Summary
Highlights
Hera, one of the original six Olympians, is the daughter of Cronus and Rhea. Her main domains include women, childbirth, family, and paradoxically, marriage. Despite being the goddess of marriage, she is often depicted as jealous and vengeful due to Zeus's numerous infidelities. She is portrayed as a beautiful woman with a crown and lotus-tipped scepter, often accompanied by sacred animals like the peacock, lion, hawk, and cuckoo bird.
Hera initially refused Zeus's marriage proposal. Zeus, leveraging her love for animals, transformed himself into a frightened cuckoo bird during a storm. When Hera comforted the bird, Zeus revealed himself and convinced her to marry him. Their wedding was a grand event, with gifts from across the land, including a garden of golden apples from Gaia. This event also led to traditions of annual sacrifices in various Greek regions.
Hera had several children, mostly with Zeus. Her most well-known child is Ares, the god of war. Other children include Enyo, another goddess of war; Hephaestus, born from Hera alone in response to Zeus giving birth to Athena, whom Hera found repulsive and cast off Olympus; and Hebe, the goddess of youth. She also had Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth, and Eleutheria, the personification of liberty.
Hera played a significant role in the Argonautica, appearing to Jason in disguise to initiate his quest for the Golden Fleece. Her motivation was not to help Jason for its own sake, but to seek revenge against King Pelias, who had murdered his grandmother in one of Hera's temples. Hera facilitated Jason's path to confront and ultimately lead to the death of Pelias.
Despite his name meaning 'glory of Hera,' Hera despised Heracles due to Zeus's affair with Alcmene. When Zeus declared a child born on a certain day would rule, Hera manipulated the birth, delaying Heracles's birth and accelerating another's, thereby transferring the prophecy's fulfillment away from Heracles. She later sent snakes to kill him as a baby, drove him to madness causing him to kill his family, and chose his seemingly impossible twelve labors, all in attempts to destroy him, though he ultimately triumphed and became an Olympian.
Hera was instrumental in the events leading to the Trojan War. At the wedding of Thetis and Peleus, Eris, the goddess of discord, threw a golden apple inscribed 'to the fairest.' Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite all claimed it, leading to a dispute. Zeus passed the judgment to the Trojan prince Paris. Paris chose Aphrodite, who promised him the most beautiful mortal woman, Helen, thereby angering Hera and Athena and ultimately instigating the Trojan War.
Hera frequently retaliated against Zeus's lovers and their offspring. In the story of Io, Zeus transformed Io into a cow to hide her from Hera, but Hera insisted on receiving the cow as a gift and had the hundred-eyed giant Argus guard her. Zeus sent Hermes to free Io, and Hera placed Argus's eyes on her peacock. When Leto was pregnant with Artemis and Apollo, Hera forbade her from giving birth on the mainland and prevented Eileithyia from assisting. Poseidon helped Leto find refuge on Delos, and other deities distracted Hera. Hera also tricked Semele, who was pregnant with Dionysus, into asking Zeus to reveal his true form, leading to Semele's death, though Zeus saved Dionysus.
Tiresias, a prophet and priest of Zeus, encountered mating snakes and beat them, transforming him into a woman. After seven years, he encountered them again, trampled them, and was transformed back into a man. During an argument between Zeus and Hera about who experienced more pleasure during sex, Tiresias, having experienced both genders, sided with Zeus. Angered, Hera blinded him, but Zeus compensated him with the gift of prophecy.
Hera's portrayal as the goddess of marriage, family, childbirth, and women is often contradictory to her vengeful and jealous actions. Unlike Athena, whose character can be explained by differing Greek and Roman accounts, Hera's character is consistently complex. One unproven theory suggests Hera predates Hellenistic times, where a more matriarchal society existed, and her struggles against Zeus were later reinterpreted comically in a patriarchal society. Another simpler explanation is that being married to Zeus would drive anyone insane.