HERA

Hera was the goddess of marriage and women. She was the consort of Zeus and the queen of the gods. She was the daughter of the Titans Kronos and Rhea. Her siblings were Zeus, Hestia, Demeter, Poseidon, and Hades.

She was swallowed by her father, Kronos, upon her birth so that she would not overthrow him, just as all her siblings had been except her brother Zeus. She stayed there until vomited back up when Kronos ate a magic herb he had been given by Metis. He had thought that it would make him stronger, but it actually made him regurgitate all his children. Metis was working with Zeus in an attempt to gain allies so that he could take over the universe. Hera fought with Zeus and her other siblings against the Titans and took over the universe.

Zeus wanted to marry Hera, but she refused since she knew of his infidelity. Zeus turned himself into cuckoo and created a storm. He flew into Hera’s arms and Hera held it against her. Suddenly Zeus reverted to his original form and ravished her. Hera then agreed to marry him in order to hide her shame.

Hera had a servant named Argus who had eyes all over his body. His job was to guard the cow Io and not allow her to escape. Io was one of Zeus’s lovers that he had changed into a cow to hide from Hera. But she wasn’t fooled. She found the two of them and asked Zeus if she could have the cow. Zeus couldn’t refuse since that would give him away, so he gave Io to her and she tied it up.

Sometime later, Hermes came up to Argus in order to free Io. He began telling very long, boring stories and eventually Argus became so bored that all his one hundred eyes closed in sleep. Hermes quickly touched all his eyes with his magic wand and Argus went into an eternal sleep.

Hera was furious when she saw that Io had escaped and her servant Argus was dead. She took Argus’s eyes and placed them on the tail of her favorite bird, the peacock. The eyes no longer saw anything, but looked beautiful on Hera’s bird. She then called all the gods together. She said that anyone that thought that Hermes was guilty to throw the stone she had given each one at her feet. Anyone that thought Hermes was innocent was to throw their stones at his feet. Hermes cunningly explained that all he had done was bore Argus to death. So many stones were thrown at Hermes’s feet that he was covered in the rocks. So Hera lost that argument.

Hera was always angry with her husband Zeus for his infidelity and often took out her fury on his illegitimate children. The child that was the most tormented was definitely Heracles. Hera caused misfortune after misfortune for him during his entire mortal life. She finally stopped terrorizing after he came up Mt. Olympus and became immortal. She was grateful to him since he had helped the gods to defend Mt. Olympus against some very powerful enemies. She gave him her daughter Hebe, the goddess of youth, as his wife.