Hera Alexandros

Hera Alexandros, better known as Hera, is queen of the gods of Mount Olympus and the goddess of women, marriage and the sky in Ancient Greek religion and myth. She is the counterpart of Juno in Roman mythology.

Name

Hera (/ˈhɛrə, ˈhɪərə/; Greek: Ἥρᾱ, Hērā; Ἥρη, Hērē in Ionic and Homeric Greek)

Alexandros (Gr. Ἀλέξανδρος), the "defender of men", was an epithet of the Greek goddess Hera, under which she was worshiped at Sicyon.[1][2] A temple had been built there to Hera Alexandros by Adrastus after his flight from Argos.[3][4]

Mythology

Birth

Hera is one of the six children of the Titans, Cronus and Rhea. Soon after the birth of her and her siblings, Cronus swallowed them, in fear that one of his children would overthrow him. Rhea had managed to hide Zeus from his father, and Hera and her siblings were eventually saved by their youngest brother.

Family

Siblings

Zeus: god of thunder and the sky

Poseidon: god of the sea and storms

Hades: god of the dead and king of the underworld

Demeter: goddess of the harvest and agriculture

Hestia: virgin goddess of the hearth

Marriage

Hera is the wife of Zeus. Zeus claimed to love Hera, however, he had many affairs and bore children with various mortals. Hera was known to be spiteful towards his many lovers and offspring and many feared her wrath, this led Hera to become known for punishing offending husbands. Despite the jealousy that Hera carried for the women and children which Zeus had betrayed her with, she had originally refused his marriage proposal, leading Zeus to trick her into by transforming himself into a cuckoo outside of her window. Caring for animals being in Hera's nature, she went down to care foe the bird and embraced it. Zeus then transformed back into himself and raped her. She was ashamed of what he had done, and in turn agreed to his proposal.

Children

Ares: god of war; in some versions of mythology he is considered the son of Hera and Zeus

Eileithyia: goddess of childbirth; considered the daughter of Zeus and Hera in some mythology

Enyo: a war goddess; works alongside Ares in the destruction of cities and in war, according to Homer she is the equivalent of Eris

Eris: goddess of discord; in certain mythology she is the equivalent of Enyo and, therefore, considered the daughter of Hera and Zeus

Hebe: goddess of youth; in rare versions of her story she was produced by solely by Hera after Hera consumed lettuce

Hephaestus: god of fire and the forge; after Hera gave birth to Hephaestus she was disgusted by his ugliness and threw him from Mount Olympus. He was said to have gotten revenge on his mother by cursing her throne and never allowing her to leave. The curse was eventually broken after Dionyus got him drunk and tricked him into releasing Hera

Typhon: serpent monster; according to mythology Hera bore Typhon on her own because she was angry at Zeus for the birth of Athena, one of his many illegitimate children

Epithet

Hera is referred to by various names one of which is the title Alexandros, "the defender of men", a name which she was worshiped under by the Sicyonian people. A temple had been built in her name by Adrastus, who was the legendary king of during the war of Seven against Thebes.

References

1. Schmitz, Leonhard (1867). "Alexander". In William Smith (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. 1. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. p. 110. Archived from the original on 2009-04-25.
2. Lewis, Richard Farnell (1896). The Cults of the Greek States. Oxford: The Clarendon Press. pp. 197.
3. Scholiast, ad Pind. Nem. ix. 30
4. Pseudo-Apollodorus, iii. 12. § 5

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Alexander". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. p. 110.