Greek Mythology

Greek Mythology - Hera

My Daughter, Mikhaila, created these little characters
for one of her classes in school. I thought she did a great job.
So I decided to post her whole assignment here.
(I guess this would be kinda like
hangin' it on the refrigerator - only different.)

Hera

Hera may have been the most beautiful goddess, but she definitely wasn’t the kindest. Hera was known as the wife of Zeus and the goddess of marriage and birth. She has played important roles in many myths as the one who tortures the loved ones of Zeus.

Hera was the most beautiful goddess of all; she is described as tall and striking, with fair arms and beautiful hair. Because of her big eyes, Homer gave her the name of Epithet or “ox eyed”. To renew her youthful figure and virginity, she would jump into a spring at Canathus once a year.

Zeus

Hera was known as the envious and unforgiving wife of Zeus. She wasn’t only his wife, but also his sister. She was the daughter of the titans Cronus and Rea. She was the mother of mainly three children, Hephaestus the smith god, Hebe the goddess of youth, Ares the god of war, and sometimes Ilithyia. She was also known to have had many other children without the help of man. (Like Zeus gave birth to Athena from his forehead.)

Hermes

Hera was the goddess of marriage and birth in both Greek myths and Roman myths. In Rome, she was known as Juno, the guardian angle. As every man had his Genius, so every woman had her Juno. She was the patron of the cities Argos and Somos, where they had celebrations called Heraia, in her honor. She made those cities her sanctuaries. She was also one of the three deities’ along with Zeus and Minerva, enshrined in temples on Capitoline Hill.

IO

Hera was not only known for her jealousy towards Zeus, but her hatred towards his many romantic affairs and especially their children. Some famous examples are when she sent two serpents to the cradle of Hercules drove the foster parents of Dionysus mad and tried to prevent the death of Apollo and Artemis. But the myth of Io is the most interesting to me.

Argus

Zeus fell in love with another beautiful mortal princess, Io. When he went down to her, he brought a dark blanket of clouds to cover the earth so that day seemed as the darkest night in fear of what Hera might do if she found him. Hera became very suspicious and went down to him to order the clouds away. When she saw him, he was standing with the lovely Io. Of course to protect himself, he said he had never seen her before just then.

Hera took the young princess and gave her to Argus, a monster with a hundred eyes to guard over her. Argus drove Io mad, changing her out of her human form. Zeus dare not go help her in the fear of what Hera would do, so he sent for his son, Hermes the messenger, to find a way to slay the monster. Hermes went down to Argus and played a sweet tune on a pipe of reeds; but every time Argus fell asleep, he always had some eyes open watching

Eventually, one love story made him close all of his eyes and Hermes killed him at once, freeing Io. Hera saw what had happened and sent a gadfly to sting Io to madness. Io ran to the Nile River where she met up with Zeus changing her back to her human form. She bore a son, Epaphus, and live happy and honored. Io’s descendent would be Hercules.

Peacock

After Argus was killed, Hera took the hundred eyes and placed them in the tale of the peacock, her favorite bird. The cow was also a sacred animal to her.

She was the goddess of marriage, one of the great deities, the queen of all gods and goddesses and an envious and unforgiving person to all of Zeus’s affairs.

So basically, Hera was a beautiful goddess with an unforgivable temper and tortured all of Zeus’s love affairs.

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Works cited
Genovese, E.N. “Juno.” World Book. 2007 ed. 2007

Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1942.

“Hera.” Encyclopedia Mythica. 2008. Encyclopedia Mythica Online. 26 March. 2008


“Hera; Queen of the Gods.” Woman in Greek Myths. 2008. March 27, 2008


“Hera.” The New Encyclopaedia Britannica: Micropaedia. 15th ed. 2007

“Juno.” The New Encyclopaedia Britannica: Micropaedia. 15th ed. 2007

Mandelbaum, Bernard. “Hera.” The Encyclopedia Americana: International Edition.
2000 ed. 2008

Schmidt, Joel. Larousse Greek and Roman Mythology. ed. Dr. Seth Bernardete

Greek Mythology