Hera

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Hera

Title Queen of Olympus

Gender Female

Goddess Childbirth, Women, Home life, Royalty,

Sacred Heifer, Peacock, Cuckoo, Lion, Panther

Items Replica of Zeus' Pelt

Parents Kronos & Rhea

Consort Zeus

Children Hebe, Eileithyia, Ares, Enyo,
and Hephaistos

Roman Juno
Name

Too many parameters

Hera (Greek: Ἥρᾱ) is the Greek goddess of marriage, children, familial love and married women.
She is the daughter of Kronos and Rhea, and the sister and final wife of Zeus, and thus the Queen
of Olympus. The cow and the peacock are sacred to her.

Contents
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Mythology
Hera presides over the right ordering of marriage. The legitimate offspring of her union with Zeus
are Ares (the god of war), Hebe (the goddess of youth), Eris (the goddess of discord) Eileithyia (goddess
of childbirth), Enyo. Enyo, a war goddess responsible with the destruction (goddess of battle), and
perhaps Hephaistos (god of fire and blacksmiths). It is said she gave birth to Hephaistos  without Zeus,
because she was jealous of his love toward Athena. When Hephaistos was born she saw his ugliness and
cast him from Olympus.
Hephaistos gained revenge against Hera for rejecting him by making her a magical throne which bound
her and would not allow her to leave. At the bidding of Zeus, the other gods begged Hephaistos to let her
go, but he repeatedly refused. Later Dionysos came to him and got him drunk and convinced him to
release Hera from the thrown. After Hephaistos released Hera, Zeus gave him Aphrodite as his wife.
Early Life
Hera was born to Kronos and Rhea. Kronos had made it a practice of eating his children once they are
born. Years later, Hera's brother, Zeus had given Rhea a mustard, wine, and herb mixture to give to
Kronos. He thought it would make him unstoppable, but instead he vomited up his now full grown
children. As they were immortal, they were growing inside his stomach. Eventually Zeus had chopped
Kronos into pieces with his own sickle, and threw him into Tartarus.
Homecoming
Zeus had asked her to be his queen, but she knew of his many other wives and denied his requests. Slyly,
Zeus made a thunderstorm and turned into a disheveled cuckoo. Hera felt sorry for it, so she held it to
keep it warm. Zeus then forced himself upon her. She married him to cover her shame.

Hephaestus
After Hera gave birth to Hephaestus, he was so ugly and lame that she threw him off of Olympus. He
landed on an island and his legs were permanently damaged. He now has an awkward walk and his
home is on the island that he landed on.

Later
When Zeus and Io were having an affair, he tried to hide it from Hera by creating thick clouds over
them, so that Hera couldn't see down to him. However, Hera knew that Zeus must be under the clouds,
so she went down to earth and went under the clouds. Zeus, worrying about Hera's wrath, turned his
lover, Io, into a stunning white heifer. Hera was not fooled. She knew this was one of Zeus' tricks but
she pretended that she didn't know. She asked Zeus if she could keep the cow and Zeus, not wanting her
to find out, allowed Hera to take the cow to their palace in Olympus. Hera tied Io to a tree and
set Argos to watch over her.

Argos was a faithful companion of Hera who was the best guard that there ever was. This was because
his body was completely covered in one hundred blue eyes. Also, Argos never closed more than half of
his eyes at once, so he never missed anything.

When Zeus could no longer stand Io's distress, he sent Hermes, the sneakiest of gods, to set Io free.
Hermes disguised himself as a shepherd and went to Argos, playing music on a pipe. Argos enjoyed the
music and the company of another person as he was very bored watching a cow all day. After Hermes
finished his tune he began to tell a very dull story. Eventually, fifty of Argos' eyes fell asleep and then
one-by-one, his other fifty began to fall asleep as well. When all hundred were closed, Hermes touched
each one with his wand, making them stay shut in eternal sleep. Hermes untied the cow and Io ran back
to her father, who was a river god named Inachus. Inachus didn't recognize his daughter but when Io
spelled out her name in the sand, her father understood. Inachus went to Zeus with extreme anger. Zeus
killed Inachus with a thunderbolt, and ever since, the river bed of Inachus has been dry. Finally, when
Hera saw Argos dead and Io gone, she became extremely angry. She sent a gadfly to chase the cow
wherever she went and to continuously sting her. Io ran all over Greece, trying to get away from the fly.
When Io arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians worshipped the beautiful cow and she became an Egyptian
goddess. Hera told Zeus that he could turn Io back into a human if he promised to never look at her
again.

After Io had been turned back, she became the goddess-queen of Egypt and her son with Zeus became
the king after her.

Leto
When Hera found out that Zeus had impregnated Leto with a set of twins, she made all lands shun Leto
so that she wouldn't be able to find a place to have her babies. However, Hera's brother, Poseidon, had
recently created a piece of land that wasn't yet attached to the Earth, so it wasn't yet land. Leto went to
this island and laid under a palm tree to give birth.
File:Img hera.jpg

Semele
After Hera discovered Zeus when he had impregnated Semele, a mortal princess, she went to Semele in
the guise of an old woman and asked why the baby's father wasn't with her. Semele claimed that the
father was the mighty Lord of the Sky, Zeus. Hera, still disguised as the old woman, asked Semele how
she could be sure that her husband really was the Lord of the Sky as so many men claimed to be him.
Hera told Semele that to be sure, she should ask Zeus to see him in all his true form.
When Zeus returned, Semele made him promise on the River Styx to grant her one wish. He did so but
was shocked when she asked him to show her his true form. He begged her to change her wish but she
refused. He did as she pleased and she was instantly incinerated. However, Zeus rushed down to Hades
and took his son from Semele.

Zeus then gave their son, Dionysos, to Hermes to take him to a valley called Nysa that was located in
faraway lands to hide him from Hera. Hermes did so and left him with the Maenads where he was raised
with them, as well as tigers and leopards.

Punishment of Ixion
Ixion tried to have an affair with Hera. Zeus molded a cloud shaped like Hera, and when he showered it
with affection, Zeus sent him away on a fired wheel.
Judgement of Italy
At the wedding of Thetis and Peleus, everyone was invited, except for the goddess of discord, Eris. She
was angered by this and threw a golden apple of discord into the party that said "To The Fairest".
Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite all took claim to this apple. Not being able to decide who it was for, they
turned to Zeus, who sent them to Paris, a mortal shepherd. Each goddess offered him something but
Paris took Aphrodite's offer of having Helen for his bride.
Depiction & Personality
Hera is usually depicted as a tall and stately figure who is either crowned with a diadem or wearing a
wreath, and carrying a specter. She was also said to be supremely beautiful, though her beauty is very
different from that of Aphrodite's. Homer described her as "ox-eyed" and "white-armed", which meant
that she had large, soft brown eyes that one could become lost in, as well as a clear, pure, and
unblemished complexion that was as white as ivory. In fact, Zeus (who was a connoisseur of beautiful
women) once confessed in a moment of pure passion that he considered Hera to be the most beautiful of
all his lovers, and the only person who could truly inflame his sexual desires to their extremes.
Hera is a very jealous goddess. She is easily angered and can be offended easily. Her throne, chariot, and
sandals are all made of gold. She gets mad and turns peoples' hair into serpents when ever they boast
about their hair being more beautiful than Hera's.