Reference
- HeraIn Greek mythology, the goddess of women and marriage (Roman Juno); sister and consort of Zeus; and mother of Hephaestus, god of fire and metalcraft, the war god Ares, and Hebe, the original cupbearer to the gods. The peacock was sacred to her; the eyes in its tail were transplanted from her servant, the 100-eyed Argus, who had watched over Zeus' lover Io.
Myth Hera was a daughter of the Titans Kronos and Rhea; she was swallowed at birth by her father with her brothers Poseidon and Pluto, and sisters Hestia and Demeter, but rescued by Zeus who had been hidden from the same fate.
Transformed as a cuckoo, Zeus wooed the reluctant Hera, and as a wedding present Gaia, mother of the Earth, gave her the golden apples of immortality which were later tended by the Hesperides.
Described by Homer as jealous and quarrelsome, her anger often brought disaster on gods and mortals. She persecuted Zeus' lovers and their children, including the hero Heracles, attacked by snakes as a baby and harried throughout his life; and Semele, whom she killed through her trickery. Hera also afflicted Semele's son, the wine god Dionysus, with madness. After Paris chose Aphrodite as the fairest goddess, Hera supported the Greeks during the Trojan wars.
Worship Hera was the chief pre-Greek deity of Argos, in southern Greece, and may originally have been celebrated as a personification of the fruitful earth. The Greeks probably acknowledged her as a powerful deity, possibly considering her marriage to their own supreme god Zeus, an honour.
It has been suggested that Hera's vengeful character may have reflected an early conflict between her ancient worship and that of the newcomer, Zeus. Her chief centre was at Argos, site of the Heraeum, her temple sanctuary, but her cult was followed in Samos and elsewhere throughout the Greek world. - JunoIn Roman religion, the chief goddess and female counterpart of Jupiter. She was identified with the Greek goddess Hera. With Jupiter and Minerva she was a member of the Capitoline triad of deities traditionally introduced into Rome by the Etruscans. She was connected with all aspects of the lives of women, particularly marriage. Individualized, she became a female guardian spirit; as every man had his genius, so every woman had her juno. Her temple in Rome eventually housed the Roman mint, and she was invoked as the savior of the state. Her sacred bird was the peacock.
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Perspectives
Women and Weasels
If you told a woman her sex had a shared, long-lived history with weasels, she might deck you. But those familiar with mythology know better: that the connection between women and weasels is an ancient and favorable one, based in the Greek myth of a midwife who tricked the gods to ease HeraclesOCOs birthOCoand was turned into a weasel by Hera as punishment. Following this story as it is retold over centuries in literature and art, a"Women and Weasels"atakes us on a journey through mythology and ancient belief, revising our understanding of myth, heroism, and the status of women and animals in Western culture.aMaurizio Bettini recounts and analyzes a variety of key literary and visual moments that highlight the weaselOCOs many attributes. We learn of its legendary sexual and childbearing habits and symbolic association with witchcraft and midwifery, its role as a domestic pet favored by women, and its ability to slip in and out of tight spaces. The weasel, Bettini reveals, is present at many unexpected moments in human history, assisting women in labor and thwarting enemies who might plot their ruin. With a parade of symbolic associations between weasels and womenOCowitches, prostitutes, midwives, sisters-in-law, brides, mothers, and heroesOCoBettini brings to life one of the most venerable and enduring myths of Western culture.
The Glory of Hera
The ancient Athenians were "quarrelsome as friends, treacherous as neighbors, brutal as masters, faithless as servants, shallow as lovers--all of which was in part redeemed by their intelligence and creativity." Thus writes Philip Slater in this classic work on narcissism and family relationships in fifth-century Athenian society. Exploring a rich corpus of Greek mythology and drama, he argues that the personalities and social behavior of the gods were neurotic, and that their neurotic conditions must have mirrored the family life of the people who perpetuated their myths. The author traces the issue of narcissism to mother-son relationships, focusing primarily on the literary representation of Hera and the male gods and showing how it related to devalued women raising boys in an ambitious society dominated by men. "The role of homosexuality in society, fatherless families, working mothers, women's status, and violence, male pride, and male bonding--all these find their place in Slater's analysis, so honestly and carefully addressed that we see our own societal dilemmas reflected in archaic mythic narratives all the more clearly."--Richard P. Martin, Princeton University Originally published in 1992. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Hera, the Mother of Evil
- Films on Demand This link opens in a new window
Hera often sought revenge on Zeus' lovers and illegitimate children.
Hera's Wrath
- Films on Demand This link opens in a new windowZeus' wife tries to prevent him from committing infidelity but the plan backfires. When she hears of Leto's pregnancy, she calls Python on her. Leto wanders until reaching Asteria Island in the Aegean Sea, named after her sister. WARNING: Viewer Discretion Advised. This video contains nudity.
Reconciling with Hera
- Films on Demand This link opens in a new windowDionysus reconciled with Hera by rescuing her from Hephaestus' golden net.
Hera, A Woman Scorned
- Films on Demand This link opens in a new windowIo, priestess to Hera, was seduced by Zeus who transformed Io into a cow to avoid Hera's rage. Hera commanded she be guarded by Argus, a hundred-eyed giant. Io was eventually rescued by Hermes, though Hera still dogged her by sending a gadfly to sting her wherever she went.
Online Resources
- Allegorical interpretations of Hera-Juno at the end of antiquity: The example of FulgentiusThe allegorical interpretations of pagan gods flourished in late Antiquity. They were the work of the pagans, who thus sought to spiritualize their religion, but also of some Christians, who thought that the pagan fables were hiding truths they needed to discover. The goddess Hera-Juno has not escaped the phenomenon. Here we consider, taking as one basis the works of Fabius Planciades Fulgentius, African writer of the fifth-sixth century, what these interpretations are and what they tell us both about this goddess and the mentality of late Antiquity.
- Hera and Juno: The Functions of the Goddesses in Prehistoric and Historic Greece and Rome: Introduction..the Symposium Classicum Peregrinum met in Budapest, Hungary to discuss the topic, “Hera and Juno: The Functions of the Goddesses in Prehistoric and Historic Greece and Rome.” This Symposium was organized by Attilio Mastrocinque (Università di Verona), Patricia A. Johnston (Brandeis University) and László
Takács (Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Budapest). It was hosted by the Pázmány
Péter Catholic University in Budapest... - Hera and Juno in the ArgonauticaThe article deals with the role of the Greek goddess Hera and her Roman counterpart, Iuno, in the poetic treatments of the myth of Argonauts. The focus is put especially on Iuno's character development in Valerius Flaccus' adaptation of the myth. Iuno's character in this work has already been discussed by Werner Schubert in his fundamental study (1991), in which he pointed out the remarkable approximation of Iuno fabulosa and Iuno civilis. Referring to this study, the article emphasizes rather the literary development of Iuno's character. It is shown that Valerius Flaccus portrays the highest goddess not only as a peculiar helper (socia), as suggested by Schubert, but also as a permanent participant in an intertextual dialogue with the epic poems of Homer and Apollonius Rhodius. Valerius Flaccus' aim here is to invert his literary predecessors' accounts in a subtle and witted way (as Debra Hershkowitz has already presented)