Hera; goddess of women, marriage and family.
Hera is the daughter of Cronus and Rhea, and the sister of Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, Hestia, Zeus, and Chiron. She is also said to be the daughter of the Titans. Later in life she married her brother Zeus. She was the one true wife of Zeus. But, because of this marriage, she had many enemies. Zeus liked to go down to earth and make children with the mortals to “spread his legacy”. Hera hated all of them. One of the famous ones was hercules or heracles. He was the son of Zeus and a mortal woman. When Hera found out, she sent snakes to kill him. This scene is seen in the Disney movie “Hercules”. Hercules, being half god, instead strangled the snakes and played with them like toys.
Hera also had children with Zeus. Ares and Hephaestus. Ares is the god of war. While Athena was the goddess of war strategy, military strategy and generalship as the goddess of intelligence. Ares was focused on war violence, and “physical untamed aspect” of war.
Hephaestus was the god of fire, metalworking, stone masonry, forges and the art of sculpture. He was a blacksmith for the gods, making all the weapons for Olympus. He was married to Aphrodite by Zeus, to prevent war for her hand in marriage.
Social Status
- Hera was the Ruler of Goddesses, along with Zeus, ruler of the Gods.
Modern relevancy
- A modern reference to Hera is the movie Juno, a drama/romance movie made in 2007. Juno is Hera’s roman name. Another allusion is the HERA Woman Cancer Foundation.
Sources:
“Hera • Facts and Information on Greek Goddess Hera.” Greek Gods & Goddesses, greekgodsandgoddesses.net/goddesses/hera/.
“Queen Hera (Juno), the Olympian Goddess of Marriage.” Greek Gods, www.greek-gods.info/greek-gods/hera/.