A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

HERA. HERA. 385
(Hirt, iMfythol. Bilderb. i. 42, &c,.) The Romansi and, like the other gods, she is chastised by him
when speaking of the Greek Hephaestus, call him when she has offended him (iv. 56, viii. 427, 463).
Vulcanus, although Vulcanus was an original Ita- Hera therefore is not, like Zeus, the queen of gods
lian divinity. [VuLCANUS.] [L. S.] and men, but simply the wife of the supreme god.
HEPTA'PORUS ('Ewrrdlropos), a son of Ocea- The idea of her being the queen of heaven, with
nus and Tethys, was the god of a small river near regal wealth and power, is of a much later date,
Mount Ida. (Hornm. II. xii. 20; Hes. Tkeog. 341; (Hygin. Fab. 92; Ov. Fast. vi. 27, Heroid. xvi,
Strab. pp. 587, 602.) [L. S.] 81; Eustath. ad Hoem. p. 81.) There is only one
HERA ("Hpa or "Hpn7), probably identical with point in which the Homeric poems represent Hera
hera, mistress, just as her husband, Zeus, was as possessed of similar power with Zeus, viz. she is
called jEpios in the Aeolian dialect (Hesych. s. v.). able to confer the power of prophecy (xix. 407).
The derivation of the name has been attempted But this idea is not further developed in later times.
in a variety of ways, from Greek as well as oriental (Comp. Strab, p. 380; Apollon. Rhod. iii. 931.)
roots, though there is no reason for having recourse Her character, as described by Homer, is not of a
to the latter, as Hera is a purely Greek divinity, very amiable kind, and its main features are jeaand one of the few who, according to Herodotus lousy, obstinacy, and a quarrelling disposition, which
(ii. 50), were not introduced into Greece from sometimes makes her own husband tremble (i. 522,
Egypt. Hera was, according to some accounts, the 536, 561, v. 892.) Hence there arise frequent
eldest daughter of Cronos and Rhea, and a sister disputes between Hera and Zeus; and on one ocof Zeus. (Hom. II. xvi. 432; comp. iv. 58; Ov. casion Hera, in conjunction with Poseidon and
Fast. vi. 29.) Apollodorus (i. 1, ~ 5), however, Athena, contemplated putting Zeus into chains
calls Hestia the eldest daughter of Cronos; and (viii. 408, i. 399). Zeus, in such cases, not only
Lactantius (i. 14) calls her a twin-sister of Zeus. threatens, but beats her; and once he even hung
According to the Homeric poems (11. xiv. 201, &c.), her up in the clouds, her hands chained, and with
she. was brought up by Oceanus and Thetys, as two anvils suspended from her feet (viii. 400, &c.,
Zeus had usurped the throne of Cronos; and after- 477, xv. 17, &c.; Eustath. ad Ironz. p. 1003).
wards she became the wife of Zeus, without the Hence she is frightened by his threats, and gives
knowledge of her parents. This simple account is way when he is angry; and when she is unable to
variously modified in other traditions. - Being a gain her ends in any other way, she has recourse
daughter of Cronos, she, like his other children, was to cunning and intrigues (xix. 97). Thus she borswallowed by her father, but afterwards released rowed from Aphrodite the girdle, the giver of
(Apollod. 1. c.), and, according to an Arcadian tra- charm and fascination, to excite the love of Zeus
dition, she was brought up by Temenus, the son of (xiv. 215, &c.). By Zeus she was the mother of
Plelasgus. (Paus. viii. 22. ~ 2; August. de Civ. Ares, Hebe, and Hephaestus (v. 896, Od. xi, 604,
Dei, vi. 10.) The Argives, on the other hand, II. i. 585; Hes. Theog. 921, &c.; Apollod. i. 3.
related that, she had been brought up by Euboea, ~ 1.) Respecting the different traditions about
PIrosymna, and Acraea, the three daughters of the the descent of these three divinities see the separate
river Asterion (Paus. ii. 7. ~ 1, &c.; Plut Syrnpos. articles.
iii. 9); and according to Olen, the Horae were her Properly speaking, Hera was the only really
nurses. (Paus. ii. 13. ~ 3.) Several parts of married goddess among the Olympians, for the
Greece also claimed the honour of being her birth- marriage of Aphrodite with Ares can scarcely be
place; among them are two, Argos and Samos, taken into consideration; and hence she is the
which were the principal seats of her worship. goddess of marriage and of the birth of children.
(Strab. p. 413; Paus. vii. 4. ~ 7; Apollon. Rhod. Several epithets and surnames, such as EselOvila,
i. 187.) Her marriage with Zeus also offered ralzA7ia, Zvyta, TeAe[a, &c., contain allusions to
ample scope for poetical invention (Theocrit. xvii. this character of the goddess, and the Eileithyiae
131, &c.), and several places in Greece claimed the are described as her daughters. (Hom. II. xi. 271;
honour of having been the scene of the marriage, xix. 118.) Her attire is described in the Iliad
sluch as Euboea (Steph. Byz. s. v. Ka'pvOTos), Samos (xiv. 170, &c.); she rode in a cha'riot drawn by
(Lactant. de Fals. Relig. i. 17), Cnossus in Crete two horses, in the harnessing and unharnessing of
(Diod. v. 72), and Mount Thornax, in the south of which she was assisted by Hebe and the Horae
Argolis. (Schol. ad Thieocrit. xv. 64; Paus. ii. (iv. 27, v. 720, &c., viii. 382,433). Her favourite
17. ~ 4, 36. ~ 2.) This marriage acts a prominent places on earth were Argos, Sparta, and Mycenae
part in the worship of Hera under the name of (iv. 51). Owing to the judgment of Paris, she
lepts ydzosr; on that occasion all the gods honoured was hostile towards the Trojans, and in the Trojan
the bride with presents, and Ge presented to her a war she accordingly sided with the Greeks (ii. 15,
tree with golden apples, which was watched by the iv. 21, &c., xxiv. 519, &c.), Hence she prevailed
Hlesperides in the garden of Hera, at the foot of on Helius to sink down into the waves of Oceanus
the Hyperborean Atlas. (Apollod. ii. 5. ~ 11; on the day'on which Patroclus fell (xviii. 239):
Serv. ad Aen. iv. 484.) The Homeric poems know In the Iliad she appears as an enemy of Heracles,
nothing of all this, and we only hear, that after the but is wounded by his arrows (v. 392, xviii. 118),
marriage with Zeus, she was treated by the Olym. and in the Odyssey she is described as the suppian gods with the same reverence as her husband. porter of Jason. It is impossible here to enume(II. xv. 85, &c.; comp. i. 532, &c., iv. 60, &c.) rate all the events of mythical story in which Hera
Zeus himself, according to Homer, listened to her acts a more or less prominent part; and the reader
counsels, and communicated his secrets to her must refer to the particular deities or heroes with
rather than to other gods (xvi. 458, i. 547). Hera whose story she is connected.
also thinks herself justified in censuring.Zeus when Hera had sanctuaries, and was'worshipped is
he consults others without her knowing it (i. 540, many parts of Greece, often in common with Zeus.
&c.); but she is, notwithstanding, far inferior to Her worship there may be traced to the very
him in power; she must obey him unconditionally, earliest times: thus we find Hera, surnamed PeVOL. II, C C