Hera
Hera, queen of the Olympian gods and goddess of marriage
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Ancient Greece(Greece)
The birth and upbringing of Hera
Hera is the daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea, and the sister of Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Demeter and Hestia. According to Hesiod's Theogony, Cronus devoured each of his children at birth, fearing a prophecy that one of them would dethrone him; thus he also swallowed Hera. Only Zeus escaped, for Rhea hid him in Crete and gave Cronus a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes. Once grown, Zeus forced Cronus to disgorge the swallowed children, and Hera was thus reborn. The Homeric tradition (Iliad XIV) tells that she was raised by the Titans Oceanus and Tethys at the ends of the earth, while the war between the gods and the Titans was being waged.
The marriage and reign of Hera
After the victory of the Olympians over the Titans, Hera married her brother Zeus and became queen of Olympus and sovereign of the gods. Her wedding, the sacred marriage par excellence, was celebrated according to tradition in the garden of the Hesperides, where Gaia caused the golden apple trees to spring up. From their union were born Ares, Hebe, Eileithyia and, in some versions, Hephaestus. Hera's reign was marked by Zeus's continual infidelities, which aroused her legendary jealousy and her relentless persecution of the god's lovers and their offspring, such as Heracles, Io or Leto. As goddess of marriage and protectress of married women, Hera blesses lawful unions and punishes conjugal betrayal.
Attributes and symbols of Hera
Hera is depicted as a majestic matron, crowned with the royal diadem (the polos) and bearing the sceptre tipped with a lotus flower. Her attributes are the pomegranate, symbol of conjugal fertility, and the bridal veil. Her sacred bird is the peacock, whose tail displays the hundred eyes of the giant Argus Panoptes, whom Hera set as a watchman and, after his death, immortalised in the bird's plumage. Sacred to her also are the cow (whence her Homeric epithet 'ox-eyed', boôpis) and the cuckoo, in whose form Zeus courted her. Her chief centres of worship were the Heraion of Argos and that of Samos, where she was venerated as protectress of the city and of marriage.
Also known as
Relics
🏺 Hera's Royal Scepter
🏺 Diadem of the Hundred Eyes
Symbology
Element
Air and Earth
Number
One Hundred
Color
Royal Purple
Animals
Peacock, Cow
Sigils:
🏷️ Traits
Powers
Weaknesses
Behavioral
Resistances
🔗 Relations with other beings
🗺️In the Atlas
Travel the beings’ world of origin and the cosmos of their dimensions.
📜 Mythologies
Greek mythology developed in Ancient Greece from the Late Bronze Age and reached its most elaborate form during the archaic and classical periods, between the 8th and 4th centuries BCE. It emerged among the Hellenic peoples who inhabited the Greek peninsula, the Aegean islands and the coasts of Asia Minor, and was transmitted mainly through the oral poetry of Homer and Hesiod, as well as local traditions collected in sanctuaries and festivals. Its worldview presents a universe ordered by a hierarchy of divinities that intervene in human and natural affairs, with Olympus as the dwelling of the principal gods and Hades as the destination of the deceased. The central deities include the twelve Olympians, headed by Zeus, god of the sky and sovereign, together with Hera, Poseidon, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite, Ares, Hephaestus, Hermes, Demeter and Dionysus. Before them, the Titans, among whom Cronus and Rhea stand out, ruled the cosmos until they were deposed by the Olympians in the Titanomachy. Other important entities are the Muses, the nymphs, the Cyclopes and the Moirai, who embody cosmic forces and destinies. This tradition exerted a lasting influence on the literature, art and thought of Rome, the European Renaissance and subsequent Western culture, supplying motifs, characters and narrative structures that have endured in philosophy, astronomy and the arts to the present day.
Sources
Theogony
Hesiod · -700
Poem by Hesiod detailing the origin of Greek gods and Titans.
Homer's Iliad
Homero · -750
Greek epic attributed to Homer (8th century BCE) about an episode of the Trojan War and the wrath of Achilles. With the constant intervention of the Olympian gods, it is one of the primary sources of the divinities and heroes of Greek mythology.
Library
Apollodorus · 100
Mythological compendium attributed to Apollodorus summarizing Greek legends.
Pausanias' Description of Greece
Pausanias · ca. 150 CE
Pausanias’ "Description of Greece" (2nd century), a geographical and religious guide to the Greek world. It tours sanctuaries, monuments and local cults, preserving myths, heroes and divinities that would otherwise have been lost.
Frequently asked questions
How does myth describe Hera's birth and childhood?
Hera is the daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. According to Hesiod, Cronus devoured his children at birth for fear of a prophecy, and so he also swallowed Hera. Only Zeus escaped, hidden by Rhea in Crete; once grown, he forced Cronus to disgorge his siblings, and Hera was thus reborn. The Homeric tradition tells that she was raised by the Titans Oceanus and Tethys at the ends of the earth.
What relationship did Hera maintain with Zeus and what consequences did it have for her reign?
Hera married her brother Zeus after the Olympian victory and became queen of Olympus. Their union symbolizes sacred marriage but was affected by Zeus's infidelities. This provoked her legendary wrath as goddess of marriage.
What attributes and symbols characterize Hera's iconography in the mythical tradition?
Hera is depicted with a royal diadem, scepter and pomegranate as symbol of marital fertility. Her sacred animal is the peacock, emblem of beauty and vigilance. She is associated with royal purple and the number one hundred for Argus's eyes.
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