June – the Month of Hera (Juno) Greek Goddess of Women and Marriage

 

 

June is the most popular month for weddings, nowadays, the reason for this is the higher chance of good weather, in ancient Greece though, this was not the case.

The month of June is named after the Greek goddess Hera (Roman – Juno), goddess of women, marriage, childbirth, children and family and so, it was considered lucky to marry in June, when marriages would be blessed by Hera, and stand a better chance of being long and happy.

 

 

Hera was the third daughter of Cronus (Saturn), leader of the first generation of Titans, and Rhea (Ops), mother of the gods.

One of the twelve Olympians, Hera was married to Zeus (Jupiter), who also happened to be her brother, king of the gods of Mount Olympus.

Hera is often depicted holding a pomegranate, a symbol of fertility , accompanied by her sacred animals.

As well as her most known symbol, the peacock, Hera is often shown with the cow, the lion and with her best-loved flower; the lily.

 

Hera’s marriage to Zeus

 

 

Zeus had fallen madly in love with the beautiful Hera, but he was out of luck, he just didn’t tick all of Hera’s boxes, who rejected his advances, which compelled Zeus to resort to underhand tricks.

Knowing Hera had a kind heart, and a soft spot for animals, Zeus transformed himself into a cuckoo, flew to her window, where he pretended to shiver with cold.

On seeing the poor bird, Hera immediately opened her window, let it in, and held it against her breast for warmth, Zeus took this opportunity to revert to his former self, and ravished the astonished Hera.

Mortified with shame at being taken advantage of, Hera agreed to let Zeus make an honest woman of her, and married him.

The sacred wedding; hieros gamos, a ritual that performs a marriage between a god and a goddess, specifically when portrayed in a symbolic rite where mortal actors represent the deities, took place, with much pomp and glory in the Garden of Hesperides, where Gaia, Mother Earth, overcome with happiness, caused a tree to bloom with golden apples.

The wedding between Hera and Zeus was followed by a three hundred year honeymoon.

 

The offspring of Hera and Zeus

 

 

Hera and Zeus had four children, well, three really, as Hera, in retaliation to Zeus conceiving the Goddess of wisdom, Athena (Minerva), all on his ownsome, gave tit for tat and produced Hephaestus (Vulcan), god of blacksmiths, in the self same way.

The other three children were Ares (Mars), god of war, Hebe (Juventas), goddess of youth, and Eileithyia (Lucina), goddess of childbirth and midwifery.

 

Temples and sanctuaries of Hera in ancient Greece

 

 

 

Hera, also one of the most wicked witches of ancient Greece, had quite a cult following and is thought to have been the first of any Greek god or goddess to have a temple or sanctuary dedicated to her, the first being on the island of Samos in around 800 BC, later to be replaced by one of the largest temples of all ancient Greece, the Heraion of Samos.

The great size, and number of  temples dedicated to Hera, is an indication of how significant she was to the ancient Greeks.

 

 

As well as the two main temples, on the island of Samos, and in the Argolis in the Peloponnese, two of the earliest temples to be built in ancient Greece in the eighth century, many more temples were to be found around ancient Greece, such as the ones at Olympia, Corinth, Tiryns, the sacred island of Delos and the sanctuary of Heraion at Perachora.

 

Hera’s wrath towards Zeus

 

 

Zeus was rather the man about town, a bit of a playboy, who liked nothing more than to leave Mount Olympus to visit Earth, where he consorted with mortal women, who would produce demigods, to carry on his greatness.

Hera, even though a role model for women, was better known for her jealousy and vindictive ways, than for her role as goddess, the phrase ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’, could have been written for her, she was driven crazy by Zeus’s dalliances, and awaited an opportunity to wreak revenge on her unfaithful husband Zeus.

The opportunity arose when Zeus acted rather more  strictly than he should have with his fellow Olympians, Hera jumped at the chance and lead the disgruntled Olympians in revolt against Zeus.

 

 

Hera drugged Zeus’s wine, and when she was sure he was totally out for the count, called upon the Olympians to tie Zeus to a chair, using one hundred strong knots, and to confiscate his thunderbolt.

The plan had not been well thought through, and when the task was completed, with Zeus bound firmly to his chair, they began to argue amongst themselves about what they should do next, and who was to be their new leader.

The arguments became heated, so much so, that Briareus, one of the three Hekatoncheires, giant creatures of a hundred hands and fifty heads, whom Zeus had rescued from Tartarus (an abyss used as a prison for the wicked and as a dungeon for the Titans), heard the conversation, realised his saviour, Zeus, was tied to a chair, crept in and quickly untied the hundred knots in a jiffy, with his hundred hands.

Zeus, at that moment, awoke, jumped from the chair and grabbed his thunderbolt, on seeing his fury, the Olympians fell at Zeus’s feet, begging for mercy.

Zeus caught hold of Hera, bound her wrists with chains of gold, tied  heavy anvils to her feet, and hung her from the heavens.

Hera cried out in pain all night, but none dare help her for the fear of Zeus’s anger, the next morning, feeling Hera had learnt her lesson, Zeus made Hera promise, that if he were to free her, she must agree never to plot against him again.

Hera promised, but vowed her revenge against Zeus would be taken out on his many mistresses and myriads of illegitimate children.

 

Hera and Heracles

 

 

Hera was the stepmother of Heracles, whom she hated so much, as he was the child of Alcmene, one on Zeus’s many mistresses, and, since his birth, she had tried her best to do him harm.

According to one Greek myth, Zeus had taken Heracles, to suckle at the breast of Hera whilst she slept, but awakening, Hera pushed the baby away, and drops of spurting milk, formed the Milky Way.

Hera was the source of the twelve labours of heracles when she drove him mad, causing him to murder his wife and children, which resulted in Her assigning Heracles to labour for King Eurystheus of Mycenae, doing her best to create obstacles which would prevent Heracles from completing his tasks.

 

Hera and the Trojan War

 

 

To celebrate the marriage of Peleus and Thetis (parents of Achilles), Zeus held a feast, to which Eris, goddess of discord was not invited, furious at being snubbed, Eris went to the feast anyway, taking with her a golden apple, which turned out to be the apple of discord, from the Gardens of Hesperides, as a prize for the fairest one at the party.

Hera, Athena and Aphrodite asked zeus to declare who was the fairest of the three, Zeus, not wanting this responsibility, nominated Paris, a Trojan, to judge.

Off went the three competitors, to pretty themselves up, before meeting with their judge, Paris on Mount Ida.

 

 

On seeing the three beauties, Paris was in a dilemma, each one was as handsome as the other, on seeing his difficulty in choosing the fairest amongst them, Hera, Athena and Aphrodite quickly stripped off their clothes, in the hope this would make things easier for Paris.

As Paris ogled the three ravishing contestants, each one made the effort to bribe him.

Hera offered to make him king of Europe and Asia, Athena offered wisdom and skill in war, and Aphrodite, offered him the world’s most gorgeous woman, Helen, wife of king Menelaus of Sparta.

On hearing Aphrodites offer, Paris eagerly declared her the fairest of the three, and presented her with the golden apple, causing the fury of Hera, Athena and Helen, as well as the rest of the Greeks, who now had to trek to Troy, to rescue the beautiful Helen, so starting the ten year Trojan war.

Hera, who was in fact, the most beautiful of the three women, flew into a rage, and joined the Greeks in the battle against Trojans, as  punishment to Paris for not choosing her as the fairest, this was a key event in the turning point of the war.

Hera encouraged the Greeks by shouting as if fifty men were shouting with all their might, and even seduced Zeus, exhausting him through making love to him, so as to make him fall asleep.

Once Zeus was asleep, the gods stepped on to the battlefield to support the Greeks, even though Zeus given explicit orders for them not to.

 

Myths about Hera

 

 

There are countless more myths about Hera’s vindictiveness, it seems none escaped her vengeance, below are just a small sample.

Hera had a couple of her bully boys sent to kill Leto, who was pregnant by Zeus, with Apollo and Artemis, to prevent her from giving birth, fortunately, her plans failed, Leto was rescued by Poseidon, god of the sea.

Hera destroyed the mortal princess Semele, daughter of Cadmus, King of Thebes, who was pregnant with Dionysus, by Zeus, her husband, luckily, Hermes saved the day, by helping Zeus to sew Dionysus into his thigh.

After Dionysus’s birth, Hera chased the god of pleasure relentlessly, forcing him into the life of a nomad, wandering from place to place.

Hera also found out about an affair of her husband Zeus, with her servent Io, when Hera threatened the couple, Zeus turned Io into cow to hide her, Hera, realizing some trickery was at hand, demanded Zeus give her the cow as a gift, and had it put under the guard of her servent, the one-hundred eyed Argus, so as to keep it away from Zeus.

Aiakos, king of Aegina, along with his whole country, felt Hera’s ire, when she poisoned the country’s water source.

Hera helped out Jason and the Golden Fleece, but only until her plot against Pelias, king of Iolcus, who had sent Jason on the quest for the Golden Fleece, and whom Hera hated for killing his step – grandmother, Sidero, was a success, whereupon she abandoned Jason.