Revenge on the Mistresses: A Biography of the Queen of Olympians

 

Natalie Cassello

Nick Martino

Humanities

Greek God Biography

April 17th, 2015

 

 

Greek mythology was very extensive and contained hundreds of myths. Out of the stories, about a quarter of them revolved around jealously and of those, most related to Zeus, the ‘King of Gods and Men,’ cheating on his wife, Hera. As the ‘Goddess of Marriage,’ you can see how easily she could get frustrated. Hera is known as the ‘Queen of Olympian Gods,’ ‘Queen of Heaven,’ and the ‘Goddess of Marriage, Childbirth, Kings, and Empire.’ She was born to Cronus, the ‘Titan God of Time,’ and Rhea, the ‘Titan Goddess of Female Fertility, Motherhood, and Generation.’ According to Elizabeth Spathari in her 2001 book, Greek Mythology, “Hera’s birthplace was on Samos near the river of Imbrasus or Parthenius where, later, her major sanctuary, Heraion, was established.” Of course this was only one theory. Another Heraion was created in Argos, which is another possible birthplace of the goddess. Immediately after being born, Hera was swallowed by her father because Gaia and Uranus warned him that his children would overthrow him. Being immortal, Hera survived with her siblings, Hestia, Hades, Demeter, and Poseidon inside the stomach of Cronus, until the birth of Zeus. Rhea tricked her husband by having him swallow a rock wrapped in a blanket instead of the newborn baby. Adamanthea, a nymph, raised the future Lord of the Skies, but he was hidden from his father by hanging from a tree in between the earth, sky, and sea. His cries were washed away by the sounds of swords clashing and screams by the kouretes, soldiers, and other gods. When he became mature enough, Zeus gave Cronus a special herb drink, forcing him to disgorge his children. However, in order to get the potion, Zeus freed Cronus’ brothers, the gigantes, the hecatonchires, and the cyclopes beginning the war known as Titanomachy. In return, Zeus was gifted thunder and lightning. The babies were born in the reversed order, making Hera the second child and eldest daughter. She was fostered by Oceanus, the ‘God of the Ocean-Stream,’ and Thetys, the ‘Goddess of Fresh Water.’

 

Shortly after all of this, Zeus began to fall for Hera, but, unfortunately for him, she had no interest in being his seventh lover. In effort to win her affection, Zeus disguised himself as a rain soaked cuckoo bird in order to get close to her. He awaited until Hera warmed the poor bird close to her breasts until he turned back into his natural form and took advantage of the woman. This myth is the reason why a cuckoo bird is a major symbol of the goddess’s. Hera and Zeus held the first Olympian God wedding. The single night went on for 300 years.

 

Together, the couple gave birth to three children, Ares, Hebe, and Eileithyia. Ares is the ‘God of War,’ Hebe is the ‘Goddess of Youthful Beauty,’ and Eileithyia is the ‘Goddess of Childbirth.’ However, Zeus continued to have sexual affairs with other women, including goddesses, nymphs and mortals. As a result, he had many more illegitimate children and Hera became jealous, developing a vindictive personality. She never forgave the women or wives who had had intimate relationships with Zeus and kept grudges against moral men who cheated on their wives. Hera decided to protect these women by becoming the goddess over marriages and births. She never wanted anyone to be cheated on or to feel unwanted as she had.

 

It seems as if the two Olympians had a polygamous relationship. Zeus had many other children including, Artemis and Apollo with Leto, Dionysis with Semele, Hermes with Maia, Persephone with Demeter, and offspring with many mortals, like Heracles with Lythisoe. Hera actually made Zeus kill Semele with thunder and lightning, because of a curse from the Styx, by convincing her to insist to see his true shape. He was able to save the baby by sewing him into his leg to complete gestation. However, the thing that made Hera the angriest was that Zeus had a daughter by himself. He swallowed the pregnant Metic whole and Athena came out of his head fully grown wearing armor and, according to the new Acropolis Museum in Athens, Hera was present to see this one of a kind birth. Athena quickly became his favorite child, which made Hera even more jealous. Theogony Hesiod quoted Evelyn White’s translation of the Illiad stating, “Zeus gave birth from his own head to Tritogeneia [Athena] . . . Hera was very angry and quarrelled with her mate. And because of this strife she bare without union with Zeus who hold the aigis a glorious son, Hephaistos, who excelled all the sons of Heaven in crafts." She created Hephaestus alone, but was disgusted by his ugliness, so she threw him off of Mount Olympus. She also gave birth to the monster, Typhaon, but decided to give him to Python to raise. Not only did Hera cheat on Zeus, but myths explain how she also revolted and continuously outwitted her husband in revenge.

 

                                                                                             Hera arranged a plan to dethrone Zeus and convinced the other Olympians to help.                                                                                                        Apparently the plan was not too well thought out. They completed step one, which was                                                                                                to put the God to sleep, but they did not have a step two. ‘Greek Mythology.com’ says,                                                                                                  “At that stage, however, they began to argue over what the next step should be.                                                                                                              Briareus, one of the Hecatoncheires, overheard the arguments; still full of gratitude to                                                                                                    Zeus for saving him and his brothers from a dragon, Briareus sneaked in and quickly                                                                                                    untied the knots that held Zeus in place.” All of the Olympians involved knelt to Zeus                                                                                                      once he pulled the thunderbolts out of his bag of tricks. He punished Hera by hanging                                                                                                    her in the sky with golden chains. Her whining kept him up all night, so he decided to let                                                                                                her go if she agreed to never revolt again. She did not rebel again, but the agreement did                                                                                              not stop her from messing with his antics.

 

                                                                                             Hephaestus obviously took after his mother in traits as he decided to gain revenge on                                                                                                    her for disowning him and throwing him off of Mount Olympus. He made a magical                                                                                                        throne with his talented blacksmithing skills, which did not allow Hera to stand up. She                                                                                                was tied by unbreakable, invisible chains. The goddess was left helpless. Other gods                                                                                                    attempted to convince him to allow her to leave, but there was no changing his mind. He                                                                                             refused to come to Olympus until Dionysis got him drunk and brought him up by                                                                                                             donkeyback. In return for freeing the queen, Hephaestus was awarded Aphrodite, the                                                                                                   ‘Goddess of Love and Beauty,’ as his wife and a marvellous palace in Olympus.

 

Speaking of being kicked off of Olympus, the Queen of all Gods banned Leto from any land because she was pregnant with Zeus’ children. Even though the sexual affair had occurred before the marriage of the Olympians, Hera still did not want them to be born. Poseidon allowed Leto onto the floating island, Delos, to give birth, seeing as it was technically neither land or sea. Unfortunately, Hera also captured Eileithyia, the ‘Goddess of Childbirth.’ Hera was bribed with a necklace to release her and she came just in time to deliver Artemis. After nine days, the baby helped her mother through the birth of the second twin, Apollo. The two powerful gods were able to protect their mother from the wrath of Hera and finally Zeus restored her honor and allowed her back to land.

 

Hera soon realized that banishing someone would not get rid of them. So enraged was she to find that Alcmene gave birth Zeus’ son, Heracles, that she tried to kill him. When he was just a baby, Hera sent two serpents into the cot to murder the child, but instead the boy suffocated them. His nurse found his with a dead snake in each hand, as if they were toys. She tried very hard to make his life miserable. At one point, he was put under a madness spell, which caused him to murder his own children. He was so distraught that he went to the Oracle of Delphi for help. He was told to complete the twelve labors for King Eurystheus of Mycenae. In one of his tasks, he was to deliver cattle from Geryon to the Court of Eurystheus. The cow was sacrificed to Hera once it was brought there and now stands as a symbol of the queen.

 

Zeus usually did not acknowledge the torture his wife endured to his secret mistresses and children, but he decided to protect his mistress, Io, by turning her into a white heifer after Hera almost found out about her. However, Hera made Argus, the 100 eyed monster guard the bird and keep her separated from the king. In order to make sure she was okay, Zeus sent Hermes who made Argus fall asleep by lulling him. Hera placed the 100 eyes of the dead monster into the plumage of the peacock, creating the eyelike design. This result of jealousy became another representation of the goddess. According to Ovid, Hera found Io wandering around and had her stung. She then stayed in Egypt where she became the Egyptian Goddess, Isis.

 

Another symbol of Hera is the pomegranate, which symbolizes fertile blood and death. Hera, the ‘Goddess of Childbirth and Marriage,’ acts out of jealousy. She is important because she protects women, but she is also known to cause quite a bit of trouble. She is usually depicted with a polos, which is a crown worn by many great goddesses.

 

Hera may have spent most of her time getting revenge on her cheating husband, Zeus, but she did affect the world around her. As Greek Mythology says, “Hera was the most grandiose goddess of the Olympians and the rest of the gods respected her as did her husband despite his adulteries. However, when the goddess became angry, Olympus shook and the globe stirred the same way as when Zeus got angry.” She caused a lot of trouble to anyone with a relationship with Zeus, including his mistresses and children, but also benefited the society. She put much effort into making sure mortal men didn’t cheat on their wives and tried to keep marriages strong, as well as ensure safe childbirths.

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited:

 

Acropolis Museum. 14 Apr. 2015.

An archaeological museum displaying the findings of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. Athens. Although the Acropolis is dedicated to the Ancient Greek Goddess of wisdom, Athena, the museum provided a lot more information on Greece. For example, from the east pediment of the Parthenon, we know that Hera was present for the birth of Athena. This source was not based up the goddess I was studying, so it was not too helpful to the biography of Hera.

 

Atsma, Aaron J. "Hera Myths." Theoi Greek Mythology. Theoi Project, n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.

<http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theoi.com%2FOlympios%2FHeraMyths.html%23Seduction>. This website was extremely helpful in finding the truth of many myths. I really liked how there were so many quotes, divided by the story, from old books and poems from B.C. and early A.D. times, such as "The Illiad" with a short analysis for each section. Whenever there was contradicting stories, I relied on what this source said because it seemed so reliable.

 

"Classical Mythology." Infoplease. Infoplease, 2004. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.

<http://www.infoplease.com/cig/mythology/heavenly-marriage-hera-zeus.html>.

This article brought up original ideas, such as Hera's competitiveness. I really liked the writing style and vocabulary used in this biography. The only problem with this source was that it was not very detailed and did not include specific myths.

 

"Hera." GreekMythology.com. GreekMythology.com, n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.

<http%3A%2F%2Fwww.greekmythology.com%2FOlympians%2FHera%2Fhera.html>. GreekMythology.com was a brief, yet effective source. The information given was straightforward and there are not contradicting theories. Only the most important details are given, including the reasoning behind marrying Zeus and the story of Hera attempting to overthrow him. This article was easy to read and I wish it had more information on the myths of the goddess.

 

"Hera." Wikipedia. N.p., 12 Apr. 2015. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.

<http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FHera>.

As everyone knows, Wikipedia is not a very reliable source because it is open to the public, but it sure does hold a lot of information. It includes the main idea of most of the important myths that Hera is included in and explains the relationships between the Gods very well. This biography was one sided when it came to most stories and was repetitive of my other sources.

 

Spathari, Elizabeth. "Hera the Queen of the Olympian Gods." Greek Mythology. Athens:

Papadimas Ekdotiki, 2014. 30-32. Print.

This book had good information with many details. When there may have been multiple sides to a story, the biography shared both without a bias. Only the most important children were mentioned and the only myth told was of Zeus turning into the cuckoo. This was a great, yet broad source.

 

The Queen Is Not Amused. Digital image. The Queen Is Not Amused. N.p., 2014. Web. 17 Apr.

2015.<http://www.greekmythology.com/pictures/Olympians/Hera/14824/the_queen_is_not_amused/>.

 

"The Revenge of C on Hera: A Punishment Story." Greek Gods. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.

<http%3A%2F%2Fwww.greek-gods.info%2Fgreek-gods%2Fhephaestus%2Fmyths%2Fhephaestus-revenge%2F>.

This source was very helpful in clearing up the story of Hephaestus' revenge on Hera. I was a little confused after hearing so many different perspectives. It was detailed enough for me to get the basic idea and reasoning, but it did not confuse me even more. The only negative thing was that this source only included that one story.