Who is Hera, and Why did she marry a grade-A piece of garbage?

I’ve been waiting a long time to talk about this one. I’ve been interested in Greek mythology since I was a child. One of the various aspects of the myths that annoy me today is the destructive and unfaithful relationship between Hera and Zeus. Usually, I write about real-life queens. Still, I decided to throw in some mythological queens.

Who is Hera?

In Greek mythology, Hera is the goddess of marriage and birth. She is also considered the Queen of Olympus since her husband is Zeus, King of Olympus. As a symbol of familial bonds and marriage, Hera was exceedingly terrible at her job. Her marriage took a toll due to her unfaithful husband, and her relationship with mortals is polarizing.

According to the Greeks, her beauty is one-of-a-kind, but unfortunately, that beauty did not extend her personality. With frequent bits of jealousy and rage, Hera became extremely unlikable in Greek mythology.

Which myths mention Hera the most?

The Myth of Io and Zeus

Io was a beautiful young lady and daughter of Inachus, king of Argos. Her father was also a River God. Ironically, Io was also a priestess of Hera.

Zeus came upon Io and immediately fell in love with her. He would make advances, but Io would always decline. One day, Zeus disguised himself as a cloud, surrounding Io and making love to her (somehow, I don’t know the logistics of that).

Hera finds out about the union and becomes enraged. Instead of punishing her promiscuous husband, she turns on Io. Hera turned Io into a white cow, forever leaving her to the grass fields.

Zeus would eventually free Io, and she married Telegonus, the king of Egypt.

The Myth of Leto and Zeus

Leto was the mistress of Zeus before he married Hera. After Zeus married Hera, Leto was already pregnant with twins. Hera went into a rage and forbade Leto from giving birth on the “terra firma,” which refers to any mainland under the sun.

Hera forced Leto to travel around the world, where she couldn’t rest and give birth. Leto’s traveling went on for years, and Hera ensured that Leto’s pregnancy was long and miserable. Leto finally found a patch of land not connected to the ocean floor and gave birth to twin gods Artemis and Apollo.

Hera found out. Again. This time, she sent dragons to chase around Leto and her children. They fled but also went through situations with Titans and possible dehydration. Eventually, Hera accepted the fact and left them alone.

Her marriage to Zeus

Hera and Zeus were never pleased together, at least as long as humans have inhabited the world. For starters, they’re also siblings, but sibling marriages were common among the Greek gods and goddesses. They never took care of each other in sickness and health, never have and held for better or worse.

Zeus took a liking to mortals (especially the ladies) quickly. With each affair, Hera grew angrier and angrier. I don’t blame her for most of this anger, but the part that irks me is when she would punish the women for what Zeus forced them to do. It’s backward logic and never sat right with me.

Her punishments

Hera repeatedly supported Greek heroes, like Achilles and Jason. Her support did not extend to women in Greek mythology, especially the women whom Zeus seduced.

I will rattle off a few of Hera’s most famous punishments:

• turning someone into a white cow
• turning someone into a bear
• prolonging a woman’s labor for years
• sending two snakes to kill a baby

My reasoning

We have to remember that the men of the time most likely wrote the mythology. In Greek society, women had expectations of what to do and what not to do. This behavior includes not punishing her husband for his actions.

Hera is also a complete myth. She was not a real person, but the culture of Greece at the time influenced her character. It also made for some piping hot drama.

I don’t recommend modeling your life after Hera. I would look at her action and realize their errors. Make sure you don’t make the same mistakes that she made.