hera and the Milky Way

Hyginus collects several explanations of the white circle in the sky which some called the Milky Way. Eratosthenes said that Juno (Hera) unknowingly gave her milk to the infant Mercury (Hermes) and pushed him away when she learned he was Maia’s son, so that the spilt milk shone among the stars; others said that Heracles was put to her breast while she slept and that she did the same when she woke; others again that Heracles sucked so greedily that the milk ran from his mouth (Hyginus, Astronomica 2.43).

Hera and the Golden Apples

According to Pherecydes, as retold by Hyginus, when Zeus married Hera, Earth brought golden apples as a wedding present. Hera admired them and had them planted in the garden of the gods near Mount Atlas, and placed a serpent there as guard (Hyginus, Astronomica 2.3). Heracles fetched the apples as one of his labours (Apollodorus, Library 2.5.11).

The Cult of Hera at Argos

Argos was Hera’s city; Pindar calls it “Hera’s Argos” (Nemean 10.1–2), and her great temple, the Argive Heraion, held the statue by Polycleitus (Pausanias 2.17.4). The athletic contests for young women were held not at Argos but at Olympia: every fourth year the Sixteen Women wove a robe for Hera and held games called the Heraea, foot-races for maidens of three age groups. Pausanias traces them to Hippodameia, who founded them in gratitude to Hera for her marriage with Pelops (Pausanias 5.16.2–4).

Hera Sources

Homer, Iliad 1.396–406, 1.536–579, 4.50–59, 14.153–353, 15.14–31, 18.117–119, 19.95–133, 24.25–30; Hesiod, Theogony 453–467, 493–497, 921–929; the Homeric Hymns to Hera (12) and to Apollo (91–114, 305–355); Pindar, Pythian 2.21–48 and Nemean 10.1–2; Aeschylus, Eumenides 213–214 and Prometheus Bound 561–886; Apollodorus, Library 1.4.3, 1.6.2, 2.1.3, 2.4.8, 2.5.11, 3.4.3, 3.8.2; Hyginus, Astronomica 2.1, 2.3, 2.43; Pausanias 1.20.3, 2.17.4, 2.36.1, 2.38.2, 5.16.2–4, 8.3.6; Virgil, Aeneid 1.4, 1.15–16; Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.722–723, 2.531–533, 6.93–95. The Homeric Hymn to Hera is only five lines long.

See Also: Zeus, Cronus, Rhea, Ares, Hephaestus, Heracles, Io, Semele