H is for Hera | ABCs of Paganism #YTPaganABC

*** Possible Trigger Warning when I discuss how Hera was forced to marry Zeus.***

I also did a video on this. You can find it at the bottom of this post.

Basics of Hera

Let’s start with some basic info on Hera, the Queen of the Greek Gods and Queen of the Heavens before we move on to the things about her story that piss me off. :smile:
Hera is part of the Gods of Olympus in Greek Mythology. She rules over Marriage, Women, Birth, and the Heavens.

Sacred items to her: Diadem, Scepter, Pomegranate, Peacock, Cow, Lily

Gif from Giphy
Her parents are Chronus and Rhea who are also the parents of Hestia, Demeter, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus.

She is married to Zeus, the King of the Gods, who is also her brother. This is a common thing in Greek mythology.

Her children are: Ares, Enyo, Hebe, Eileithyia, Hephaestus, Angelos, and Eris

Gif from Giphy

Hera’s equivalent in Roman Mythology is Juno.

Her Story

I’ve read so many hateful things about Hera.

“She’s full of jealousy.”

“She’s known to be jealous and vengeful.”

“She has few, if any, redeeming qualities.”

“Though she may have been physically attractive, her vindictive personality makes her less so.”

This pisses me off so much! Hera’s husband slept with EVERY woman he could and this includes manipulating and tricking women into sleeping with him. This does not earn her the right to be jealous? He obviously did not love her and he couldn’t keep his pants zipped.

Now, I do think Hera took it too far sometimes. She was vengeful towards the women and any children they bore by Zeus. As far as I’m concerned, the children are always innocent but damn did she have a vendetta against Zeus’s kids with other women, especially Heracles! In a somewhat happy ending, there are myths that state that after Heracles died, he and Hera reconciled. I also believe any women who Zeus tricked or manipulated into sleeping with him are innocent but Hera made no distinctions. To be honest though, I can’t blame her. Zeus cheated on her over and over! He had over 30 children by about 20 different women/goddesses. This does not include Hera or his children with her.

Because of this, she is known for punishing cheating husbands and there are many stories of how she punished Zeus’s flings and offspring. When Zeus fell in love with Callisto, Hera turned Callisto into a bear. Not that it excuses it, but part of the reason she went after Zeus’s women and children so hard is because she had no way to hurt Zeus directly.

Here’s a fun myth: (/sarcasm)

In an effort to kill Heracles, Hera raised a storm at sea. This angered Zeus. As punishment, he hung Hera in the clouds using golden chains and attached heavy anvils to her feet. Nevermind the fact that no one ever punished Zeus for his wrongdoings. Can you tell I’m bitter? Lol Anyway, Hephaestus did not like seeing his mother like this and tried to free her. Because of this, Zeus threw Hephaestus out of Heaven, breaking his leg in the fall. Hephaestus was his son as well, by the way. He was a child of Hera and Zeus. (Some myths say Hephaestus is Hera’s child with no father as she was annoyed at Zeus for birthing Athena on his own.)

Gif from Giphy

In another version, Hephaestus was not involved at all and this was punishment for leading a revolt among the Gods against Zeus rather than being for attempting to kill Heracles. Zeus was cruel at times to many Gods so it was not hard to convince other Gods to go with her plan. However, the plan failed and Hera was punished as described above. Hera wept all night in pain and none of the other Gods would interfere because of their fear of Zeus. The next morning, he released her only after she swore never to rebel again.

There was the time she married Zeus after he seduced her in the form of a peacock or cuckoo bird, depending on the myth you read. He pretended to be frozen in the cold. Hera took pity on the bird and took it inside and held it to her breast to warm it. Zeus transformed back into himself and “took advantage” of her. Her shame of being exploited in this way (though she should not have felt shame) is why she agreed to marry Zeus.

Hera was dealt a bad hand. She was forced to marry Zeus under horrible circumstances and then had to suffer with his many, many infidelities. Then, she had to deal with history portraying her as this jealous, vengeful shrew. She couldn’t exactly divorce Zeus. That wasn’t done. Plus, all the Olympians were scared of Zeus as he was more powerful than any of them.

She is one of the very few deities who remained faithful to her partner, though he obviously was not faithful to her. As a result, she also symbolized monogamy and fidelity. She is an often overlooked Goddess or cast to the side as being too mean or something like that.

Hera in Pop Culture

Here are just a couple of examples I know of.

In the Hercules: The Legendary Journeys TV series with Kevin Sorbo, Hera is portrayed as evil and a villain who is constantly trying to kill Hercules. While she is shown in a human form, most of the time in the show, she is shown by 2 eyes in the sky with peacock feathers in them and a harsh, scary sound. Both are shown in the pics below.
http://hercules-xena.wiki.com
http://classofthetitans.wikia.com

In the God of War video game series, Hera is an antagonist to the protagonist Kratos, whom she wants dead. Kratos is another son of Zeus. She is only show in God of War III though mentioned in the other 2 games. She is portrayed as a drunk and angry woman

http://godofwar.wikia.com/wiki/Hera

I have seen a post floating around that claims that originally, she was not portrayed as vengeful, jealous, and petty and that it was patriarchy that changed her to this. However, I have not been able to find a reliable source to back this up. If you know of one, please let me know!

My Final Thoughts

While I don’t work with Hera, I have much sympathy for her story. While she went too far, I can understand how she got to that point given her situation. I can feel her pain.


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