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Hera

Queen of the gods, daughter of Cronus and Rhea, sister and last wife of Zeus in Hesiod's catalogue; mother of Hebe, Ares and Eileithyia, and of Hephaestus by herself. In the Iliad she binds Zeus with Poseidon and Athena, seduces him on Ida with Aphrodite's girdle, and names Argos, Sparta and Mycenae as her dearest cities; her great sanctuary is the Argive Heraeum.

Why this wins its question: Encyclopaedias reduce Hera to "jealous wife of Zeus". This object binds each trait to its witness — Hesiod for the parthenogenesis of Hephaestus, Homer for the binding and the seduction, Pausanias for the cult — and records the two incompatible childhoods.

Key takeaways

  • Sister and last wife of Zeus (Theog. 921–923); Hesiod's Hera bears Hephaestus alone, Homer's Hephaestus has two parents.
  • Homer's Hera was reared by Oceanus and Tethys, Hesiod's was swallowed by Cronus — a genuine split between the two witnesses.
  • The Iliad shows her as an equal opponent of Zeus's will (the binding of Il. 1, the seduction of Il. 14), not merely a jealous wife.
  • Argos is her city in Homer and in Pausanias's Heraeum, cuckoo and pomegranate included.

Claims

Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.

  1. Hera is a daughter of Cronus and Rhea: Hesiod names "gold-shod Hera" among the children Rhea bore, each swallowed by Cronus as it came forth (Theog. 453–459). Apollodorus gives the order of swallowing as Hestia, then Demeter and Hera, then Pluto and Poseidon (Apollod. 1.1.5).

    confidence 0.95Hesiod, Theogony — tr. Hugh G. Evelyn-White (Loeb, 1914), Perseus TEI edition · primaryApollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca) — tr. Sir James George Frazer (Loeb, 1921), Perseus TEI edition · primary

  2. She is the last of Zeus's seven consorts in Hesiod: "Lastly, he made Hera his blooming wife", and she "brought forth Hebe and Ares and Eileithyia" (Theog. 921–923). The Homeric Hymn calls her "the sister and the wife of loud-thundering Zeus", "Queen of the immortals", honoured by all "even as Zeus" (HH12 1–5); Apollodorus repeats the three children (Apollod. 1.3.1).

    confidence 0.95Hesiod, Theogony — tr. Hugh G. Evelyn-White (Loeb, 1914), Perseus TEI edition · primaryThe Homeric Hymns — tr. Hugh G. Evelyn-White (Loeb, 1914), Perseus TEI edition · primaryApollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca) — tr. Sir James George Frazer (Loeb, 1921), Perseus TEI edition · primary

  3. Hephaestus is Hera's child without a father in Hesiod: "Hera without union with Zeus — for she was very angry and quarrelled with her mate — bare famous Hephaestus" (Theog. 927–929). Apollodorus records the same and notes the disagreement: "according to Homer he was one of her children by Zeus" (Apollod. 1.3.5).

    confidence 0.93Hesiod, Theogony — tr. Hugh G. Evelyn-White (Loeb, 1914), Perseus TEI edition · primaryApollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca) — tr. Sir James George Frazer (Loeb, 1921), Perseus TEI edition · primary

  4. In the Iliad Hera once led a revolt: Achilles reminds Thetis that she alone saved Zeus "on the day when the other Olympians wished to put him in bonds, even Hera and Poseidon and Pallas Athene", by calling the hundred-handed Briareus to Olympus (Il. 1.396–406).

    confidence 0.93Homer, Iliad — tr. A. T. Murray (Loeb, 1924), Perseus TEI edition · primary

  5. The deception of Zeus (Il. 14.153–351): Hera adorns herself in the chamber Hephaestus built her, borrows from Aphrodite the "broidered zone ... wherein is love, therein desire, therein dalliance", bribes Sleep with the Grace Pasithea, and lies with Zeus on Gargarus wrapped in a golden cloud, so that Poseidon may help the Greeks while he sleeps (Il. 14.166–223, 231–291, 292–353).

    confidence 0.94Homer, Iliad — tr. A. T. Murray (Loeb, 1924), Perseus TEI edition · primary

  6. Homer gives Hera a different upbringing from Hesiod's: she tells Aphrodite that Oceanus and Tethys "lovingly nursed and cherished me in their halls, when they had taken me from Rhea, what time Zeus ... thrust Cronos down" (Il. 14.200–204). Hesiod has her swallowed by Cronus and disgorged (Theog. 459–467, 493–497); the two accounts do not meet.

    confidence 0.88Homer, Iliad — tr. A. T. Murray (Loeb, 1924), Perseus TEI edition · primaryHesiod, Theogony — tr. Hugh G. Evelyn-White (Loeb, 1914), Perseus TEI edition · primary

  7. Her cities and her cult: in the Iliad Hera names "Argos and Sparta and broad-wayed Mycenae" as the three "far dearest in my sight" (Il. 4.51–52). Pausanias describes the Heraeum fifteen stades from Mycenae, with Polycleitus's gold-and-ivory seated Hera holding a pomegranate and a sceptre on which sits a cuckoo — the bird Zeus became to woo her (Paus. 2.17.1–4).

    confidence 0.92Homer, Iliad — tr. A. T. Murray (Loeb, 1924), Perseus TEI edition · primaryPausanias, Description of Greece — tr. W. H. S. Jones (Loeb, 1918–1935), Perseus TEI edition · primary

  8. Hera's hostility to Zeus's lovers is a fixed trait in the sources: she keeps Eileithyia from Leto for nine days on Delos "through envy" (HH3 91–106); she hunts Leto "over the whole earth" (Apollod. 1.4.1); she tricks Semele into asking for Zeus in his true form, which kills her (Apollod. 3.4.3); and after she stormed Heracles's ships Zeus hung her from Olympus (Apollod. 1.3.5). Homer adds that Heracles once shot her in the right breast (Il. 5.392–394).

    confidence 0.92The Homeric Hymns — tr. Hugh G. Evelyn-White (Loeb, 1914), Perseus TEI edition · primaryApollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca) — tr. Sir James George Frazer (Loeb, 1921), Perseus TEI edition · primaryHomer, Iliad — tr. A. T. Murray (Loeb, 1924), Perseus TEI edition · primary

Questions answered

Who are the parents of Hera?
Hera is a daughter of Cronus and Rhea: Hesiod names "gold-shod Hera" among the children Rhea bore, each swallowed by Cronus as it came forth (Theog. 453–459). Apollodorus gives the order of swallowing as Hestia, then Demeter and Hera, then Pluto and Poseidon (Apollod. 1.1.5). source
Who are the children of Hera?
She is the last of Zeus's seven consorts in Hesiod: "Lastly, he made Hera his blooming wife", and she "brought forth Hebe and Ares and Eileithyia" (Theog. 921–923). The Homeric Hymn calls her "the sister and the wife of loud-thundering Zeus", "Queen of the immortals", honoured by all "even as Zeus" (HH12 1–5); Apollodorus repeats the three children (Apollod. 1.3.1). source
Did Hera give birth to Hephaestus alone?
Hephaestus is Hera's child without a father in Hesiod: "Hera without union with Zeus — for she was very angry and quarrelled with her mate — bare famous Hephaestus" (Theog. 927–929). Apollodorus records the same and notes the disagreement: "according to Homer he was one of her children by Zeus" (Apollod. 1.3.5). source
How did Hera deceive Zeus in the Iliad?
The deception of Zeus (Il. 14.153–351): Hera adorns herself in the chamber Hephaestus built her, borrows from Aphrodite the "broidered zone ... wherein is love, therein desire, therein dalliance", bribes Sleep with the Grace Pasithea, and lies with Zeus on Gargarus wrapped in a golden cloud, so that Poseidon may help the Greeks while he sleeps (Il. 14.166–223, 231–291, 292–353). source
Where was Hera worshipped?
Her cities and her cult: in the Iliad Hera names "Argos and Sparta and broad-wayed Mycenae" as the three "far dearest in my sight" (Il. 4.51–52). Pausanias describes the Heraeum fifteen stades from Mycenae, with Polycleitus's gold-and-ivory seated Hera holding a pomegranate and a sceptre on which sits a cuckoo — the bird Zeus became to woo her (Paus. 2.17.1–4). source