View source for Hera

{{short description|Goddess from Greek mythology, wife and sister of Zeus}}
{{Other uses}}
{{pp-pc}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| cult_center = [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]], [[Mycenae]], [[Samos]]
| name = Hera
| image = Hera Campana Louvre Ma2283.jpg
| alt = 
| caption = The ''[[Giampietro Campana|Campana]] Hera'', a [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] copy of a [[Hellenistic]] original, from the [[Musée du Louvre|Louvre]]
| god_of = {{unbulleted list|Queen of the gods|Goddess of marriage, women, marital harmony, and the protector of women during childbirth}}
| member_of = the [[Twelve Olympians]]
| abode = [[Mount Olympus]]
| symbol = [[Pomegranate]], [[sceptre]], [[crown]] ([[polos]] or [[diadem]])
| animals = [[Cattle|Cow]], [[cuckoo]], [[peacock]]
| parents = [[Cronus]] and [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]]
| siblings = [[Poseidon]], [[Hades]], [[Demeter]], [[Hestia]], [[Zeus]]
| children = [[Angelos (Greek mythology)|Angelos]], [[Arge]], [[Ares]], the [[Charites]], [[Eileithyia]], [[Eleutheria]], [[Eris (mythology)|Eris]], [[Hebe (mythology)|Hebe]], [[Hephaestus]]
| Roman_equivalent = [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]]
| spouse = [[Zeus]]
}}
{{Ancient Greek religion}}
[[File:Part of the central section-East frieze-Elgin Marbles-British Museum-2.jpg|thumb|right|360px|Iris (on the left) with Zeus and Hera, east frieze of the [[Parthenon]], [[British Museum]].]]

In [[ancient Greek religion]], '''Hera''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|ɛr|ə|,_|ˈ|h|ɪər|ə}}; {{langx|grc|Ἥρα|Hḗrā}}; {{langx|grc|Ἥρη|Hḗrē|label=none}} in [[Ionic Greek|Ionic]] and [[Homeric Greek]]) is the goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In [[Greek mythology]], she is queen of the [[twelve Olympians]] and [[Mount Olympus]], sister and wife of [[Zeus]], and daughter of the [[Titans]] [[Cronus]] and [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]]. One of her defining characteristics in myth is her jealous and vengeful nature in dealing with any who offended her, especially Zeus's numerous adulterous lovers and illegitimate offspring.

Her iconography usually presents her as a dignified, matronly figure, upright or enthroned, crowned with a ''[[polos]]'' or [[diadem]], sometimes veiled as a married woman.<ref name=Elder>[https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.2307/498508 Elderkin(1937), "The marriage of Zeus with Hera"]</ref> She is the patron goddess of lawful marriage. She presides over weddings, blesses and legalises marital unions, and protects women from harm during childbirth. Her sacred animals include the [[Cattle|cow]], [[cuckoo]], and [[Peafowl|peacock]]. She is sometimes shown holding a [[pomegranate]] as an emblem of immortality. Her [[Interpretatio graeca|Roman counterpart]] is [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]].<ref name="Larouse">''Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia'', [[The Book People]], Haydock, 1995, p. 215.</ref>

==Etymology==
The name Hera (Hēra or Hērē) has several possible and mutually exclusive etymologies. One possibility is to connect it with [[Greek language|Greek]] ''ὥρα'' (''hōra'', season) or, according to [[Plato]], with ''ἐρατή'' (''eratē'', "beloved"); another one is to interpret it as "ripe for marriage".<ref>[[LSJ]] s.v. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3De)rato%2Fs ἐρατός].</ref> as Zeus is said to have married her for love.<ref>[[Plato]], [[Cratylus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0172%3Atext%3DCrat.%3Asection%3D404c 404c]</ref> According to [[Plutarch]], Hera was an allegorical name and an anagram of ''aēr'' (ἀήρ, "air").<ref>On Isis and Osiris, 32</ref> So begins the section on Hera in [[Walter Burkert]]'s ''Greek Religion''.<ref name=Burkert131>"Greek religion", pp. 131–132</ref> In a note, he records other scholars' arguments "for the meaning Mistress as a feminine to ''Heros'', Master", with uncertain origin. [[John Chadwick]], a decipherer of [[Linear B]], remarks "her name may be connected with ''hērōs'' (ἥρως, 'hero'), but that is no help since it too is etymologically obscure."<ref>Chadwick, ''The Mycenaean World'' (Cambridge University Press). 1976:87.</ref> A. J. van Windekens proposes the meaning "young cow, heifer", which is consonant with Hera's common epithet βοῶπις (''boōpis'', "cow-eyed").<ref>Windekens, in ''Glotta'' '''36''' (1958), pp. 309–11.</ref> [[Robert S. P. Beekes]] has suggested a [[Pre-Greek]] origin.<ref>[[Robert S. P. Beekes|R. S. P. Beekes]], ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p. 524.</ref> Her name is attested in [[Mycenaean Greek]], written in Linear B syllabary as {{lang|gmy|{{script|Linb|[[wikt:𐀁𐀨|𐀁𐀨]]}}}} ''e-ra'', appearing on tablets found in [[Pylos]] and [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]];<ref>{{cite web|website=Palaeolexicon. Word study tool of Ancient languages|url=http://www.palaeolexicon.com/ShowWord.aspx?Id=16725|title=The Linear B word e-ra}} {{cite web|last=Raymoure|first=K.A.|url=http://minoan.deaditerranean.com/resources/linear-b-sign-groups/e/e-ra/|title=e-ra|work=Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B|publisher=Deaditerranean|access-date=2014-03-13|archive-date=2016-03-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322064243/http://minoan.deaditerranean.com/resources/linear-b-sign-groups/e/e-ra/}}</ref> it is attested also in the [[Cypriotic]] dialect, in the [[dative case|dative]] form ''e-ra-i''.<ref>Blažek, Václav. "[http://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/136225 Artemis and her family]". In: ''Graeco-Latina Brunensia'' vol. 21, iss. 2 (2016). p. 47. {{ISSN|2336-4424}}</ref>

The [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] root might have meant either 'the female who is attached/coupled' or 'the female who [[Attachment Theory|attaches]] herself' (as in both socially and physically or emotionally).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Willi |first=Andreas |date=1 December 2010 |title=Hera, Eros, Iuno Sororia |url=https://www.classics.ox.ac.uk/publication/146382/scopus |journal=[[Indogermanische Forschungen]] |volume=115 |issue=2010 |pages=234–267|doi=10.1515/9783110222814.1.234 |s2cid=170712165 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Many [[theophoric name]]s, such as [[Heracles]], [[Heraclitus]], [[Herodotus]] and [[Herodicus]], derive from Hera.<ref>Van der Toorn, Karel; Becking, Bob; van der Horst, Pieter Willem (1999), Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (second ed.), Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdman's Publishing Company, {{ISBN|0-8028-2491-9}}: [https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C] p.401-402</ref>

==Epithets==
Hera bore several epithets in the mythological tradition and in literature. In the historical times the majority of the Greeks recognized Hera as the consort of Zeus.<ref name=Farnell195>Farnell Cults I, p.195</ref> Hera is the protector of marriage and of the rights of the married women.<ref name=Nilsson429>Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol i, p.428-429</ref> In some cults she has some functions of the earth goddess. She is occasionally related to warfare as tutelary goddess.

=== Goddess of marriage and bride ===
{{div col begin}}
* Γαμήλιος ('''Gamēlios'''), 'preciding over marriage'. A sacrifice to Hera ensured a happy married life.<ref name=Farnell194>Farnell Cults I, 194-197</ref>
* Γαμηστόλος ('''Gamēstόlos'''), 'leading the troop of marriage'.<ref name=Nilsson429/>
* Νυμφευομένη ('''Nympheuomenē'''), 'led as a bride' at [[Plataea]], in relation to her festival [[Daedala]].<ref name=Pausanias927>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'':[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D9%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D7 9.2.7-9.3.2]</ref><ref name=Farnell241>Farnell Cults I, 241-243</ref>
* Νυμφη ('''Nymphē'''), 'bride'.<ref name=Nilsson429/> 
* Παρθένος ('''Parthénos''') 'Virgin'<ref name=Nilsson429/>
* Παρθενία ('''Parthenia'''),<ref name=Farnell249>Farnell Cults I, 249-254</ref> 
* Παῖς ('''Pais''') 'Child' (in her role as virgin) at [[Stymphalus]].<ref name=Paus8222>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D8%3Achapter%3D22%3Asection%3D2 Pausanias 8.22.2]</ref><ref name=Nilsson429/>
* Συζύγιος ('''Syzygios''') 'patroness of marriage' <ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=suzugi%2Fa&la=greek#Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=suzu/gios-contents συζύγιος]</ref><ref name=Nilsson429/> 
* Τελεία ('''Teleia''')  'bringing the fulfillement of marriage'.<ref name=Paus8222/><ref name=Farnell241/>
* Ζυγία ('''Zygia'''), 'yoke of marriage'. Her husband Zeus had also the epithet Zygius (Ζυγίος).<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=zygia-bio-1 A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Zygia and Zygius]</ref>
* Χήρα ('''Chḗrα''') 'Widowed' at [[Stymphalus]].<ref name=Paus8222/>
{{div col end}}

=== Consort of Zeus ===
{{div col begin}}
* Ανασσα (''' Anassa'''), 'Queen' .<ref name=Farnell241>Farnell Cults I, 241-243</ref> 
* Ἀμμωνία ('''[[Hera Ammonia|Ammonìa]]'''), at [[Elis]] related to  [[Zeus]]-[[Amun|Ammon]]<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D5%3Achapter%3D15%3Asection%3D11 Pausanias 5.15.1]</ref>
* Βασίλεια ('''Basíleia''') 'Queen' at Ialysus in Rhodes <ref name=Farnell249/>
* Βασιλίς ('''Basilis''') 'Queen' at Libadia and Argos.<ref name=Farnell194/> 
* Διώνη ('''Diōnē''') as the consort of Zeus at Dodona.<ref name=Farnell241/>
* Ηνιόχη ('''Hēniochē'''), at Libadia . She was worshipped together with "Zeus-Basileus".<ref name=Farnell194/>  
* Ολυμπία ('''Olympia'''), with an altar near the altar of Olympian Zeus.<ref name=Farnell246>Farnell Cults I, 246-252</ref>
* Σκηπτούχος ('''Skēptouchos'''),'bearing a sceptre' (Queen).<ref name=Farnell241/>
{{div col end}}

=== Founder and protector ===
{{div col begin}}
* Αρχηγέτις ('''Archēgetis'''), 'founder', leader of the settlement at [[Samos]].<ref name=Farnell194/>
* Ἀκραῖα ('''[[Acraea|Akraìa]]''') '(She) of the Heights (Akropolis)'<ref>James Joseph Clauss, Sarah Iles Johnston. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=480Wd8G6LPYC&pg=PA46 Medea: Essays on Medea in myth, literature, philosophy, and art]'', 1997. p.46</ref><ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.24.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias 2.24.1]</ref>
* Βουναία ('''Bounaia''') '(She) of the Mound' (in [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]]<ref>Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott. ''[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry%3Dbounai/a A Greek-English Lexicon βουναία]''</ref><ref>Heinrich Schliemann. ''[https://archive.org/details/ilioscityandcou00unkngoog/page/n318 <!-- pg=284 --> Ilios: The city and country of the Trojans]'', 1881.</ref>)
* Ὑπερχειρία ('''Hypercheiria'''), 'the goddess who holds her protecting hand over a thing'. Hera was worshipped under this surname at a sanctuary in Sparta, which was built following an oracle's command after the [[Eurotas River]] flooded the land.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DH%3Aentry+group%3D18%3Aentry%3Dhypercheiria-bio-1 A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Hypercheiria]</ref>

{{div col end}}

=== As an earth and fertility goddess ===
{{div col begin}}
* Ἄνθεια ('''[[Antheia]]'''), meaning flowery at [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]] and [[Miletos]].<ref>[https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-entries/alpha/2504 Suda, alpha, 2504]</ref><ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D22%3Asection%3D1 Pausanias 2.22.1]</ref>
* Βοῶπις ('''Boṓpis''') 'Cow-Eyed'.<ref name=Farnell249/> probably a form of the earth-goddess.
* Γή ('''[[Gaia|Ge]]'''), 'Earth'  by Plutarch in a passage of Eusebius.<ref name=Farnell241/>  
* Ευεργεσία ('''Euergesia'''), 'doing a good service' <ref name=Farnell246/><ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=euergesia&la=greek#lexicon Ευεργεσία]</ref>
* Ζευξιδία ('''Ζeuxidia'''),'yoking the oxen' at Argos.<ref name=Farnell241/>
* Πάμφοιτος ('''Pamfοιtos''') 'repeatedly coming'. (''Pamfoitos Anassa'')<ref name=Farnell241/>
* Φερέσβιος ('''Pheresbios''') 'life giving'. by [[Empedocles]] (Plutarch) .<ref name=Farnell241/>
* Ωρόλυτος ('''Hōrolytos''') at Samos as the controller of the seasons and times of the year ([[Horae]])<ref name=Farnell194/>
{{div col end}}

=== As goddess of the hymns ===
{{div col begin}}
* Εὑκέλαδος ('''Εukelados'''), 'well sounding, melodious'.<ref name=Farnell241/>
* Προσυμναία ('''Prosymnaia'''), 'goddess of the hymn' at Argos.<ref name=Farnell194/>
{{div col end}}

=== Place of worship ===
{{div col begin}}
* Ἀργείη ('''Argeìē''') '(She) of [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]]'. Hera was probably the goddess of the palace.<ref name=Nilsson429/> 
*'Ιμβραση ('''Imbrasē''') after the river [[Imbrasus]] at Samos.<ref name=Farnell246/> 
* Κανδαρηνή ('''Kandarēnē''') at the city  [[Candara (Paphlagonia)|Kandara]] of Asia-Minor.<ref name=Farnell246/>
* Κιθαιρωνία ('''Κithairōnia''') 'of the mountain Kithairon' in [[Boeotia]], in relation with her fest [[Daedala]].<ref name=Farnell246/> 
* Λιμανία ('''Limanìa''') ' of the harbour' at [[Perachora]] near the [[Isthmus of Corinth]].<ref>H.G.Payne, Perachora 1940: Nilsson, Vol I, p.428A1</ref>
* Πελασγίς ('''[[Pelasgiotis|Pelasgis]]''')  at [[Iolcus]]. A sacrifice was performed to Hera by [[Pelias]].<ref name=Farnell241/><ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DP%3Aentry+group%3D13%3Aentry%3Dpelasga-bio-1 A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Pelasga]</ref>
* Σαμία ('''Samia'''), with a famous temple at [[Samos]].<ref name=Nilsson429/>
* Φαρυγαία ('''Pharygaia''') at the city [[Pharygae]] of Locris.<ref name=Farnell246/>
{{div col end}}

=== Warlike character ===
{{div col begin}}
* Ἀλέξανδρος ('''[[Hera Alexandros|Alexandros]]''') 'Protector of Men'  (among the [[Sicyon]]ians). Her cult was founded by Adrastus.<ref name=Farnell194/>   
* Οπλοσμία ('''Oplosmia''')  'bearing arms or shield' at Elis<ref name=Farnell194/>
* Προδρομία ('''Prodromia'''), 'running forward' at Sikyon.<ref name=Farnell194/>
* Τροπαία ('''Tropaia'''), 'giver of victory' <ref name=Farnell246/>
{{div col end}}

=== Local cults ===
{{div col begin}}
* Αἰγοφάγος ('''Aigophágos''') 'Goat-Eater' among the [[Lacedaemon]]ians<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D9%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D7 Pausanias 3.15.7]</ref><ref name=Farnell241/>
* Εἰλείθυια ('''[[Eileithyia]]''') at [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]]  and [[Athens]] as goddess of childbirth.<ref name=Farnell247>Farnell Cults I, p.247</ref> In Theogony Εileithyia is the daughter of Hera.
* Ἐλεία ('''Eleía''') 'of the marsh' at [[Cyprus]].<ref name=Farnell249/>
* Θελξινία ('''Thelxinìa''')  at [[Athens]].<ref>Hesch. "Thelxinia Hera is honoured by the Athenians"</ref><ref name=Farnell247/>
* Θεομήτωρ  ('''[[Theometor|Theomētōr]]''') 'mother of a god' at [[Samos]].<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=qeomhtwr&l8a=greek#lexicon Θεομήτωρ]</ref>
* Ἱππία ('''Hippia'''), 'of the horse' at Olympia.<ref name=Farnell246/><ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+5.15.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias 5.15.5]</ref>
* Λακίνια ('''Lacinia''') at Croton.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+6.13.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias 6.13.1]</ref><ref name=Farnell249/>
* Λευκώλενος ('''Leukōlenos''') 'White-Armed'<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=leukwlenos&la=greek#lexicon λευκωλενος]</ref> 
* Μειλίχιος ('''Meilichios'''), 'gentle', like "Zeus-Meilichios" at [[Selinunte|Selinus]].<ref name=Nilsson412>Nilsson, Vol I, p.412</ref><ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=meili%2Fxios&la=greek#lexicon μειλίχιος]</ref> 
* Μηλιχία ('''Μēlichia''') 'gentle, with gentle words' at  Hierapetna.<ref name=Nilsson412/>
* Τελχινία ('''Telchinia'''): [[Diodorus Siculus]] write that she was worshipped by the [[Ialysos|Ialysians]] and the Cameirans (both were on the island of [[Rhodes]]). She was named thus because according to a legend, [[Telchines]] (Τελχῖνες) were the first inhabitants of the island and also the first who created statues of gods.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.perseus-grc1:5.55 Diodorus Siculus, Library, 5.55.1]</ref>
* Ὑπερχειρία ('''Ηypercheiria'''), 'with the hand above'  at [[Sparta]].<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+3.13.8&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias 3.13.8]</ref><ref name=Farnell249/>
{{div col end}}

==  Origins==
In historical times, the majority of the Greeks recognized Hera as the consort of [[Zeus]].<ref name=Farnell195/> Zeus was the protector of rights and mores, and his partner Hera became the protector of legal marriage and the rights of married women .<ref name=Nilsson429/> Hera emerged from a form of the "Mycenean goddess of the palace" and became the spouse of Zeus.<ref name=Dietrich178/><ref name=Elder/> Modern scholars suggest that Hera is not only the Olympian sky-goddess, but in some cults she may be identified with the earth-goddess.<ref name=Obrien4>{{cite book|last=O'Brien|first=Joan V.|author-link=Joan V. O'Brien|title=The Transformation of Hera: A Study of Ritual, Hero, and the Goddess in the Iliad|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a77yKM26GfYC&pg=PA4|year=1993|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-8476-7808-2|pages=4–6}}</ref><ref name=West184>West (2007),"Indoeuropean poetry and myth", p.184-185 :[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXrJA_5LKlYC&pg=PA184  P.185]</ref> Her ancient connection with her sacred animal, the cow, still existed in historical times. She is probably related to [[Near-East]]ern forms of cow-goddesses such as [[Hathor]] or [[Bat (goddess)|Bat]].<ref name=Dietrich178>Dietrich (1975), "The origins of Greek religion", p.178 [https://books.google.com/books?id=TZVsDwAAQBAJ p.178]</ref> The Greek earth-goddess [[Gaia]] is occasionally identified with Hera.<ref name=Kirk>Kirk, Raven, Schofield(1975), "The Presocratic Philosophers":  [https://books.google.com/books?id=kFpd86J8PLsC p.57-58]</ref> Gaia may be related to the [[Vedic period|Vedic]] earth-goddess [[Prithvi]], who was also associated with the cow and is the consort of [[Dyaus]].<ref name=Leaming>Leaming, Fee ,:The Goddess. Myths of the Great mother":[https://books.google.com/books?id=kjO6CwAAQBAJ&pg=PT17 p.17-18]</ref>

===Mycenean Greece===
An inscription in [[Linear B]] on a tablet found at [[Pylos]]  mentions offerings "to Zeus-Hera-Drimios"; Drimios is the son of Zeus.<ref>Burkert (1985), "Greek religion", p.43,45: [https://books.google.gr/books? id=sxurBtx6shoC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false p.43,45]</ref> Hera was the tutelary goddess of Argos and it is possible that she had Mycenean origin.<ref name=Elder/> [[Martin P. Nilsson]] suggested that Hera is mainly the "Argeiē" (Ἀργείη), a name given by Homer<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Il.+4.8&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134 Iliad 4.8]</ref> which describes her not as Greek, but as an [[Argive]] goddess. She is the protectress of the citadel.<ref name= NilssonA>, "Geschichte", Vol I, pp. 350,428</ref> In literature [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]] is called "dōma Hēras" (the house of Hera)<ref>Aeschylus :Suppliant Maedens, 297</ref> and the Argives are called her people by [[Pindar]].<ref name=Farnell194/> Homer in [[Iliad]] uses the formula "boōpis [[potnia]] Hērē)" (cow-eyed, mistress Hera), which probably relates her to a form of the Mediterranean goddess of nature.<ref name=OBrien49>O'Brian Joan(1993) "The transformation of Hera"  [https://books.google.com/books?id=a77yKM26GfYC&pg=PA49 p.49]</ref><ref name=Dietrich178/> The epithet Qo-wi-ja ( boōpis) appears in a [[Linear B]] inscription.<ref>{{cite book|last=Chadwick|first=John|author-link=John Chadwick|title=The Mycenaean World|location=Cambridge, UK|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1976|isbn=978-0-521-29037-1|url=https://archive.org/details/mycenaeanworld00chad|url-access=registration}} p.95</ref> [[Walter Burkert]] notices that it is difficult to confirm that the epithet "bowpis" corresponds to a Greek belief.<ref>Burkert (1985), "Greek religion": [https://books.google.com/books?id=sxurBtx6shoC p. 64]</ref> However it is possible that  Hera was conceived as a cow in her archaic cults.<ref name=Dietrich178/><ref name=West184/>

===Consort of Zeus ===
Hera exists as a spouse of [[Zeus]] and their "sacred marriage" was celebrated in many Greek festivals in a processional ceremony from ancient times.<ref name=Elder/> The myth of the premarital approach of Hera by [[Zeus]] is early mentioned by Homer .<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Il.+14.295&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134 Iliad 14.295]</ref> It is possible that the myth has its origins to an old custom of the European country  population, the premarital intercourse of the engaged couple.<ref>Farnell Cults I, p.185</ref> According to [[Walter Burkert]] the  "Mediterranean goddess of nature" becomes the bride of the Greek sky-god.<ref name=Burkert17>Burkert (1985), "Greek religion" :[https://books.google.com/books?id=sxurBtx6shoC p,17-18]</ref> He notices that "the disappearance and retrieval of Hera has parallels with other fertility cults" .<ref name=Burkert129>Burkert (1998), "Greek religion", p.129-134</ref><ref name=Burkert52>Burkert (1985), "Greek religion", p.52  [https://books.google.com/books?id=sxurBtx6shoC p.52]</ref> Hera was originally a goddess of fertility in her fest "Toneia" at Samos and at [[Knossos]] in [[Crete]]. At Samos the image of Hera was hidden  bounted in willows and the participants tried to discover it.<ref name=OBrien53a>O'Brien Joan (1993), "The transformation of Hera", [https://books.google.com/books?id=a77yKM26GfYC&pg=PA54 p.53-57]</ref><ref name=Bremmer>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YTfxZH4QnqgC&dq=artemis+lygodesma&pg=PA187 |title=Greek Religion and Culture, the Bible, and the Ancient Near East |isbn=978-9004164734 |last1=Bremmer |first1=Jan N. |year=2008|publisher=BRILL }} p.187</ref> At [[Knossos]]  Zeus is mating with the earth goddess (finally named Hera) in a very ancient ritual.<ref name=Elder/> In her festival [[Daedala]] at [[Plataia]]  there is an account of Hera's quarrel with Zeus and their reconciliation.<ref name=Burkert63>I Burkert (1985), "Greek religion", p.63</ref><ref name=Pausanias927/>

=== Near-Eastern origin===
In [[Crete]] the bull was associated with religious practices. In the legend of the [[Minotaur]] the Queen of [[Knossos]] is hidden inside an artificial hollow cow and she is mating with a bull-form god in a sacred ceremony. The [[hieros gamos]] indicates a ritual of fertility magic, which was probably introduced from [[Near East]] in the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]] region.<ref  name=Schach>Schachermeyer(1964),"Die Minoische Kultur des alten Kreta", p. 308-310</ref> The "hieros gamos" of Zeus with the earth goddess (finally named Hera) was celebrated at  [[Knossos]] in [[Crete]].<ref name=Elder/><ref name=Schach/>  In [[Near East]] the solar-deity and the moon-goddess are often represented as a bull and a cow <ref name=Schach/> and [[Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher|Roscher]] proposed that Hera was a moon-goddess.<ref>Roscher (1875), "Studien z.vergleichend Mythologie der Griechen und Romer II, Juno und Hera". p 40,387: Nilsson, ""Geschichte", Vol. I, p.432</ref> The combination feminine divinity-cow-moon is not unusual in [[Crete]] and [[Near East]].<ref name=Schach/> The relationship of Hera with the cow still existed in the historical times and this probably relates her to Near-Eastern forms of cow-goddesses like [[Hathor]] (or [[Bat (goddess)|Bat]]).<ref name=Dietrich178/> The Egyptian sky-goddess Hathor is the consort of the sky-god [[Horus]].

=== Indo-european origin===
In the [[Vedic period|Vedic]] tradition the earth-goddess [[Prithvi]] is the consort of the sky-god [[Dyaus]] and she is associated with the cow. Prithvi may be identified with the Greek goddess [[Gaia]].<ref name=Leaming/> [[Pherecydes of Syros]] in his cosmogony describes the mating of two divine principles: The marriage of [[Zeus|Zas]] with  [[Chthonic|Chthonie]]. [[Geoffrey Kirk]] notices that after the marriage "Cthonie" becomes [[Gaia|Ge]] who probably takes charge of the protection of marriage. Hera is occasionally identified with "Ge".<ref name=Kirk/> In a fragment of [[Euripides]] the [[Aether (mythology)|Aether]] of Zeus is the sky-god who is the father of men and gods, and the earth-goddess [[Gaia|Ge]] is the mother of all life.<ref>Euripides, Chryssipos fr.839:Nilsson,"Geschichte" Vol I p.460</ref> It seems that [[Io (mythology)|Io]] the priestess of Hera at Argos and consort of Zeus, was another form of Hera. In a Greek myth "Io" is transformed into a cow .<ref name=Farnell182>Farnell, Cults I, p.182</ref> This seems to be correlated to how Homer in [[Iliad]] uses the formula "boōpis [[potnia]] Hērē)" (cow-eyed, mistress Hera), suggesting that they may have been syncretized.<ref name=":5" /><ref name="Obrien4" />

==Cult==
[[File:Marriage of Zeus and Hera (detail) Pompeian Art.jpg|thumb|right|Hera on an antique fresco from [[Pompeii]]]]
The worship of Hera was sparse in [[Thessaly]], [[Attica]], [[Phocis]] and [[Achaea]]. In [[Boeotia]] she is related to the fest [[Daedala]]. The main center of her cult was North-Eastern [[Peloponnese]], especially [[Argolis]]. ( [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]], [[Tiryns]], [[Corinth]], [[Sicyon]], [[Epidaurus]] and [[Hermione (Argolis)|Hermione]]). She was worshipped at the [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadian]] cities  [[Mantineia]], [[Megalopolis, Greece|Megalopolis]], [[Stymphalus (Arcadia)|Stymphalus]] and at [[Sparta]]. The oldest temple at [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]] belonged to Hera. In the islands she was worshipped at [[Samos]], [[Paros]], [[Delos]], [[Amorgos]], [[Santorini|Thera]], [[Kos]], [[Rhodes]] and [[Crete]]. The island [[Euboea]] was considered her holy place. A month was named after Hera at [[Delphi]] (''Heraios''), [[Olous]], [[Laconia]], [[Tinos]] (''Heraiōn''), [[Pergamon|Pergamos]] (''Heraos'').<ref>Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I, p. 427-428</ref><ref>Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus Digital Library :[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=hrai%2Fos&la=greek#lexicon Ἡραίος ]</ref> Hera is the  ''Olympia'', ''Queen'', ''[[Anax|Anassa]]'', the Queen of heaven. The royal quality of her was preserved by the monuments of Greek art.<ref>Farnell, Cults I, p.197-198</ref>
    
Hera may have been the first deity to whom the Greeks dedicated an enclosed roofed temple sanctuary, at [[Samos]] about 800 BCE. It was replaced later by the [[Heraion of Samos]], one of the largest of all Greek temples (altars were in front of the temples under the open sky). There were many temples built on this site, so the evidence is somewhat confusing, and archaeological dates are uncertain.

The temple created by the [[Rhoecus]] sculptors and architects was destroyed between 570 and 560 BCE. This was replaced by the [[Polycrates|Polycratean]] temple of 540–530 BCE. In one of these temples, we see a forest of 155 columns. There is also no evidence of tiles on this temple suggesting either the temple was never finished or that the temple was open to the sky.

Earlier sanctuaries, whose dedication to Hera is less certain, were of the Mycenaean type called "house sanctuaries".<ref>Martin Persson Nilsson, ''The Minoan-Mycenaean Religion and Its Survival in Greek Religion'' (Lund) 1950 pt. I.ii "House Sanctuaries", pp 77-116; H. W. Catling, "A Late Bronze Age House- or Sanctuary-Model from the Menelaion, Sparta," ''BSA'' '''84''' (1989) 171-175.</ref> Samos excavations have revealed votive offerings, many of them late 8th and 7th centuries BCE, which show that Hera at Samos was not merely a local Greek goddess of the [[Aegean civilizations|Aegean]]. The museum there contains figures of gods and suppliants and other votive offerings from [[Armenia]], [[Babylon]], [[Iran]], [[Assyria]], and [[Egypt]], testimony to the reputation which this sanctuary of Hera enjoyed, and the large influx of pilgrims. Compared to this mighty goddess, who also possessed the earliest temple at [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]] and two of the great fifth and sixth-century temples of [[Paestum]], the termagant of [[Homer]] and the myths is an "almost... comic figure," according to [[Walter Burkert|Burkert]].<ref>[[Walter Burkert|Burkert]], p. 132, including quote; Burkert: ''Orientalizing Revolution''.</ref>

[[Image:Temple of Hera - Agrigento - Italy 2015.JPG|thumb|left|The Temple of Hera at [[Agrigento]], [[Magna Graecia]].]]
Though the greatest and earliest free-standing temple to Hera was the [[Heraion of Samos]], in the Greek mainland Hera was especially worshipped as "Argive Hera" (''Hera Argeia'') at her sanctuary that stood between the former Mycenaean city-states of [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]] and [[Mycenae]],<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' 3.13.6</ref><ref>Her name appears, with Zeus and Hermes, in a [[Linear B]] inscription (Tn 316) at Mycenean [[Pylos]] (John Chadwick, ''The Mycenaean World'' [Cambridge University Press] 1976:89).</ref> where the festivals in her honor called ''[[Heraean Games|Heraia]]'' were celebrated. "The three cities I love best," she declares in the ''[[Iliad]]'', book iv, "are Argos, Sparta and Mycenae of the broad streets." There were also temples to Hera in [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]], [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]], [[Tiryns]], [[Perachora]] and the sacred island of [[Delos]]. In [[Magna Graecia]], two Doric temples to Hera were constructed at [[Paestum]], about 550 BCE and about 450 BCE. One of them, long called the ''Temple of Poseidon'' was identified in the 1950s as a temple of Hera.<ref>P.C. Sestieri, ''Paestum, the City, the Prehistoric Acropolis in Contrada Gaudo, and the Heraion at the Mouth of the Sele'' (Rome 1960), p. 11, etc. "It is odd that there was no temple dedicated to Poseidon in a city named for him (Paestum was originally called Poseidonia). Perhaps there was one at Sele, the settlement that preceded Paestum," Sarantis Symeonoglou suggested (Symeonoglou, "The Doric Temples of Paestum" ''Journal of Aesthetic Education'', '''19'''.1, Special Issue: Paestum and Classical Culture: Past and Present [Spring 1985:49-66] p. 50.</ref>

The [[Daedala]] fire festival on [[Cithaeron]] near [[Plataea]], included an account of Hera's quarrel with Zeus and their reconciliation.<ref name=Burkert63p>Burkert (1998), "Greek religion", p. 63.</ref>

Hera's importance in the early archaic period is attested by the large building projects undertaken in her honor. The temples of Hera in the two main centers of her [[cult (religion)|cult]], the [[Heraion of Samos]] and the [[Heraion of Argos]] in the [[Argolis]], were the very earliest monumental [[Greek temple]]s constructed, in the 8th century BCE.<ref name=Obrien4/> At Argos the [[Dorians|Dorian]] "Heraion" was built on the hill of [[Prosymna]] near [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenean]] hero-tombs.<ref name=Obrien4/> At Samos the cult activity near the altar begun in late Mycenean period and a big altar was built in the 9th century BC.<ref>Kyrieleis, H. (1993). "The Heraion at Samos".p.128</ref>

During the [[Hellenistic period]] ({{circa|330 BCE &ndash; 300 CE}}), Greek culture spread outside Greece across the Eastern Mediterranean region as a result of the conquests of Alexander the Great. The [[Hellenistic religion]] was often [[syncretic]], and the Greek gods were identified with local deities as different aspects or names of the same divinity. Hera was identified with various local [[mother goddess|mother deities]]. As an example, the work ''[[On the Syrian Goddess]]'' suggests a cult worshipped a goddess that was simultaneously the Syrian goddess [[Atargatis]] and Hera. This even extended to [[early Christianity]] some; the ''[[Legend of Aphroditian]]'' identifies Hera with the [[Virgin Mary]], perhaps due to one of Hera's abilities being her miraculous restoration of her own virginity.<ref>{{cite book |last=Heyden |first=Katharina |author-link=Katharina Heyden |editor-last1=Edwards |editor-first1=J. Christopher |date=2022 |title=Early New Testament Apocrypha |publisher=Zondervan Academic |chapter=The Legend of Aphroditian |pages=115&ndash;127 |series=Ancient Literature for New Testament Studies 9 |isbn=9780310099710 }}</ref>

===Importance===
According to [[Walter Burkert]], both Hera and Demeter have many characteristic attributes of Pre-Greek [[Great Goddess]]es.<ref>"The goddesses of Greek polytheism, so different and complementary"; [[Greek mythology]] scholar [[Walter Burkert]] has observed, in ''Homo Necans'' (1972) 1983:79f, "are nonetheless, consistently similar at an earlier stage, with one or the other simply becoming dominant in a sanctuary or city. Each is the Great Goddess presiding over a male society; each is depicted in her attire as [[Potnia Theron]] "Mistress of the Beasts", and Mistress of the Sacrifice, even Hera and Demeter."</ref>

In the same vein, British scholar [[Charles Francis Keary]] suggests that Hera had some sort of "[[Mother goddess|Earth Goddess]]" worship in ancient times,<ref>Keary, Charles Francis. ''Outlines of primitive belief among the Indo-European races''. New York: C. Scibner's Sons. 1882. p. 176.</ref><ref>Renehan, Robert. ''HERA AS EARTH-GODDESS: A NEW PIECE OF EVIDENCE''. In: Rheinisches Museum für Philologie 
Neue Folge, 117. Bd., H. 3/4 (1974), pp. 193-201. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/41244783]</ref><ref name="sacred-texts.com">[https://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/mgr/mgr05.htm Harrison, Jane Ellen. ''Myths of Greece and Rome''. 1928. pp. 12-14]</ref> connected to her possible origin as a Pelasgian goddess (as mentioned by Herodotus).<ref>Keary, Charles Francis. ''Outlines of primitive belief among the Indo-European races''. New York: C. Scibner's Sons. 1882. p. 176 (footnote nr. ii).</ref><ref name="sacred-texts.com"/> In Greece the Mediterranean goddess of nature  is the bride of the Greek sky-god . In her fest [[Daedala]] Hera is related to the nymph Plataia (consort of [[Zeus]]), an old forgotten form of the Greek earth-goddess.<ref name="Burkert17"/> Plataia may be related to [[Gaia]] who is occasionally identified with Hera.<ref name=Kirk/><ref name="174-175">West (2007) "Indoeuropean poetry and myth" [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXrJA_5LKlYC&pg=PA174 174-175]</ref>

According to [[Homeric Hymn]] II to [[Delian Apollo]], Hera detained [[Eileithyia]] to prevent [[Leto]] from going into labor with Artemis and [[Apollo]], since the father was [[Zeus]]. The other goddesses present at the birthing on [[Delos]] sent [[Iris (mythology)|Iris]] to bring her. As she stepped upon the island, the divine birth began. In the myth of the birth of [[Heracles]], it is Hera herself who sits at the door, delaying the birth of Heracles until her protégé, [[Eurystheus]], had been born first.<ref name="Hom. Il. 19.95">[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Il.+19.95 19.95ff.]</ref>

The Homeric Hymn to [[Pythian Apollo]] makes the monster [[Typhon|Typhaon]] the offspring of archaic Hera in her ancient form, produced out of herself, like a monstrous version of [[Hephaestus]], and whelped in a cave in [[Cilicia]].<ref>''Iliad'', ii. 781-783)</ref> She gave the creature to [[Python (mythology)|Python]] to raise.

[[Image:Hera Barberini Chiaramonti Inv1210.jpg|thumb|upright|Roman copy of a Greek 5th century Hera of the "[[Barberini Hera]]" type, from the [[Museo Chiaramonti]]]]

In the [[Temple of Hera, Olympia]], Hera's seated cult figure was older than the warrior figure of Zeus that accompanied it. Homer expressed her relationship with Zeus delicately in the ''Iliad'', in which she declares to Zeus, "I am [[Cronus]]' eldest daughter, and am honourable not on this ground only, but also because I am your wife, and you are king of the gods."<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Homer |first=751? BCE-651? BCE |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2199 |title=The Iliad |date=2000-06-01 |language=English |translator-last=Butler |translator-first=Samuel}}</ref>

===Matriarchy===
There has been considerable scholarship, reaching back to [[Johann Jakob Bachofen]] in the mid-nineteenth century,<ref>Bachofen, ''Mutterrecht'' 1861, as '' Mother Right: An Investigation of the Religious and Juridical Character of Matriarchy in the Ancient World.'' Bachofen was seminal in the writings of [[Jane Ellen Harrison]] and other students of Greek myth.</ref> about the possibility that Hera, whose early importance in Greek religion is firmly established, was originally the goddess of a matriarchal people, presumably inhabiting Greece before the [[Hellenes]]. In this view, her activity as [[goddess]] of marriage established the patriarchal bond of her own subordination: her resistance to the conquests of Zeus is rendered as Hera's "jealousy", the main theme of literary anecdotes that undercut her ancient [[Cult (religion)|cult]].<ref>Slater 1968.</ref>

However, it remains a controversial claim that an ancient matriarchy or a cultural focus on a monotheistic Great Goddess existed among the ancient Greeks or elsewhere. The claim is generally rejected by modern scholars as insufficiently evidenced.<ref name="ELLER-BRITANNICA">See, for example, the following:
* Cynthia Eller, ''[[The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory]]: Why an Invented Past Won't Give Women a Future'', (Boston: Beacon Press, 2001);
* ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' describes this view as "consensus", listing matriarchy as a hypothetical social system. 'Matriarchy' ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 2007.
</ref> [[Walter Burkert]] notices that the ancient [[Kourotrophos]] figure is almost absent in [[Crete]], and the nomination [[Mother Goddess]] was not the underlying principle in the Minoan religion.<ref>Burkert(1985), "Greek religion":[https://books.google.com/books?id=sxurBtx6shoC p.41]</ref>

===Youth===
Hera was most known as the matron goddess, ''Hera Teleia'', but she presided over weddings as well. In myth and cult, fragmentary references and archaic practices remain of the [[sacred marriage]] of Hera and Zeus.<ref name=Farnell191>Farnell, Cults I 191-193</ref> At [[Plataea]], there was a sculpture of Hera seated as a bride by [[Callimachus]], as well as the matronly standing Hera.<ref>Pausanias, [http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+9.2.1 9.2.7- 9.3.3] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151106170825/http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+9.2.1 |date=2015-11-06 }}; Pausanias explains this by telling the myth of the [[Daedala]].</ref>

Hera was also worshipped as a [[virgin]]: there was a tradition in [[Stymphalus (Arcadia)|Stymphalia]] in [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]] that there had been a [[Triple Goddess (Neopaganism)|triple shrine]] to Hera the Girl (Παις [Pais]), the Adult Woman (Τελεια [Teleia]), and the Separated (Χήρη [Chḗrē] 'Widowed' or 'Divorced').<ref>Farnell, I 194, citing Pausanias [http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+8.22.1 8.22.2] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151106170827/http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+8.22.1|date=2015-11-06}}' [[Pindar]] refers to the "praises of Hera Parthenia [the Maidenly]" ''[[Olympian ode]]'' [http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Pind.+O.+6.1 6.88] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151106170829/http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Pind.+O.+6.1|date=2015-11-06}}</ref> In the [[Argolis|region around Argos]], the temple of Hera in [[Ermioni|Hermione]] near Argos was to Hera the Virgin.<ref>S. Casson: "Hera of Kanathos and the Ludovisi Throne" ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'' '''40'''.2 (1920), pp. 137-142, citing [[Stephanus of Byzantium]] ''sub'' ''Ernaion''.</ref> At the spring of [[Kanathos]], close to [[Nauplia]], Hera renewed her virginity annually, in rites that were not to be spoken of (''arrheton'').<ref name=Paus2381>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+2.38.1 2.38.2-3] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151106170831/http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+2.38.1 |date=2015-11-06 }}.</ref> In her fire-festival [[Daedala]] at [[Plataia]] the puppet of the goddess was bathed in the river Asopos before the wedding ceremony. In the festival "Toneia" at [[Samos]] the image of the goddess was purified, bounted in willows and then probably hanged on a tree.<ref name=Obrian54>O'Brian Joan (1993), "The transformation of Hera", [https://books.google.com/books?id=a77yKM26GfYC&pg=PA54 p.54-55]</ref> [[Robert Graves]] interprets this as a representation of the new moon ([[Hebe (mythology)|Hebe]]), full moon (Hera), and old moon ([[Hecate]]), respectively personifying the Virgin (Spring), the Mother (Summer), and the destroying Crone (Autumn).<ref>[[Robert Graves]] (1955), ''[[The Greek Myths]]''.</ref><ref>[[Barbara G. Walker]] (1983), ''The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets'', p.392 {{ISBN|0-06-250925-X}}</ref>

===Festivals===
The marriage of Zeus with Hera is the main theme in most Greek festivals celebrated in honour of the goddess. In the cults of Hera the dances and rites are performed by young married women. These choral dances reenacted early myth and ritual.<ref>Claude Calame(1977), "Choruses of Young women in Ancient Greece", 2.126-133</ref> Burkert notices that "the disappearing and retrieval of Hera in some cults has parallels with other fertility cults".<ref name=Burkert129/> The Greek aetiological myths  ([[etiology|aitia]]) give a reasonable explanation of the ritual and replicate its structural form. This is accurate for "aitia" related to initiation rituals from youth to maturity.<ref name=Calame17>Claude Calame(2001), "Choruses of Young women in Ancient Greece" [https://books.google.com/books?id=DhfmgSz1eR4C p.17-18].</ref> Ancient accounts refer to the retirement of Hera  after a quarrel with Zeus. Hera's wrath may indicate the wrath and jealousy of the Greek wife.<ref>Comp. the myth of Typhon: Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I p.432</ref> Other accounts refer to cultic trees or pillars.<ref name=OBrian36>O'Brian (1993), "The transformation of Hera":[https://books.google.com/books?id=a77yKM26GfYC&pg=PA36 p.36]</ref> and rituals of the goddess of vegetation.<ref name=Bremmer/> Some accounts are related to rituals of the Bronze Age before the splitting of the "Mistress of the animals" into separate goddesses.<ref name=OBrian60>O'Brian (1993), "The transformation of Hera":[https://books.google.com/books?id=a77yKM26GfYC&pg=PA60 p.60-61]</ref>

* '''[[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]]'''. During Hera's famous fest "Hecatombaia"(one hundred oxen) -or Argive "Heraia"-the priestess of Hera was carried on a chart drawn by white-heifers to the sanctuary. The festival included an armed procession of male citizens and the prize of the contest was a bronze shield.<ref name=Farnell185>Farnell Cults I, p.185-187</ref> The Argive festival was a new year festival and the new male citizens introduced themselves in the community. It is not verified that the festival was originally a wedding processional ceremony.<ref>Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I, p.430.</ref> At Argos Hera controlled the seasonal goddesses [[Horae]].<ref name=Farnell194/><ref name=Obrien4/> Near the Heraion of Argos there was the stream "Eleutherion" (water of freedom). The priestess of Hera used it for purifications and the sacrifices were kept secret (''aporrheta'')<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.17.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias 2,17.1]</ref> 
*'''[[Plataia]]''' in [[Boeotia]]. The festival [[Daedala]] of Hera was a fire festival. The citizens of Plataia maintained from prehistoric times the processional wedding ceremony. A puppet named Hera was married with Zeus. The puppet was washed in the river Asopos and it was carried on a cow-drawn chart to the top of Kithairon. There the puppet was burned together with other idols. Pausanias in the aetiological myth mentions the retirement of Hera after a quarrel with Zeus and their reconciliation.<ref name=Burkert63p/> The nymph Plataia, consort of Zeus is an old form of the Greek earth-goddess and she may be related to [[Gaia]].<ref name="174-175"/>
*'''[[Samos]]'''.The name of the island was "Parthenia" in the [[Caria]]n period.<ref name=Farnell185/> In the Samian festival "Toneia", Hera was originally a goddess of fertility. The festival included initiation rites of girls and probably boys from youth to maturity.<ref name=OBrian60/> At the beginning of the festival a [[xoanon]] of Hera was carried on a plank to the sea and then back to the coast. This custom reminds the cult of the [[Hittites|Hittite]]-[[Hurrians|Hurrian]]  god of fertility [[Telipinu (mythology)|Telepinu]].<ref name=Burkert52/> In the aetiological myth of [[Menodotus of Nicomedia|Menedotus]] the image of Hera was bathed, bounted in willows and finally hidden (or hanged). The participants tried to find it.<ref name=Farnell185/><ref name=Bremmer/> Zeus was absent, and the processional wedding ceremony was introduced later.<ref name=OBrien53a/>
*'''[[Corinth]]'''. Hera-[[Acraea]] was the protectress of the castle. The [[Corinth]]ian "Heraia" was a mourning festival. Hera is related to [[Medea]] (the wife of [[Jason]]) a foreign goddess who was introduced in Greece. In the myth of the [[Argonauts]] Hera is the protectress of Jason. The scholiast of [[Euripides]] suggests that the cult of Acraea is related to the cult of [[Adonis]]. Every year seven boys and seven girls with shorn hair and wearing black garments were dedicated to the goddess. Annual sacrifices were performed for the killed children of Medea .<ref>Farnell Cults I, p. 201-202</ref>
*'''[[Stymphalus]]''' in  [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadia]]. Hera was worshipped as goddess of marriage. Three festivals  celebrated the three phases of Hera as "pais" (virgin), "teleia" (fulfilled) and "chera" (widowed). "Pais" may symbolize the arrival of the goddess in spring and "chera" her departure in winter. In the aetiological myth of Pausanias Hera retired after a quarrel with Zeus and then she came back. During her retirement people considered that she was divorced and she was worshipped as "chera".<ref name=Farnell191/>
*'''[[Euboea]]'''. The island was the holy place of Hera and the goddess was worshipped  near [[Elymnion]] or on the mountain [[Dirfi]]. Coins from [[Eretria]] verify that the citizens imitated the wedding of Zeus with Hera.<ref>Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I, p.430</ref>
*'''[[Athens]]'''. The "sacred marriage" of Zeus with Hera was celebrated in Athens during the month "Gamelion" (late winter).<ref name=Farnell185/>
*'''[[Hermione (Argolis)|Hermione]]''' in [[Argolis]]. Hera was worshipped as "parthenos" (virgin). In a Greek myth Zeus was transformed into a cuckoo to seduce Hera. There were two temples, one of Zeus on the mountain-Cuckoo and one of Hera on the mountain Pron.<ref name=Farnell185/>
*''' [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]]'''. In the festival [[Heraean Games|Heraia]] young girls competed in a footrace. The race was held every four years and only virgin women were allowed to attend the games. The prize was an olive wreath.<ref>Matthew Dillon (2002), Girls and women in Ancient Greek religion" p.131</ref> Traditionally the custom  was established by [[Hippodamia (daughter of Oenomaus)|Hipodameia]] and choral dances were performed in honour of her. A marriage-ceremony was probably part of the festival.<ref name=Farnell188>Farnell, Cults I, p.188 -190</ref> The choral dances and the dressing of "parthenoi" indicate that the festival was an initiation ritual from youth to maturity.<ref>[https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.2307/506363 Serwint Nancy (1993), "Heraia and the prenuptial initiation"]</ref> The relation of Hera with "parthenoi" (virgins) seems to connect her with the goddess of vegetation.<ref name=OBrian60/><ref name=Calame17/>
*'''[[Aegina]]''''. Traditionally the festival was introduced from Argos. The image of Hera was carried on a chart drawn by white heifers. The festival included games and sacrifices. There was a contest between young boys for killing a female goat with their spears and they got her as a prize. In the aetiological myth Hera retired to the woods after a quarrel with Zeus and her place was discovered by a female goat. Then she was obliged to return.<ref name=Farnell188/>
*'''[[Nauplia]]''' in [[Argolis]]. Like the bride who took her bride-bath, Hera bathed every year in the spring [[Kanathos]] and recovered annually her virginity. This is one of the holy secrets (''aporrheta'') at the mysteries which they celebrated in honour of Hera.<ref name=Paus2381/>
*'''[[Knossos]]''' in [[Crete]]. The "hieros gamos" of Zeus with the earth goddess (finally named Hera) was celebrated near the river Theren. The ritual continued unchanged from very ancient times.<ref name=Elder/> The original name of the Minoan goddess could be [[Britomartis]], [[Diktynna]] or "Hellopis".<ref name=Schach/> On a Minoan depiction the goddess seems to  arrive on a chariot during spring and she disappears in winter.<ref name=OBrien53a/>

==Emblems==
[[Image:James Barry 001.jpg|thumb|''Jupiter and Juno on Mount Ida'' by [[James Barry (painter)|James Barry]], 1773 (City Art Galleries, Sheffield)]]
In Hellenistic imagery, Hera's chariot was pulled by peacocks, birds not known to Greeks before the conquests of [[Alexander the Great|Alexander]]. Alexander's tutor, [[Aristotle]], refers to it as "the Persian bird." The peacock motif was revived in the [[Renaissance]] iconography that unified Hera and Juno.<ref>Seznec, Jean, ''The Survival of the Pagan Gods: Mythological Tradition in Renaissance Humanism and Art,'' 1953</ref> A bird that had been associated with Hera on an archaic level, when most of the Aegean goddesses were associated with "their" bird, was the [[cuckoo]], which appears in mythic fragments concerning the first wooing of a virginal Hera by Zeus.

Her archaic association was primarily with cattle, as a Cow Goddess, who was especially venerated in "cattle-rich" [[Euboea]]. On [[Cyprus]], very early archaeological sites contain bull skulls that have been adapted for use as masks (see [[Bull (mythology)]]). Her familiar [[epithets in Homer|Homeric epithet]] ''Boôpis'', is always translated "cow-eyed". In this respect, Hera bears some resemblance to the [[Ancient Egyptian religion|Ancient Egyptian]] deity [[Hathor]], a maternal goddess associated with cattle. Hera absorbed the cult of her heifer-priestess [[Io (mythology)|Io]] and may be related to the [[Vedic period|Vedic]] earth-goddess [[Prithvi]].<ref name=West184/>

Scholar of Greek mythology [[Walter Burkert]] writes in ''Greek Religion'', "Nevertheless, there are memories of an earlier aniconic representation, as a pillar in Argos and as a plank in Samos." At Argos in a Greek myth the priestess of Hera  [[Io (mythology)|Phoronis]] ties her mistress to an aniconic pillar. At Samos Hera's plank was tied on a willow tree to ensure fertility.<ref name=Burkert131/>

==Temples of Hera==
[[File:Plan of the Temple of Hera (Olympia).svg|thumb|right|280px|Plan of the Temple of Hera (Olympia):Heraion]]
[[File:Pianta hera paestum.jpg|thumb|right|280px|First temple of Hera, Paestum (Basilica)]]

* '''[[Perachora]], Corinth'''. One from the earliest Greek temples was the temple dedicated to  Hera [[Akraia]] at Perachora, built in the  9th century BC. The dimensions of the plan were 5,50x8,00m. A teracotta house-temple model indicates that it was an upsidal building with one room. The walls were made fom small stones and dried bricks. Τhere were two pairs of (probably wooden) columns, and the high-peaked roof was covered with straws.<ref>Spivey p.109</ref>
* '''[[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]]'''. The Heraion was built in late 7th century BC (620 BC) . It was a [[Doric order|Doric]] style [[peripteral]] temple measured 18,75x50,01m at the [[stylobate]]. The number of the originally wooden  [[pteron]] columns was 6x16 (hexastyle). Τhe wooden columns were later replaced with columns from limestone. The temple had [[portico|pronaos]], [[cella]], and the oldest known [[opisthodomos]]. The porches were distyle [[Anta (architecture)|in antis]]. A colossal head of a woman, is probably a part of a statue dedicated to Hera. It was made from limestone.<ref>Robertson p. 62-63,324</ref><ref>Spivey, 135-139</ref>
* '''[[Corfu]]'''. The Archaic temple of Hera was built in 610BC. Large terracotta figures such as lions and gorgoneions decorated the roof of the temple. The temple was completely destroyed by fire in the 5th century BC.<ref>Excavations of Mon Repo-University of Nebraska. [https://cdrhsites.unl.edu/monrepos/evidence/excavations.html Excavations at Mon Repo]</ref>
* '''[[Samos]]'''. The older Heraion was built in 560 BC. It was a dipteral temple with [[Ionic order]] features. It measured 50,50x103,00 m at the [[stylobate]] and the number of [[pteron]] columns was 10x21. The temple formed a unit with the monumental altar of Hera to the east, which shared its alignment and axis. It was constructed partly of limestone and partly of marble. [[Herodotus]] calls [[Rhoecus]] of Samos its first architect. It was the first of the massive Ionic temples.<ref>Robertson p.95,331</ref>
[[File:Heraion de samos essai restitution.jpg|thumb|left|280px|Heraion of Samos. A reconstruction of the "Polycrates temple" (front view)]]
* '''[[Samos]]'''. The new Heraion was built in 525 BC and it is called the "Polycrates temple". The temple measured 54,58x111,50m at the [[stylobate]]. It was dipteral on the flanks and tripteral at the ends. The outer row had 8x24 columns except that at the back there were nine columns. The forms of the capitals resembled the ones at Ephesus, but the volutes were wider.<ref>Robertson p.95-97,332</ref>
* '''[[Selinunte|Selinus]]'''. The [[Doric order|Doric]] temple E (temble of Hera) was built in 490 BC. It measured 25.32x67.82m at the [[stylobate]] and the number of [[pteron]] columns was 6x15. The porches were distyle [[Anta (architecture)|in antis]]<ref>Robertson,327</ref>
[[File:Selinunte-TempleE-Plan-bjs.png|thumb|left|280px|Selinunte-TempleE- Temple of Hera]]
* '''[[Paestum]]'''. The first temple of Hera, the so-called "Basilica", was built in the early 6th century BC. It was an extraordinary building with a central row of inner columns. The Doric style temple measured 24,52x54,30m at the [[stylobate]], and the number of pteron columns was 9x18. There were three columns ''in antis'' in its porch.<ref>Roberson, p. 75,325</ref>
* '''[[Paestum]]'''. A Doric temple dedicated to Hera (the so-called temple of Poseidon) was built in the first half of the 5th century BC and is usually placed later than [[Parthenon]]. The temple measured 24,3X60,00 m at the [[stylobate]]. It was an hexastyle structure and the number of [[pteron]] columns was 6X14.<ref>Robertson, pp. 136,327</ref> The temple was also used to worship [[Zeus]] and another deity, whose identity is unknown. 
 [[File:Agrigento-TempleD-Plan-bjs.png|thumb|right|280px|Agrigento-TempleD-of Hera]]
* '''[[Agrigento]]'''. The temple of Hera (Juno Lacinia)was a Doric style peripteral building, built in 450 BC. It measured 16,90X38,15m at the stylobate and the cella measured 9.45x28,00m. The number of pteron columns was 6X13.<ref>Robertson 327</ref>
* '''[[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]]'''. The predecessor of the Heraion was built in late 7th century BC and has left little traces. The long [[stoa]] of the Heraion is dated from the late 7th to 6th century B.C.E.<ref>Baumbach 2004: 78</ref>
* '''[[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]]'''. The new Heraion was built in c.410BC after the burning of  its predecessor  in 423BC. It  measured 17,40x38,00m at the stylobate and the dimensions of the cella were c.10,00x c.27,00m. The number of pteron columns cannot be specified.<ref>Robertson,328</ref>

==Mythology==
===Birth===
[[File:Hera Staatliche Antikensammlungen 2685 full.jpg|thumb|Hera (according to inscription); [[Tondo (art)|tondo]] of an Attic [[white-ground]] ''[[Kylix (drinking cup)|kylix]]'' from [[Vulci]], ca. 470 BCE]]
Hera is the daughter of the [[Titans]] [[Cronus]] and [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]], and the sister of [[Hestia]], [[Demeter]], [[Hades]], [[Poseidon]], and [[Zeus]].<ref>Hansen, [https://archive.org/details/handbookofclassi0000hans/page/66/mode/2up?view=theater p. 67]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:453-491 453&ndash;9].</ref> Cronus was fated to be overthrown by one of his children; to prevent this, he swallowed all of his newborn children whole until Rhea tricked him into swallowing a stone instead of her youngest child, Zeus. Zeus grew up in secret and then tricked his father into regurgitating his siblings, including Hera. Zeus then led the revolt against the Titans, banished them, and divided the dominion over the world with his brothers, Poseidon and Hades.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cronus|title=Cronus {{!}} Greek god|newspaper=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=2016-12-04}}</ref>

Other traditions, however, appear to give Hera different upbringings. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] states that she was nursed as an infant by the three daughters of the river [[Asterion (god)|Asterion]]: [[Euboea (mythology)|Euboia]], [[Prosymna (mythology)|Prosymna]], and [[Acraea|Akraia]].<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.17.1 2.17.1].</ref> Furthermore, in [[the Iliad]], Hera states she was given by her mother to [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]] to be raised: "I go now to the ends of the generous earth on a visit to the [[Okeanos|Ocean]], whence the gods have risen, and Tethys our mother who brought me up kindly in their own house, and cared for me and took me from Rheia, at that time when Zeus of the wide brows drove Kronos underneath the earth and the barren water."<ref>Homer, Iliad 14. 200 ff, https://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanisTethys.html#Creation</ref>

===Marriage with Zeus===
[[File:Over life-size statue of Hera, from the Gymnasium of Salamis, 2nd century AD, Cyprus Museum, Nicosia, Cyprus (22497777355).jpg|thumb|right|Marble statue of Hera, 2nd century, [[Cyprus Museum]], [[Nicosia]].]]

Hera is the goddess of marriage and childbirth rather than motherhood, and much of her mythology revolves around her marriage with her brother Zeus. She is charmed by him and she seduces him; he cheats on her and has many children with other goddesses and mortal women; she is intensely jealous and vindictive towards his children and their mothers; he is threatening and violent to her.<ref name=Burkert129/>

In the ''[[Iliad]]'', Zeus implies their marriage was some sort of elopement, as they lay secretly from their parents.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D14%3Acard%3D270 14.295&ndash;299].</ref> [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] records a tale of how they came to be married in which Zeus transformed into a [[cuckoo]] to woo Hera. She caught the bird and kept it as her pet; this is why the cuckoo is seated on her sceptre.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.17.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 2.17.4].</ref> According to a scholion on [[Theocritus]]'s ''Idylls'', when Hera was heading toward Mount Thornax alone, Zeus created a terrible storm and transformed himself into a cuckoo who flew down and sat on her lap. Hera covered him with her cloak. Zeus then transformed back and took hold of her; because she was refusing to sleep with him due to their [[Rhea (mythology)|mother]], he promised to marry her.<ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Theocritus]]'s ''Idylls'' [https://sententiaeantiquae.com/2021/08/21/explaining-the-cuckoo-women-know-everything-4/ 15.64].</ref>

In one account Hera refused to marry Zeus and hid in a cave to avoid him; an earthborn man named Achilles convinced her to give him a chance, and thus the two had their first sexual intercourse.<ref>[[Ptolemaeus Chennus]], ''New History'' Book 6, as epitomized by [[Patriarch Photius I of Constantinople|Patriarch Photius]] in his ''[[Bibliotheca (Photius)|Myriobiblon]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/237#190.47 190.47]</ref> According to a version attributed to [[Plutarch]], Hera had been reared by a nymph named [[Macris]] on the island of [[Euboea]], but Zeus stole her away, where Mt. [[Cithaeron]] "afforded them a shady recess." When Macris came to look for her ward, the mountain-god Cithaeron drove her away, saying that Zeus was taking his pleasure there with Leto.<ref>[[Eusebius]], ''[[Praeparatio evangelica]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=yNRKAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA92 3.1.84a-b]; Hard, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA137 137].</ref>
[[File:Zeus Hera Iris Staatliche Antikensammlungen 2304.jpg|thumb|left|240px|God council in Olympus: Zeus and Hera throning, [[Iris (mythology)|Iris]] serving them. Detail of the side A of an Attic red-figure belly-amphora, ca. 500 BC.[[Staatliche Antikensammlungen]], Munich]]

According to [[Callimachus]], their wedding feast lasted three hundred years.<ref>[[Callimachus]], ''[[Aetia (Callimachus)|Aetia]]'' fragment [https://dcc.dickinson.edu/callimachus-aetia/untitled-48 48]</ref> All the gods and mortals were invited, but a [[nymph]] named [[Chelone (Greek mythology)|Chelone]] was disrespectful or refused to attend, so Zeus thus turned her into a [[tortoise]]. The Apples of the [[Hesperides]] that [[Heracles]] was tasked by [[Eurystheus]] to take were a wedding gift by [[Gaia]] to the couple.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''Library'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D5%3Asection%3D11 2.5.11].</ref>

After a quarrel with Zeus, Hera left him and retreated to Euboea, and no word from Zeus managed to sway her mind. Cithaeron, the local king, then advised Zeus to take a wooden statue of a woman, wrap it up, and pretend to marry it. Zeus did as told, claiming "she" was Plataea, [[Asopus]]'s daughter. Hera, once she heard the news, disrupted the wedding ceremony and tore away the dress from the figure only to discover it was but a lifeless statue, and not a rival in love. The queen and her king were reconciled, and to commemorate this the people there celebrated a festival called [[Daedala]].<ref name=Pausanias927/> During the festival, a re-enactment of the myth was celebrated, where a wooden statue of Hera was chosen, bathed in the river Asopus and then raised on a chariot to lead the procession like a bride, and then ritually burned.{{sfn|Murray|1842|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=RNVPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA313 313]}}

According to [[Diodorus Siculus]], [[Alcmene]], the mother of Heracles, was the very last mortal woman Zeus ever slept with; following the birth of Heracles, he ceased to beget humans altogether.<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca historica|Library of History]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4B*.html#p391 4.14.4].</ref>

=== Leto and the Twins: Apollo and Artemis ===
In the early works of [[Homer]] and [[Hesiod]], Hera displays no inherent animosity towards Leto or her children (for being children of an affair, that is. She quarrels with them for political reasons in the ''[[Iliad]]''). In Hesiod's ''[[Theogony]]'', [[Leto]] is presented as one of Zeus's wives prior to Hera, giving no indication that Hera disliked them. In later variations of this story, our earliest account being the ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn]] to Delian Apollo'',<ref name="Hymn 3 to Apollo, To Delian Apollo">{{Cite web |title=Hymn 3 to Apollo, To Delian Apollo |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0138:hymn=3 |access-date=2025-05-18 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> Hera was enraged when she discovered that Leto was pregnant and that Zeus was the father; especially when she was told that Apollo would be more dear to Zeus than Hera's son [[Ares]]. Hera received help from Ares and Iris to prevent Leto from giving birth, whence they "threatened all the cities which Leto approached, and prevented them from receiving her."<ref>"Callimachus, ''Hymn to Delos''"</ref>  Alternatively, [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]] convinced the nature spirits to prevent [[Latona]] (Leto) from giving birth on [[Solid earth|terra-firma]], the mainland, any island at sea, or any place under the sun,<ref>Hyginus, ''[[Fabulae]]'' 140).</ref> but Poseidon felt pity to Leto and guided her to the floating island of [[Delos]], which was neither mainland nor a real island where Leto was able to give birth to her children.<ref>Hammond. ''Oxford Classical Dictionary.'' 597-598.</ref> Afterwards, Zeus secured Delos to the bottom of the ocean.{{sfn|Freese|1911|p=184}} The island later became sacred to Apollo. Alternatively, Hera kidnapped her daughter [[Eileithyia]], the goddess of childbirth, to prevent Leto from going into labor. The other gods bribed Hera with a beautiful necklace nobody could resist and she finally gave in.<ref name=":4">{{cite journal |last1=Rutherford |first1=Ian |year=1988 |title=Pindar on the Birth of Apollo |journal=The Classical Quarterly |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=65–75 |doi=10.1017/S000983880003127X |jstor=639206 |s2cid=170272842}}</ref>

Either way, Artemis was born first (earlier sources make no mention of them being twins, so Artemis could be any age older than Apollo<ref name="Hymn 3 to Apollo, To Delian Apollo"/>) and then assisted with the birth of Apollo.<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''Bibliotheke'' 1.4.1; [[Antoninus Liberalis]], ''Metamorphoses'', 35, giving as his sources Menecrates of Xanthos (4th century BCE) and Nicander of Colophon; [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' vi.317-81 provides another late literary source.</ref> Some versions say Artemis helped her mother give birth to Apollo for nine days.<ref name=":4" /> Another variation states that Artemis was born one day before Apollo, on the island of [[Ortygia]] and that she helped Leto cross the sea to Delos the next day to give birth to Apollo.

Later, [[Tityos]] attempted to rape Leto at the behest of Hera. He was slain by Artemis and Apollo.

This account of the birth of Apollo and Artemis is contradicted by [[Hesiod]] in [[Theogony]], as the twins are born prior to Zeus's marriage to Hera.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hesiod |title=Theogony |pages=Line 918}}</ref>

=== Semele and Dionysus ===
{{See also|Dionysus#Birth}}
When Hera learned that [[Semele]], daughter of [[Cadmus]] King of [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]], was pregnant by Zeus, she disguised herself as Semele's nurse and persuaded the princess to insist that Zeus show himself to her in his true form. When he was compelled to do so, having sworn by [[Styx]],<ref name="Hamilton">Hamilton, Edith (1969). "Mythology".</ref> his thunder and lightning destroyed Semele. Zeus took Semele's unborn child, [[Dionysus]], and completed its gestation sewn into his own thigh.

In another version, Dionysus was originally the son of Zeus by either Demeter or [[Persephone]]. Hera sent her Titans to rip the baby apart, from which he was called Zagreus ("Torn in Pieces"). Zeus rescued the heart; or, the heart was saved, variously, by [[Athena]], [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]], or [[Demeter]].<ref>Seyffert ''Dictionary''</ref> Zeus used the heart to recreate [[Dionysus]] and implant him in the womb of Semele—hence Dionysus became known as "the twice-born". Certain versions imply that Zeus gave Semele the heart to eat to impregnate her. Hera tricked Semele into asking Zeus to reveal his true form, which killed her. Dionysus later managed to rescue his mother from the underworld and have her live on Mount Olympus.

=== Heracles ===
[[Image:Herakles strangling snakes Louvre G192.jpg|thumb|[[Heracles]] strangling the snakes sent by Hera, [[Attica|Attic]] red-figured [[stamnos]], ca. 480–470 BCE. From [[Vulci]], [[Etruria]].]]

Hera is the stepmother and enemy of [[Heracles]]. The name Heracles means "Glory of Hera". In Homer's ''Iliad'', when Alcmene was about to give birth to Heracles, Zeus announced to all the gods that on that day a child by Zeus himself, would be born and rule all those around him. Hera, after requesting Zeus to swear an oath to that effect, descended from [[Mount Olympus|Olympus]] to [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]] and made the wife of [[Sthenelus (son of Andromeda and Perseus)|Sthenelus]] (son of Perseus) give birth to [[Eurystheus]] after only seven months, while at the same time preventing Alcmene from delivering Heracles. This resulted in the fulfillment of Zeus's oath in that it was Eurystheus rather than Heracles.<ref name="Hom. Il. 19.95"/> In [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias']] recounting, Hera sent witches (as they were called by the Thebans) to hinder Alcmene's delivery of Heracles. The witches were successful in preventing the birth until [[Galanthis|Historis]], daughter of Tiresias, thought of a trick to deceive the witches. Like Galanthis, Historis announced that Alcmene had delivered her child; having been deceived, the witches went away, allowing Alcmene to give birth.<ref name="Paus. 9.11.3">[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+9.11.3 9.11.3]</ref>

Hera's wrath against Zeus's son continued and while Heracles was still an infant, Hera sent two [[Serpent (symbolism)|serpents]] to kill him as he lay in his cot. Heracles throttled the snakes with his bare hands and was found by his nurse playing with their limp bodies as if they were a child's toys.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cZATs1x4BnsC&q=Galanthis+greek+mythology|title=Gods, Demigods and Demons: An Encyclopedia of Greek Mythology|last=Evslin|first=Bernard|date=2012-10-30|publisher=Open Road Media|isbn=978-1-4532-6438-6|language=en}}</ref>

According to an earlier source, however, Hera had nothing to do with the snakes in Heracles's crib. [[Pherecydes of Syros|Pherecydes]] said that "it was Amphitryon who put the serpents in the bed, because [then] he would know which of the two children was his, and that when Iphicles fled, and Heracles stood his ground, he knew that Iphicles was begotten of his body."<ref>{{Cite web |title=APOLLODORUS, THE LIBRARY 2.4.8 - Theoi Classical Texts Library |url=https://www.theoi.com/Text/Apollodorus2.html |access-date=2025-05-19 |website=www.theoi.com}}</ref>

[[File:Jacopo Tintoretto - The Origin of the Milky Way - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''[[The Origin of the Milky Way]]'' by [[Jacopo Tintoretto]], 1575]]
One account of the origin of the [[Milky Way]] is that Zeus had tricked Hera into nursing the infant Heracles: discovering who he was, she pulled him from her breast and a spurt of [[Milk of Hera|her milk]] formed the smear across the sky that can be seen to this day.<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=867195|title=The Origin of the Milky Way in the National Gallery|last1=Mandowsky|first1=Erna|journal=The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs|year=1938|volume=72|issue=419|pages=88–93}}</ref> Her milk also created a white flower, the lily.<ref>{{cite book | pages = [https://archive.org/details/Geoponica02/page/n111/mode/2up?view=theater 81-82] | author = Anonymous | title = Geoponika: Agricultural Pursuits | volume = II | translator = Thomas Owen | date = 1806 | location = [[London]]}}</ref> Unlike any Greeks, the [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]]s instead pictured a full-grown bearded Heracles at Hera's breast, a reference to his adoption by her when he became an Immortal: he had previously wounded her severely in the breast.

When Heracles reached adulthood, Hera [[Insanity|drove him mad]], which led him to murder his family and this later led to him undertaking his famous labours (Alternatively, according to [[Euripides]]'s [[Herakles (Euripides)|''Herakles'']], this happened after his labors had been completed). Hera assigned Heracles to labour for King [[Eurystheus]] at Mycenae. She attempted to make almost all of Heracles's twelve labours more difficult. When he fought the [[Lernaean Hydra]], she sent a [[Karkinos|crab]] to bite at his feet in the hopes of distracting him. Later Hera stirred up the [[Amazons]] against him when he was on one of his quests, claiming that he kidnapped their queen, [[Hippolyte]]. When Heracles took the cattle of [[Geryon]], he shot Hera in the right breast with a triple-barbed arrow: the wound was incurable and left her in constant pain, as [[Dione (Titaness)|Dione]] tells [[Aphrodite]] in the ''[[Iliad]]'', Book V. Afterwards, Hera sent a [[gadfly (mythology)|gadfly]] to bite the cattle, irritate them and scatter them. Hera then sent a flood which raised the water level of a river so much that Heracles could not ford the river with the cattle. He piled stones into the river to make the water shallower. When he finally reached the court of Eurystheus, the cattle were sacrificed to Hera.

That was not the only time Heracles had violently attacked Hera, either. After murdering [[Iphitus (son of Eurytus)|Iphitus]] of [[Oechalia (Euboea)|Oechalia]] in cold blood and seeking purification for the crime from [[Neleus]], king of [[Pylos]], Neleus and his fourteen children turned him away. After being purified elsewhere, "Heracles then marched against Neleus and not only sacked Pylos, ''but even wounded Hera, who was fighting as Neleus' ally''. As for Neleus himself, Heracles killed him and his children, except for the youngest, Nestor."<ref>[https://topostext.org/work/866 D Scholium on Homer's Iliad, 5.392]</ref>

Eurystheus also wanted to sacrifice the [[Cretan Bull]] to Hera. She refused the sacrifice because it reflected glory on Heracles. The bull was released and wandered to Marathon, becoming known as the [[Marathonian Bull]].

Some myths state that in the end, Heracles befriended Hera by saving her from [[Porphyrion]], a giant who tried to rape her during the [[Gigantomachy]], and that she even gave her daughter [[Hebe (mythology)|Hebe]] as his bride. Whatever myth-making served to account for an archaic representation of Heracles as "Hera's man", it was thought [[Decorum|suitable]] for the builders of the Heraion at [[Paestum]] to depict the exploits of Heracles in [[bas-relief]].<ref>Kerenyi, p 131</ref>

=== Trojan War ===
{{Main|Judgement of Paris}}
[[File:Judgement of Paris Met 98.8.11.jpg|thumb|right|280px|Judgement of Paris.Side B from an Attic black-figure neck amphora, 540-530BC. [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]]]
{{Trojan War}}

A prophecy stated that a son of the sea-nymph [[Thetis]], with whom Zeus fell in love after gazing upon her in the oceans off the Greek coast, would become greater than his father.<ref>Scholiast on Homer's ''[[Iliad]]''; Hyginus, ''[[Fabulae]]'' 54; Ovid, ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' 11.217.</ref> Possibly for this reason,<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.1.1&redirect=true 3.168].</ref> Thetis was betrothed to an elderly human king, [[Peleus]] son of [[Aeacus]], either upon Zeus's orders,<ref>[[Pindar#Chronological order|Pindar]], ''Nemean'' 5 ep2; Pindar, ''Isthmian'' 8 str3–str5.</ref> or because she wished to please Hera, who had raised her.<ref>Hesiod, ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' fr. 57; ''[[Cypria]]'' fr. 4.</ref> All the gods and goddesses as well as various mortals were invited to the marriage of Peleus and Thetis (the eventual parents of [[Achilles]]) and brought many gifts.<ref>Photius, ''Myrobiblion'' 190.</ref> Only Eris, goddess of discord, was not invited and was stopped at the door by Hermes, on Zeus's order. She was annoyed at this, so she threw from the door a gift of her own:<ref>Hyginus, ''[[Fabulae]]'' 92.</ref> a [[golden apple]] inscribed with the word καλλίστῃ (kallistēi, "To the fairest").<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DEpitome%3Abook%3DE%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D2 E.3.2].</ref> [[Aphrodite]], Hera, and Athena all claimed to be the fairest, and thus the rightful owner of the apple.
[[File:Mengs, Urteil des Paris.jpg|thumb|left|240px|This is one of the [[Judgement of Paris#Gallery|many works]] depicting the event. Hera is the goddess in the center, wearing the crown. ''Das Urteil des Paris'' by [[Anton Raphael Mengs]], ca. 1757]]

The goddesses quarreled bitterly over it, and none of the other gods would venture an opinion favoring one, for fear of earning the enmity of the other two. They chose to place the matter before Zeus, who, not wanting to favor one of the goddesses, put the choice into the hands of [[Paris (mythology)|Paris]], a [[Troy|Trojan]] prince. After bathing in the spring of [[Mount Ida]] where Troy was situated, they appeared before Paris to have him choose. The goddesses undressed before him, either at his request or for the sake of winning. Still, Paris could not decide, as all three were ideally beautiful, so they resorted to bribes. Hera offered Paris political power and control of all of [[Asia Minor|Asia]], while Athena offered wisdom, fame, and glory in battle, and Aphrodite offered the most beautiful mortal woman in the world as a wife, and he accordingly chose her. This woman was [[Helen of Troy|Helen]], who was, unfortunately for Paris, already married to King [[Menelaus]] of [[Sparta#Prehistory, "dark age" and archaic period|Sparta]]. The other two goddesses were enraged by Paris's decision and, after the [[Trojan War]] started through Helen's abduction by Paris, they sided with the Greeks.[[File:Theoi Cdm Paris 229.jpg|thumb|left|280px|'''English:''' Hermes, Athena, Zeus (seated), Hera and Ares (all named). Side A of an Attic black-figure neck-amphora, end of 6th century BC. [[BnF Museum]], Paris]]
Hera plays a substantial role in ''[[The Iliad]]'', appearing in several books throughout the epic poem. She makes many attempts to thwart the Trojan Army. In books 1 and 2, Hera declares that the Trojans must be destroyed and persuades [[Athena]] to aid the [[Achaeans (Homer)|Achaeans]] in battle, and she agrees to assist with interfering on their behalf.<ref name="Iliad">{{cite book|last1=Homer|title=The Iliad|url=https://archive.org/details/theiliad02199gut}}</ref>

In book 5, Hera and Athena plot to harm [[Ares]], who had been seen by [[Diomedes]] in assisting the Trojans. Diomedes called for his soldiers to fall back slowly. Hera saw Ares's interference and asked Zeus for permission to drive Ares away from the battlefield. Hera encouraged Diomedes to attack Ares and he threw his spear at the god. Athena drove the spear into Ares's body, and he bellowed in pain and fled to [[Mount Olympus]], forcing the Trojans to fall back.<ref name="Iliad" />

In book 8, Hera tries to persuade [[Poseidon]] to disobey Zeus and help the Achaean army. He refuses, saying he doesn't want to go against Zeus. Determined to intervene in the war, Hera and Athena head to the battlefield. However, seeing the two flee, Zeus sent Iris to intercept them and make them return to Mount Olympus or face grave consequences. After prolonged fighting, Hera sees Poseidon aiding the Greeks and giving them the motivation to keep fighting.

In book 14 Hera devises a plan to deceive Zeus. Zeus set a decree that the gods were not allowed to interfere in the mortal war. Hera is on the side of the Achaeans, so she plans a [[Deception of Zeus]] where she seduces him, with help from Aphrodite, and tricks him into a deep sleep, with the help of [[Hypnos]], so that the Gods could interfere without the fear of Zeus.<ref>Homer. ''Iliad'', Book 14, Lines 153-353.</ref>

In book 21, Hera continues her interference with the battle as she tells [[Hephaestus]] to prevent the river from harming [[Achilles]]. Hephaestus sets the battlefield ablaze, causing the river to plead with Hera, promising her he will not help the Trojans if Hephaestus stops his attack. Hephaestus stops his assault and Hera returns to the battlefield where the gods begin to fight amongst themselves. After Apollo declines to battle Poseidon, [[Artemis]] eagerly engages Hera for a duel. Hera however treats the challenge as unimportant, easily disarming the haughty rival goddess and beating her with her own weapons. Artemis is left retreating back to [[Mount Olympus]] in tears to cry at Zeus's lap.<ref name="Iliad" />

=== Minor stories ===
[[File:Statue of a female deity (Academy of Athens) on May 22, 2022.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Hera in the pediment of the [[Academy of Athens (modern)|Academy of Athens]].]]

====The Golden Fleece====
Hera hated [[Pelias]], king of [[Iolcus]], because he had killed [[Sidero]], his step-grandmother, in one of her temples. She later convinced his nephew [[Jason]] to kill Pelias. The [[Golden Fleece]] was the item that Jason needed to get his mother Alcimide freed, which he obtained with the help of the sorceress [[Medea]], who was influenced by the goddess. At the request of Hera, [[Aeolus (son of Hippotes)|Aelous]] calmed all the winds but the "steady" west wind, to aid their crew, the [[Argonauts]], on their journey home.<ref>[[Apollonius of Rhodes]], [https://archive.org/details/argonautica00apoluoft/page/346/mode/2up?view=theater 4.757–769], [https://archive.org/details/argonautica00apoluoft/page/346/mode/2up?view=theater 4.757–769] & [https://archive.org/details/argonautica00apoluoft/page/350/mode/2up?view=theater 4.818–822]</ref>

==== Cydippe ====
[[Cydippe]], a priestess of Hera, was on her way to a festival in the goddess's honor. The oxen which were to pull her cart were overdue and her sons, [[Kleobis and Biton|Biton]] and [[Cleobis]], pulled the cart the entire way (45 [[stadia (length)|stadia]], 8 kilometers). Cydippe was impressed with their devotion to her and Hera, and so asked Hera to give her children the best gift a god could give a person. Hera ordained that the brothers would die in their sleep. This honor bestowed upon the children was later used by [[Solon]] as proof when trying to convince [[Croesus]] that it is impossible to judge a person's happiness until they have died a fruitful death after a joyous life.<ref>Herodotus' ''History'', Book I</ref>

====Ixion====
When [[Zeus]] had pity on [[Ixion]] and brought him to Olympus and introduced him to the gods, instead of being grateful, Ixion grew lustful for Hera. Zeus found out about his intentions and made a cloud in the shape of Hera, who was later named [[Nephele]], and tricked Ixion into coupling with it. From their union came [[Centaurus (Greek mythology)|Centaurus]]. So Ixion was expelled from Olympus and Zeus ordered [[Hermes]] to bind Ixion to a winged fiery wheel that was always spinning. Therefore, Ixion was bound to a burning solar wheel for all eternity, first spinning across the heavens, but in later myth transferred to [[Tartarus]].<ref>Kerenyi 1951, p.160</ref>

==== Olympian Rebellion ====
In the ''Iliad'', Homer tells of another attempted overthrow, in which Hera, Poseidon, and Athena conspire to overpower Zeus and tie him in bonds. It is only because of Thetis, who summons Briareus, one of the [[Hecatoncheires]], to Olympus, that the other Olympians abandon their plans (out of fear for Briareus).<ref>Gantz, p. 59; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA82 p. 82]; [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.386-1.427 1.395&#x2013;410].</ref>

==== Aëtos ====
According to the myth, [[Aëtos]] was a beautiful boy born of the [[Gaia|earth]]. While Zeus was young and hiding in [[Crete]] from his father [[Cronus]] who had devoured all of Zeus's siblings, Aëtos became friends with the god and was among the first beings to swear fealty to him as new king. But years later, after Zeus had overthrown his father and become king in his place, Zeus's wife Hera turned Aëtos into an eagle, out of fear that Zeus loved him. Thus the eagle became the sacred bird of Zeus, and a symbol of power and kingship.<ref>[[Sophocles]] frag 320.</ref><ref name=":serv">[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], ''Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053%3Abook%3D1%3Acommline%3D394 1.394]</ref>

====Tiresias====
[[Tiresias]] was a priest of Zeus, and as a young man, he encountered two snakes mating and hit them with a stick. He was then transformed into a woman. As a woman, Tiresias became a priestess of Hera, married, and had children, including [[Manto (mythology)|Manto]]. After seven years as a woman, Tiresias again found mating snakes; depending on the myth, either she made sure to leave the snakes alone this time, or, according to [[Fabulae|Hyginus]], trampled on them and became a man once more.<ref>Hygini, ''[[Fabulae]]'', LXXV</ref>

As a result of his experiences, Zeus and Hera asked him to settle the question of which sex, male or female, experienced more pleasure during [[Sexual intercourse|intercourse]]. Zeus claimed it was women; Hera claimed it was men. When Tiresias sided with Zeus, Hera struck him blind.<ref name=":3" /> Since Zeus could not undo what she had done, he gave him the gift of prophecy.

An alternative and less commonly told story has it that Tiresias was blinded by [[Athena]] after he stumbled onto her bathing naked. His mother, [[Chariclo]], begged her to undo her curse, but Athena could not; she gave him a prophecy instead.
[[File:Figino.jpg|left|thumb|''[[Io (mythology)|Io]] with [[Zeus]]'' by [[Giovanni Ambrogio Figino]], 1599]]

==== Io and Argus ====
The myth of Io has many forms and embellishments. Generally, Io was a priestess of Hera at the [[Heraion of Argos]]. Zeus lusted after her and either Hera turned Io into a heifer to hide her from Zeus, or Zeus did so to hide her from Hera but was discovered. Hera had Io tethered to an olive-tree and set [[Argus Panoptes]] ({{lit|all-seeing}}) to watch over her, but Zeus sent Hermes to kill him.<ref name="OCD_Io3">{{cite book |last1=Dowden |first1=Ken |title=The Oxford Classical Dictionary |date=1996 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-866172-X |editor1-last=Hornblower & Spawforth |edition=Third |location=Oxford |pages=762–763 |chapter=Io}}</ref> Infuriated, Hera then sent a gadfly (Greek {{lang|grc|oistros}}, compare [[Estrus cycle|oestrus]]) to pursue and constantly sting Io, who fled into Asia and eventually reached Egypt. There Zeus restored her to human form and she gave birth to his son [[Epaphus]].<ref name="OCD_Io3" />

====Gerana====
[[Gerana]] was a queen of the [[Pygmies]] who boasted she was more beautiful than Hera. The wrathful goddess turned her into a crane and proclaimed that her bird descendants should wage eternal war on the Pygmy folk.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' 6.89 - 91</ref>

====Lamia====
[[Lamia (mythology)|Lamia]] was a lovely queen of [[Libya]], whom Zeus loved; Hera in jealousy robbed Lamia of their children, either by kidnapping and hiding them away, killing them, or causing Lamia herself to kill her own offspring.<ref name="johnston">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=57MwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA174 |title=Restless Dead: Encounters Between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece |publisher=Univ of California Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-520-28018-2 |editor-last=Johnston |editor-first=Sarah Iles |page=174}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Ogden|2013b|p=98}}: "Because of Hera ... she lost [''or'': destroyed] the children she bore".</ref> Lamia became disfigured from the torment, transforming into a terrifying being who hunted and killed the children of others.<ref>[[Duris of Samos]] (d. 280 B. C.), ''Libyca'', quoted by {{harvp|Ogden|2013b|p=98}}</ref>

===Children===
[[Image:Hera Prometheus Cdm Paris 542.jpg|thumb|Hera and [[Prometheus]], [[Tondo (art)|tondo]] of a 5th-century BCE cup from [[Vulci]], [[Etruria]]]]
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"
|-
! Name !! Father !! Functions !! Explanation
|-
| [[Angelos (mythology)|Angelos]]
| Zeus
| An underworld goddess
| Her story only survives in [[scholia]] on [[Theocritus]]'s Idyll 2. She was raised by [[nymphs]]. One day she stole Hera's anointments and gave them away to [[Europa (consort of Zeus)|Europa]]. To escape her mother's wrath, she tried to hide. Hera eventually ceased prosecuting her, and Zeus ordered the [[Cabeiroi]] to cleanse Angelos. They performed the purification rite in the waters of the [[Acherusia]] Lake in the [[Greek underworld|Underworld]]. Consequently, she received the world of the dead as her realm of influence, and was assigned the epithet ''katachthonia'' ("she of the underworld").<ref>Scholia on Theocritus, Idyll 2. 12 referring to [[Sophron]]</ref>
|-
| [[Ares]]
| Zeus
| God of war
| According to [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Theogony]]'', he was a son of Zeus and Hera.<ref name="Theo-921">''Theogony'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+921 921&ndash;922].</ref>
|-
| [[Arge]]
| Zeus
| A [[nymph]]
| A nymph daughter of Zeus and Hera.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A Classical Manual, being a Mythological, Historical and Geographical Commentary on Pope's Homer, and Dryden's Aeneid of Virgil with a Copious Index|last=Murray|first=John|year=1833|location=Albemarle Street, London|page=8}}</ref>
|- 
| [[Charites]]
| Not named
| Goddesses of grace and beauty
| Though usually considered as the daughters of Zeus and [[Eurynome]], or [[Dionysus]] and [[Coronis (mythology)|Coronis]] according to [[Nonnus]],<ref name="48.548">[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/529#48.548 48.548]</ref> the poet [[Colluthus]] makes them the daughters of Hera, without naming a father.<ref>[[Colluthus]], ''Rape of Helen'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Colluthus/Rape_of_Helen*.html#p555 173]</ref>
|-
| [[Eileithyia]]
| Zeus
| Goddess of childbirth
| In ''Theogony'' and other sources, she is described as a daughter of Hera by Zeus.<ref name="Theo-921"/> Although, the meticulously accurate mythographer [[Pindar]] in ''Seventh Nemean Ode'' mentions Hera as Eileithyia's mother but makes no mention of Zeus.
|-
| [[Eleutheria]]
| Zeus
| Personification of liberty
| Eleutheria is the Greek counterpart of [[Libertas]] (Liberty), daughter of Jupiter (Zeus) and Juno (Hera) as cited in Hyginus, ''[[Fabulae]]'' Preface.
|-
| [[Eris (mythology)|Eris]]
| Zeus
| Goddess of discord
| In the ''Iliad'', Eris is described as the sister of Ares, which would make her the daughter of Hera and Zeus in Homer.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bell|first=Robert E.|title=Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary|publisher=[[ABC-Clio]]|date=1991|isbn=9780874365818|url=https://archive.org/details/womenofclassical00bell/|page=[https://archive.org/details/womenofclassical00bell/page/188/mode/2up?view=theater 188]}}</ref>
|-
| [[Hebe (mythology)|Hebe]]
| Zeus
| Goddess of youth
| She was a daughter of Zeus and Hera.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+921 921&ndash;922]; [[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:11.601 11. 604&ndash;605]; [[Pindar]], ''Isthmian'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DI.%3Apoem%3D4 4.59&ndash;60]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.3.1 1.3.1], and later authors.</ref> In a rare alternative version, Hera alone produced Hebe after being impregnated by eating lettuce.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YTkjHT6N9nIC&q=hera+impregnated+by+lettuce|title=The Writing of Orpheus: Greek Myth in Cultural Context|last=Detienne|first=Marcel|date=2002-11-25|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=978-0-8018-6954-9|language=en}}</ref> A fragment by [[Callimachus]] describes Hera holding a feast to celebrate the seventh day after the birth of Hebe.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Callimachus |title=Iambi, Fragment 202}}</ref> [[Pindar]] states that Hebe stays by her mother's side in Olympus forever.<ref>[[Pindar]], ''Nemean'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DN.%3Apoem%3D10 10.17]</ref>
|-
| [[Hephaestus]]
| Zeus
| God of fire and the forge
| Attested by Hesiod, Hera was jealous of Zeus's giving birth to [[Athena]] with [[Metis (mythology)|Metis]], so she gave birth to Hephaestus without union with Zeus<ref name=":1">''Theogony'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+924 924&ndash;929].</ref> (though Homer has Hephaestus refer to "father Zeus"<ref>In Homer, ''[[Odyssey]]'' viii. 312 Hephaestus addresses "Father Zeus"; cf. Homer, ''[[Iliad]]'' i. 578 (some scholars, such as Gantz, ''Early Greek Myth'', p. 74, note that Hephaestus's reference to Zeus as 'father' here may be a general title), xiv. 338, xviii. 396, xxi. 332. See also [[Cicero]], ''[[De Natura Deorum]]'' 3.22.</ref>). In some versions, Zeus threw Hephaestus off [[Mount Olympus]] because he protected Hera from his advances.<ref>{{cite book |last=Graves |first=Robert |title=The Greek Myths: 1 |publisher=Penguin Books |year=1955 |isbn=0736621121 |location=Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England |pages=51}}</ref><ref name="Foot2">''Homeric Hymn to Apollo'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D3%3Acard%3D305 316–321]; Homer, ''Iliad'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D18%3Acard%3D388 18.395–405].</ref><ref name="Hera2">[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D568 1.590–594]; [[Gaius Valerius Flaccus|Valerius Flaccus]], ii, 8.5; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], i, 3 § 5. Apollodorus confounds the two occasions on which Hephaestus was thrown from Olympus.</ref>
In other versions, Hera was the one who threw Hephaestus out of disgust for his ugliness.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Deris|first=Sara|date=2013-06-06|title=Examining the Hephaestus Myth through a Disability Studies Perspective|url=http://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/prandium/article/download/19652|journal=Prandium: The Journal of Historical Studies at University of Toronto Mississauga|language=en|volume=2|issue=1|access-date=2016-12-09|archive-date=2016-12-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220141457/http://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/prandium/article/download/19652}}</ref> He gained revenge against Hera for rejecting him by making her a magical throne that did not allow her to leave once she sat on it.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Hedreen_2004">Guy Hedreen (2004) The Return of Hephaistos, Dionysiac Processional Ritual and the Creation of a Visual Narrative. ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'', '''124''' (2004:38–64) p.&nbsp;38 and note.</ref><ref name="Kerenyi_1951">Karl Kerenyi (1951) ''The Gods of the Greeks'', pp&nbsp;156&ndash;158.</ref> The other gods begged Hephaestus to return to Olympus to let her go, but he repeatedly refused.<ref name="Kerenyi_1951" /> [[Dionysus]] got him drunk and took him back to Olympus on the back of a mule.<ref>The return of Hephaestus on muleback to Olympus accompanied by Dionysus was a theme of the Attic vase painters, whose wares were favored by Etruscans. The return of Hephaestus was painted on the Etruscan tomb at the "Grotta Campana" near Veii (identified by Peterson; the "well-known subject" was doubted in this instance by A. M. Harmon, "The Paintings of the Grotta Campana", ''American Journal of Archaeology'' '''16'''.1 (January - March 1912):1-10); for further examples, see [[Hephaestus#Return to Olympus]].</ref> Hephaestus released Hera after being given [[Aphrodite]] as his wife.{{sfn|Slater|1968|pages=199–200}}
|-
| [[Pasithea]]
| [[Dionysus]] (?)
| One of the [[Charites|Graces]]
| Although in other works Pasithea doesn't seem to be born to Hera, [[Nonnus]] made the Grace Hera's daughter.<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/529#31.159 31.186]</ref> Elsewhere in the book, Pasithea's father is said to be [[Dionysus]],<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/529#15.86 15.91]</ref> but it's unclear whether those two together are meant to be Pasithea's parents.{{refn|group=note|name=first|Throughout the epic, [[Nonnus]] gives conflicting parentages of various characters: for example [[Helios]]'s daughter [[Astris]]'s mother in book 17<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/529#17.269 17.280]</ref> seems to be [[Clymene (mother of Phaethon)|Clymene]] while it's [[Ceto (Oceanid)|Ceto]] in Book 26,<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/529#26.351 26.355]</ref> and [[Lelantos]]'s daughter [[Aura (mythology)|Aura]]'s mother is [[Cybele]] in Book 1,<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/529#1.11 1.27]</ref> but [[Periboea]] in Book 48.<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/529#48.247 48.247].</ref> Moreover, Pasithea is described as one of the Graces, and elsewhere in the poem the Graces' parents are given as Dionysus and [[Coronis (mythology)|Coronis]].<ref name="48.548">[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/529#48.548 48.548]</ref>}}
|-
| [[Prometheus]]
| [[Eurymedon (mythology)|Eurymedon]]
| God of forethought
| Although usually Prometheus is said to be the son of [[Iapetus]] by his wife [[Clymene (mythology)|Clymene]]<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D507 507]</ref> or [[Asia (Oceanid)|Asia]],<ref>Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D2 1.2.2]</ref> Hellenistic poet [[Euphorion of Chalcis|Euphorion]] made Prometheus the son of Hera by the giant [[Eurymedon (mythology)|Eurymedon]], who raped the young goddess while she was still living with her parents.<ref>Scholium on the ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=-9EIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA515 14.295]</ref><ref>Gantz, pp. 16, 57; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA88 p. 88].</ref>
|-
| [[Typhon]]
| –
| Serpent-monster
| Typhon is presented both as the son of Hera (in Homeric ''Pythian Hymn to Apollo'') and as the son of Gaia (in Hesiod's ''Theogony'').<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Decker|first=Jessica Elbert|date=2016-11-16|title=Hail Hera, Mother of Monsters! Monstrosity as Emblem of Sexual Sovereignty|journal=Women's Studies|volume=45|issue=8|pages=743–757|doi=10.1080/00497878.2016.1232021|s2cid=151482537|issn=0049-7878}}</ref> According to the [[Homeric Hymns|''Homeric Hymn to Apollo'']] (6th century BCE), [[Typhon]] was the [[Parthenogenesis|parthenogenous]] child of Hera, whom she bore alone as a revenge at Zeus who had given birth to Athena. Hera prayed to Gaia to give her a son as strong as Zeus, then slapped the ground and became pregnant.<ref>[[Homeric Hymns|''Homeric Hymn to Apollo'']] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D3%3Acard%3D305 306&ndash;348]. [[Stesichorus]], Fragment 239 (Campbell, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/stesichorus_i-fragments/1991/pb_LCL476.167.xml?result=1&rskey=56v0bn pp. 166&ndash;167]) also has Hera produce Typhon alone to "spite Zeus".</ref> Hera gave the infant Typhon to the serpent [[Python (mythology)|Python]] to raise, and Typhon grew up to become a great bane to mortals.<ref>Gantz, p. 49, remarks on the strangeness of such a description for one who would challenge the gods.</ref> The b scholia to ''Iliad'' 2.783, however, has Typhon born in Cilicia as the offspring of Cronus. Gaia, angry at the destruction of the Giants, slanders Zeus to Hera. So Hera goes to Cronus and he gives her two eggs smeared with his own semen, telling her to bury them, and that from them would be born one who would overthrow Zeus. Hera, angry at Zeus, buries the eggs in Cilicia "under Arimon", but when Typhon is born, Hera, now reconciled with Zeus, informs him.<ref>Kirk, Raven, and Schofield. [https://books.google.com/books?id=kFpd86J8PLsC&pg=PA59 pp. 59&ndash;60 no. 52]; Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA36 pp. 36&ndash;38]; Gantz, pp. 50&ndash;51, Ogden 2013a, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA76 p. 76 n. 46].</ref>
|}

==Genealogy==
{{Family tree of the Olympians|title=Hera's family tree|collapsed=no|cap_hera=y}}

==Art and events==
* [[Barberini Hera]] - a Roman sculpture of Hera/Juno
* [[Hera Borghese]] - a sculpture related to Hera
* [[Hera Farnese]] - a sculpture of Hera's head
* [[Heraea Games]] - games dedicated to Hera—the first sanctioned (and recorded) women's athletic competition to be held in the [[stadium at Olympia]].

==See also==
{{Portal inline|Ancient Greece}}
{{Portal inline|Myths}}
{{Portal inline|Religion}}
* [[Auðumbla]], a primeval cow in Norse mythology
* [[Parvati]]

== Footnotes ==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==References==
* [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes.'' Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=C431BA809CA4DEA22A15DA9C666F3400?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.01.0022%3atext%3dLibrary Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YTfxZH4QnqgC&dq=artemis+lygodesma&pg=PA0 |title=Greek Religion and Culture, the Bible, and the Ancient Near East |isbn=978-9004164734 |last1=Bremmer |first1=Jan N. |year=2008|publisher=BRILL }}
*{{Cite book |last1=Burkert |first1=Walter |title=Greek religion |date=1998 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-36281-9 |location=Cambridge, Mass. }}
* [[Walter Burkert|Burkert, Walter]], ''Greek Religion'' 1985.
* Burkert, Walter, ''The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age'', 1998.
* Dietrich Bernard Clive (1974) ''The origins of the Greek religion''[https://books.google.com/books?id=eQO7haySEe8C], Walter de Gruyter ISBN 311 0 003 9826
* {{cite journal | last=Elderkin | first=G. W. | title=The Marriage of Zeus and Hera and Its Symbol | journal=American Journal of Archaeology | publisher=University of Chicago Press | volume=41 | issue=3 | date=1937-07-01 | issn=0002-9114 | doi=10.2307/498508 | pages=424–435| jstor=498508 | s2cid=191415446 }}
* Evelyn-White, Hugh, ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White''. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914.
* Farnell, Lewis Richard (1896) ''The cults of the Greek states'' I: Oxford, [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.56572/page/135/mode/2up]
* {{EB1911 | last=Freese |first=John Henry |wstitle=Apollo |volume=2|pages=184–186}}
* Gantz, Timothy, ''Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5360-9}} (Vol. 1), {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5362-3}} (Vol. 2).
* [[Robert Graves|Graves, Robert]], ''[[The Greek Myths]]'' 1955. Use with caution.
* Hard, Robin, ''The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology"'', Psychology Press, 2004, {{ISBN|978-0-415-18636-0}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC Google Books].
* [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'', in ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White'', Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Homer]], ''The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes''. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Homer]]; ''The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes''. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Fabulae|Hyginus]], [https://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae1.html ''The Myths of Hyginus'']. Edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960.
* [[Karl Kerenyi|Kerenyi, Carl]], ''The Gods of the Greeks'' 1951 (paperback 1980)
* Kerenyi, Karl, 1959. ''The Heroes of the Greeks'' Especially Heracles.
* Kirk, G. S., J. E. Raven, M. Schofield, ''The Presocratic Philosophers: A Critical History with a Selection of Texts'', Cambridge University Press, Dec 29, 1983. {{ISBN|978-0-521-27455-5}}.[https://books.google.com/books?id=AzOsdRiMm7wC fc]
* {{Cite book|last1=Leeming|first1=David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kjO6CwAAQBAJ&pg=PT0|title=The Goddess: Myths of the Great Mother|last2=Fee|first2=Christopher|date=2016|publisher=Reaktion Books|isbn=978-1-78023-538-7|language=en}}
* {{cite book| first1 = John |last1 = Murray |date = 1842 |location = London | publisher= Taylor and Walton| title = A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, edited by [[William Smith (lexicographer)|William Smith]]}}
* [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]''; translated by [[W. H. D. Rouse|Rouse, W H D]], III Books XXXVI&ndash;XLVIII. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 346, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940. [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca03nonnuoft#page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive].
* {{cite book|last=O'Brien|first=Joan V.|author-link=Joan V. O'Brien|title=The Transformation of Hera: A Study of Ritual, Hero, and the Goddess in the Iliad|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a77yKM26GfYC&pg=PA0|year=1993|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-8476-7808-2}}
* Ogden, Daniel (2013a), ''Drakon: Dragon Myth and Serpent Cult in the Greek and Roman Worlds'', Oxford University Press, 2013. {{ISBN|978-0-19-955732-5}}.
* {{wikicite |reference=Ogden, Daniel (2013b), ''Dragons, Serpents, and Slayers in the Classical and early Christian Worlds: A sourcebook'', Oxford University Press.|ref={{sfnref|Ogden|2013b}}}} {{ISBN|978-0-19-992509-4}}.
* [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]. Translated by A. D. Melville; introduction and notes by E. J. Kenney.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-19-953737-2}}.
* [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes.'' Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+1.1.1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Pindar]], ''Odes'', Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1990. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DO.%3Apoem%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* Robertson D.S, ''A handbook of Greek and Roman Architecture''. Cambridge at the University Press. 1945
* Ruck, Carl A.P., and Danny Staples, ''The World of Classical Myth'' 1994
* Seyffert, Oskar. ''Dictionary of Classical Antiquities'' 1894. ({{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20051217024730/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/seyffert/0281.html On-line text]}})
* [[Jean Seznec|Seznec, Jean]], ''The Survival of the Pagan Gods : Mythological Tradition in Renaissance Humanism and Art,'' 1953
* {{wikicite |reference=Slater, Philip E. ''The Glory of Hera : Greek Mythology and the Greek Family'' (Boston: Beacon Press) 1968 (Princeton University 1992|ref={{sfnref|Slater|1968}}}} {{ISBN|0-691-00222-3}} ) Concentrating on family structure in 5th-century Athens; some of the crude usage of myth and drama for psychological interpreting of "neuroses" is dated.
* [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith, William]]; ''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'', London (1873). [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=galinthias-bio-1&highlight=galanthis "Gali'nthias"]
*  {{citation |last=West |first=Martin Litchfield |author-link=Martin Litchfield West |year=2007 |title=Indo-European poetry and myth |isbn=978-0-19-928075-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXrJA_5LKlYC&pg=PA0|publisher=Oxford University Press}}
* Spivey Nigel, ''Greek Art''. Phaidon Press Limited. 1997

==External links==
{{Commons category|Hera}}
* [http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Hera.html Theoi Project, Hera] Hera in classical literature and Greek art
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121128121229/http://www.wbenjamin.org/nc/heraion.html The Heraion at Samos]
* [https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/category/vpc-taxonomy-000066 The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (images of Hera)]
{{Greek religion}}
{{Greek mythology (deities)}}
{{Twelve Olympians}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Hera| ]]
[[Category:Children of Cronus]]
[[Category:Marriage goddesses]]
[[Category:Queens in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses characters]]
[[Category:Deities in the Iliad]]
[[Category:Mythological rape victims]]
[[Category:Mythology of Heracles]]
[[Category:Divine women of Zeus]]
[[Category:Characters in the Odyssey]]
[[Category:Deities in the Aeneid]]
[[Category:Greek goddesses]]
[[Category:Queens of Heaven (antiquity)]]
[[Category:Mothers of the twelve Olympians]]
[[Category:Childhood goddesses]]
[[Category:Characters in the Argonautica]]
[[Category:Household deities]]
[[Category:Domestic and hearth deities]]
[[Category:Women of the Trojan war]]
[[Category:Health deities]]
[[Category:Health goddesses]]
[[Category:Twelve Olympians]]
[[Category:Shapeshifters in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Cattle deities]]