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.
The children of Hera and Zeus are Ares, the goddess of yound 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.
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.
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.
Further reading (free e-books):
Francesca De Grandis - Be A GoddessFrancesca De Grandis - Goddess Initiation
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