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Why are Hera and Athena taking on that many gods. They really are goated. This is like a 3 v 20 with all the Italian gods.

Hestia did what 😭

Ok, Romans, that's enough out of you.

"Nor was the trouble confined to earth, when this crack of doom was heard: the madness of strife invaded heaven and forced the gods to fight. On one side fought Apollo and Mars with him, and the Ruler of the stormy sea; with them was Venus in despair, and Vesta(roman Hestia), and Hercules, stung by the slaughter of captured Saguntum, and likewise worshipful Cybele; and the native gods of Italy — Faunus and father Quirinus; and Pollux who takes turns of life with his brother Castor.

on the other was Juno, daughter of Saturn, with her sword girt round her, and Pallas who sprang from the Libyan waters of Lake Tritonis; and Ammon, the native god of Africa, whose brow bears curving horns, and a great company of lesser deities as well." -Silius Italicus, Punica

what the fuck hestia and rhea cybele fighting hera and athena ngl this shit is unhinged

vesta/Hestia throwing hands is wild

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Surprisingly nothing

I don't know. Should we trust him?

I made this for the funzies. I just needed them both, and colored. But i also need do comics! So here we are. Me, and my obsession in silly comics.

and in Zeus' shiny tits Here the picture without speech bubbles, because yes forgive me por mi vida loca

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Hera's moments in the Iliad that have been underrated:

Seducing Zeus: She puts on the belt of Aphrodite and seduces Zeus to distract him from the battle.

She helps Diomedes: Hera strengthens him in battle, making him capable of fighting even gods.

Scolding Artemis: In one scene ,she grabs Artemis's bow, hits her with it, and mocks her as if she were a small child.

She allies with Athena: The two often work together, for example, when they go to help the Achaeans. (Ares in the background is clearly not happy with this)

Hera in general in the epic was cunning and smart to influence the circumstances to her advantage. Her character in general was more than arguing with Zeus on a daily basis 😅

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Yessss, love their sibling relationship!!!

Messy sketch of Poseidon and Hera having sibling gossip sessions (they’re talking over Zeus)

@neal-illustrator ‘ designs🥺

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Hello,

I just finished the Iliad, and the way Zeus treats Hera is a little off putting to me. His willingness to make threats against her,empty or not-was something I was confused on. I’m not a Zeus hater by any means, but do you think Zeus is abusive to Hera?

Even in contexts that aren’t the Iliad, and other than physical abuse. Because he certainly said things to her that from a modern lens could be seen as at least emotional manipulation.

Or is this just me not fully understanding the workings of their relationship and the historical context behind it.

I do believe that a husband threatening to beat his wife on multiple occasions is abusive, yes. He might not act on those threats in the Iliad, but they are very effective (at least momentarily) and Hera is clearly described as being frightened by them. There is an entire article discussing this topic: The Threats of Physical Abuse of Hera by Zeus in the Iliad

Now to be fair Zeus threatens pretty much everyone in the Iliad, not just Hera, but in Book 15 we learn that he is perfectly willing to go beyond mere threats: "“Now your evil-making, hopeless one, your deception, Hera, has put a stop to shining Hector’s fighting, and driven his men to flight. I rather think that, once again, you may be first to reap the profit of your grievous evil scheming, and will I lash you with strokes of lightning. Or do you not recollect that time you were hung on high, and from your feet I let two anvils drop, and around your hands I threw fetters of infrangible gold? And you hung in the clear sky above and in the clouds below; and the gods across high Olympus could not bear this, yet they stood around powerless to set you free; and if I caught hold of anyone, I would seize him and hurl him from the threshold of Olympus, so that he came to earth with little strength to move; and not even so did unceasing grief for godlike Heracles let my spirit go… (trans. Alexander)”"

This was obviously not an acceptable way of treating one's wife (or sister!) even back then; it was a punishment used for slaves, and it is outright stated that the other gods were troubled by it, just as they are uncomfortable with Zeus threatening Hera in Book 1: "Then in answer Zeus who gathers the clouds addressed her: “... Sit down and be silent, and obey my word, lest the gods in Olympus, as many as there are, be of no avail to you against me as I close in, when I lay my unassailable hands upon you.” Thus he spoke and the ox-eyed lady Hera was afraid, and she sat down in silence, bending her own heart into submission; and throughout the house of Zeus the heavenly gods were troubled." And judging by the multiple attempts to allegorize this punishment of Hera with the golden chain, it seems to have been a pretty troubling element among Homer's audience as well.

There is also the instance in Apollodoros' Library where, during the Gigantomachy, Zeus makes Porphyrion lust after Hera. It isn't until after Porphyrion has torn her clothes, is about to rape her and she cries out for help that Zeus decides to strike him down (Apollod. 1.6.2). I would most certainly call this abusive. Or what about Zeus tricking her into breastfeeding his son by another woman (Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.25.2)? Lucian's Hera claims to be neglected by Zeus and is mocked by Leto for crying over his infidelities. Lucian's works are satire, of course and we are hardly meant to take Hera's problems seriously, but (from a modern perspective at least) what she has to deal with could easily be considered emotional abuse.

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Don’t believe she cheats on Zeus until they provide a source. That is one thing that is consistent with Hera; she doesn’t cheat. She is a hypocrite in a lot of things, but fidelity is not one of them.

I don’t agree with how Hera treats the women that Zeus had slept with, but I understand her and sympathize with her plight. She is the Goddess of Marriage and she has a shitty husband who constantly cheats on her. She can’t go against him because the one time she did, it didn’t end well for her. So it feels like she takes the frustrations caused by Zeus out on the person who can’t harm her.

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When does she cheat on Zeus?

I don’t agree with how Hera treats the women that Zeus had slept with, but I understand her and sympathize with her plight. She is the Goddess of Marriage and she has a shitty husband who constantly cheats on her. She can’t go against him because the one time she did, it didn’t end well for her. So it feels like she takes the frustrations caused by Zeus out on the person who can’t harm her.

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What was exactly Hera's symbolism and relevance in Ancient Greek society? We know that she was very important, but motherhood seems to be more closely associated with Leto, Rhea, or even Demeter, childbirth with Eileithyia and Artemis, marital love with Aphrodite, and royalty, the climate and the sky with Zeus. You have explained in the past that she wasn’t widely believed to punish unfaithful or abusive husbands as well. What would the average Greek man or woman ask Hera for?

In "The Significance of Votive Offerings in Selected Hera Sanctuaries in the Peloponnese, Ionia and Western Greece", Jens David Baumbach analyses votive offerings from six major Hera sanctuaries (the Argive Heraion, her sanctuaries from Tiryns, Samos, Perachora, Poseidonia/Paestum and Foce del Sele). He classifies the votives dedicated to the goddess in the following main categories: childbirth, pregnancy and growing up (includes female fertility, protection for infants, initiation rites, etc); marriage; home and family (includes various domestic activities like the preparation of food, manufacture of textiles, etc); agriculture and vegetation; military concerns. The author finds almost all of these aspects in all the examined Hera cults, though not all are equally prominent throughout time and from one sanctuary to another. This isn't an exhaustive list of things Hera could have been sought for; she also had, for instance, an oracular function at Perachora. It's also possible that some dedications may be interpreted in different ways, but these seem plausible enough.

When discussing the roles of the gods there are two important things to keep in mind:

The functions of the Greek gods can and do overlap frequently. Hera, Artemis, Demeter, Leto and many other deities are all kourotrophoi, concerned with the care of children, to give just one example

A god's functions, significance and importance can vary from place to place. Hera herself was a strongly regional goddess: extremely important in her main centres of worship, much less so elsewhere. Here is an excerpt from Jennifer Larson's "Understanding Greek Religion" explaining Hera's relevance for some of the communities that honoured her the most:

Homer’s portrait of Hera as a fierce patroness, even a foremother, of Achaian warriors has its origins in her most important regional cult. In the Argolid, Hera seems to have been associated from very early times with the concept of the hero, etymologically, in myth and in worship. Afamous and puzzling example is her intimate yet antagonistic relationship with Herakles, the demigod of Tiryns who undertook his labors as a result of her machinations. Hera and Herakles entertained a mutual hostility, yet the name of this native son of Argolis seems to mean “Glory of Hera.” On the Tiryns akropolis, where a Bronze Age megaron and altar had fallen to ruins, Hera began to receive archaeologically visible offerings in the eighth century. The Argive Heraion itself was deliberately juxtaposed to prehistoric ruins, in this case the cemetery of Prosymna, where numerous Geometric offerings were left in Mycenaean tombs. … Many of the same gifts were deposited in both the tombs and the Heraion. ... Next we turn to Hera’s annual festival at the Argive Heraion. The Heraion was a regional cult center, in Classical times under the control of Argos (its earlier status is debated). Although most literary sources on the festival are late, they mention a procession led by shield-bearing youths, girls in white dresses, women’s dances, a ritual involving the presentation of a robe to the goddess, and a footrace, again by young men in arms. A shield was the prize in Hera’s games. …

Hera governed the welfare of cattle herds, the most important index of wealth, as well as the maturation of adolescent boys into warriors, and girls into wives and mothers. Terracotta figurines from the Heraion show the goddess in her maternal role as nurturer of youths (kourotrophos), holding a child in her lap. … In the Argive peninsula, then, Hera gave prosperity, progeny and military victory, each equally crucial to the welfare of the community. This picture of a goddess who oversaw the most fundamental needs of her people contrasts with that in most other parts of the Greek world, where Hera received far less attention. … Again, if our data were confined strictly to evidence from Athens, we would conclude that Hera was a minor goddess, significant mainly for her role as Zeus’ bride … Hera appeared as Zeus’ consort in many minor cults around the Greek world, but she was worshiped as a preeminent deity in only a few places other than Argolis. …

Second to the Argive Heraion in fame was the goddess’s sanctuary on the Ionian island of Samos, founded in the early Geometric period (but not mentioned in the Iliad). … As in Argolis, Hera was dominant here, a “great goddess.” Situated on a well-traveled maritime route, the Heraion at Samos attracted an international clientele of travelers and traders who dedicated rich gifts: Egyptian ivories and scarabs, Phoenicianand Babylonian bronzes, and gold jewelry. … As in Argolis and Lesbos, Hera’s Samian cult helped to shape her people’s ethnic and civic identity. Colonists in sixth-century Naukratis, a trading emporiumin Egypt, established a sanctuary of Hera, because worship of this goddess was a distinctive sign of their Samian origins …

Hera’s major Aegean sanctuaries (Argos, Samos, Perachora) are notable for Geometric dedications of miniature houses, which have been variously interpreted as models of her earliest temples, or of domestic dwellings. More recently, de Polignac contrasted the house models with a similar series of ship models and actual ships dedicated in Hera sanctuaries (Samos as well as Kroton and Gravisca in Italy), proposing that the houses could have been dedicated by women, and the ships by men. Several other distinctive votive types recur in Hera’s Archaic sanctuaries, suggesting consistent themes in her worship. These include metal and terracotta shields, which refer to her ancient role in nurturing warriors. The ship models in Samos and Italy were probably connected with Hera’s sponsorship of maritime trade ventures and colonization, a theme with affinities to her Iliadic role as a patroness of the Greek expedition to Troy.

During the eighth and seventh centuries, Greeks emigrated to Italy and Sicily in large numbers. Many were from the northern coast of the Peloponnese, an area which would later be known as Achaia. … There were no major temples or sanctuaries of Hera on the northcoast of the Peloponnese to compare with the Argive Heraion. Yet the colonists established important Hera cults at Sybaris, Poseidonia, Kroton and Metapontum and defined themselves as “Achaians.” The people of Poseidonia especially seem to have regarded Hera as preeminent, given that two of the city’s major sanctuaries were devoted to her, one in the city and one at the extraurban site of Foce del Sele. … Why did the colonists choose Hera as their patron goddess? Homer’s catalogue of ships (Il. 2.569–80) states that the towns of the northeastern coast (Pellene, Hyperesia, Helike and Aigion) belonged in the holdings of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae. Colonists from this area drew on the epic tradition and expressed a claim to be descendants of Homer’s “Achaians” when they installed Hera, protectress of Greek warriors abroad, in the new sanctuaries of the West.

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Everyone wants Hera to have a good relationship with her kids, but everyone is also willing to completely ignore hebe.

Why would you make up stuff for all her other kids, but ignore the child that has the most things actually written. A party for her when she born, her having a seat next to her mother, the crowns, her being shown in Heras temples several times. No but Ares is her favorite child between her and Zeus.

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This is so cute my Hera x Zeus heart is being fed.

They are rotting my brain,,,

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It’s funny how so many ppl use the Semele and Zeus myth as an example that the gods have a lovecraftian incomprehensible form that could kill humans with a glance, but then you actually read the myths and Semele doesn’t ask Zeus to show her his “true form” at all. She straight up asks him to have sex with her the same way he has sex with Hera… and you know what Zeus did? He struck her with lightning. If anything this myth is telling us that Hera is kinky af.

Hera being into shock play is kinda a power move too, Zeus’s bolts are shown to be extremely powerful weapons that even the gods fear and can’t wield (aside from Athena) and Zeus has threatened enemies and allies alike with his lightning bolts, so for Hera to be turned on by them is both badass and hilarious.

They truly match each other’s freak.

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he would

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Hera and Juno designs

References under the cut

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Gonna name this something clever like “I desire/deceive you” or something

Based on Jupiter and Juno on Mount Ida by James Barry

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Hera and the cuckoo

Based on Nymphe mit einem Vogel (Nymph with a Bird, Circa mid-19th Century) By Anonymous

The cuckoo story is rather… weird, you might have heard the interpretation that Zeus took the form of a cuckoo in order to assault Hera but when you actually read the text, it’s rather vague, much like a lot of mythology couples where the writers aren’t too caught up on telling us if it’s a mutually consensual affair or not. Even stories of how Zeus and Hera got together that don’t involve a cuckoo can be all over the place, it can be anything from assault, coercion, and consensual.

Just goes to show that Zeus and Hera are one of the messiest couples out there.

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I love this, she doesn't even look scared hanging there, just pissed.

Hera by Giacinto Gaudenzi

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Nooooooo!! F***********ck. Super cute for Demeter though 😫😫😭😭😭

Hera (1927)