Hera

Queen of Olympus

Hera was a daughter of Cronus and Rhea, swallowed at birth with her siblings and freed by Zeus. Zeus courted her in the form of a bedraggled cuckoo, and their wedding was celebrated as the model of sacred marriage. As queen she sat beside Zeus on Olympus, honoured as the guardian of marriage and of women at every stage of life.

A jealous goddess

Zeus’ countless affairs made Hera one of the most vengeful figures in myth. She had the hundred-eyed giant Argus guard Io, a lover of Zeus who had been turned into a heifer, and she tormented Heracles from the cradle, sending two serpents to kill him as a baby. After Argus was slain by Hermes, Hera placed his eyes on the tail of her sacred bird, the peacock.

Key myths

• The cuckoo courtship and her sacred marriage to Zeus
• Her persecution of Heracles, whose name means glory of Hera
• The Judgement of Paris, which turned her against Troy
• The birth of Hephaestus, whom she cast from Olympus

Worship

Hera was one of the first Greek deities to receive a monumental temple. Her great sanctuaries stood at Argos and on the island of Samos, and at Olympia the Temple of Hera is older than the Temple of Zeus. Unmarried girls held their own races in her honour there, the Heraia.