Hera

=
**Hera**, Goddess of childbirth and Queen of Heaven  =====

//Hera, who walks in golden sandals, is the Queen of Heaven known for her jealousy, and because of it, she persecuted her husband's lovers and the children he had by them. //

The Birth Of Hera
Hera is a daughter of Kronos and Rhea. She, like her siblings, was swallowed by her father as soon as she was born. Zeus, with the help of Metis later tricked Kronos into a swallowing a potion that forced him to disgorge his offspring. Her siblings include Zeus, Hestia, Demeter, Hades, and Poseidon.

Hera is usually represented as a majestic woman of mature age, with a beautiful forehead, large and widely opened eyes, and with a grave and stern expression that commands reverence. Her hair was adorned with a crown or a diadem, with a veil frequently hanging down the back of her head, to characterize her as the bride of Zeus.

media type="youtube" key="oyTIUyS1VP0" height="256" width="309"
Following the Olympians' overthrow of their father Kronos, she became his wife. But she didn't do so willingly, and in fact she rejected his advances when he courted her. Zeus finally resorted to transforming himself into a sad -looking and bedraggled cuckoo, soaked from a sudden thunderstorm. Hera immediately took pity on this poor creature and held it in her bosom to warm it. Resuming his true shape, Zeus then used the opportunity to ravish her and in shame she agreed to marry him. As a wedding present Gaia created for her the famed garden of the golden apples.

Children
The children of Hera and Zeus are Ares, the goddess of youth Hebe, Eileithyia, the Cretan goddess of childbirth and Typhon, the serpent of Delphi.  After Zeus birthed Athena from his head, Hera conceived her own child without intercourse. This son (Hephaestus) was born deformed, and Hera cast him out of heaven in disgust. Hephaestus, when grown, trapped his mother on a magical, binding throne as punishment of her earlier rejection.

Myths
//Hera and the Argonauts // In only one myth is she shown as a noble and gracious protector of heroes and the inspiration of heroic deeds, and that was when she assisted Jason and the Argonauts in their Quest of the Golden Fleece.

//Hera and Zeus Contest the Joys of Sex // Teiresias saw two snakes mating in the area of Kyllene, and when he injured them he changed from a man into a woman. Later, seeing the same snakes again mating, he was changed back into a man. Thus, when Hera and Zeus were arguing as to whether men or women enjoy sex more, they put the question to Teiresias. He said that on a scale of ten, women enjoy it nine times to men’s one. Whereupon Hera blinded him, and Zeus gave him the power of prophecy.

Wrath and Punishment
 Hera's personality was not as attractive, for she was frequently petty, cruel and vindictive, and in myths is most often shown administering some sort of revenge on one of Zeus’ lovers or his illegitimate children. Some of the more famous victims of the wrath of Hera included the greatest Greek hero, Hercules, the son of Zeus and a mortal women named Alcmena. Hera hounded and punished Hercules throughout his life. Soon after his birth, she sent two snakes to kill him, but the infant Hercules, who would become known for his tremendous strength, strangled the snakes instead. Another time, Hera drove Hercules temporarily insane, causing him to kill his own wife and children. Once, when she raised a storm against Hercules' ship, Zeus retaliated by hanging Hera from Mount Olympus by her wrists, with anvils attached to her feet. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;"> The goddess was wrathful at losing to Aphrodite the prize of the Golden Apple addressed "to the Fairest" (Aphrodite bribe to Paris for the prize). She took her anger out on the city Troy, supporting the Greeks, in a war over the elopement of unfaithful Helene.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Her animal is the cow, the most motherly of animals, but not wanting to be thought of as plain, she also adopted the lion as her symbol, and the peacock and the cuckoo as her birds. Her other attributes are the veil, the diadem and the scepter. He sacred plant is the lotus or water-lily. She was also depicted holding a pomegranate. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Her sacred place is in Argos, where she is worshipped and respected as the Goddess of Marriage.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Words derived from Hera - June, the sixth month of the year was based on her latin name, Juno - hero, which means defender or protector
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Hera was actually the only married woman among the Olympians, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">for Aphrodite's 'marriage' to Hephaestus can hardly be called legitimate, because it was an arranged marriage with no commitment or loyalty.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">She threw her own son (Hephaestus) out of Mt. Olympus
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">She is a former Death-goddess.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Her roman counterpart is Juno
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> She appeared in a video game, God of War III