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Greek Goddesses: Hera, Her History and Significance

Although often overshadowed by her philandering husband, the worship of the Greek goddess Hera was just as widespread as his and the representation in art reflects the high esteem. It is my intention to look at the history and significance of Hera through literary and archaeological evidence.

The first mention of Hera in literature is within Homer's 'Iliad', where she is a significant motivating force. Although scholars often dismiss her as a minor figure, her mood swings explained away as characteristic of the radical inconsistencies to be found in most Homeric deities (O'Brien, p.105). But Hera's significance is far more complex and vital to the epic than such a notion implies.

Within the Iliad, Hera symbolises the "lust for vengeance" and "rage", one of the two different views of divine justice put forward by Homer. She is the brutal notion of 'the end justifies the means'. Indeed, we can see this when she is made to barter for the welfare of her own people, the Argives, in order to crush Troy. Her behaviour towards the Argives is extremely noteworthy since she was in Homer's time, and almost certainly earlier, the principal deity of the Argolid.

We also see her duel aspects when the duel between Paris and Menelaos begin. Hera's rage is pictured as 'a bitter milk overflowing from her breast'. This goddess of childbirth, at times associated with the bitter birth-pangs of the Eileithyia (the goddess of birth), becomes here a goddess of bitter bile in the psychological sense.

Since the goddess is mentioned in the Iliad, which was written in the 9th century BCE, it is certain that her cult and worship originated much earlier on. This is due to the fact that Homer used references, names, locations and deities that were familiar to his audience, in order that they may understand the underlying message within the poem.

As the wife of Zeus, the king of the gods, Hera was the queen. She was the patroness of marriage and married women, punishing adultery severely and rewarding chastity and devotion. From the many surviving myths and legends from ancient Greece, we know that Zeus was cruel and disloyal to his wife - the countless mistresses and offspring testify to this - he nonetheless honoured his family. In this, Zeus and Hera reflected Greek society. The ancient Greek man esteemed family honour, but the male social elite had no problem reconciling this with extramarital sex involving both women and younger

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