The Goddess Hera gets a bit of a bad rap. To many people, she’s known as Zeus’ jealous wife who’s forced to endure his infidelities. This jealousy is also the driving force behind a significant number of Greek myths and legends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But what lies beyond her reputation as an embittered spouse?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The name Hera has several potential origins. Some scholars believe it comes from the word “hora,” for seasons, indicating that she was in a marriageable season of life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Plato, her name derives from the word “erate” (meaning “beloved”) because the marriage between her and Zeus was a love match. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still other sources deduced that the name Hera was intended to be a feminine counterpart to the word “heros,” meaning “master.” A hypothesized Proto-Indo-European origin may come from “the woman who is attached.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hera is the Greek Goddess of marriage, families, and women. She’s said to protect women in labor and preside over marriages. This is reflected in her iconography — she’s usually portrayed with her hair veiled, like a married woman of the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She’s also the Queen of the Gods and Mouth Olympus, and a serious survivor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For someone who became Queen of the Olympian Gods, Hera’s life didn’t start easily. The daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea, Hera met the same fate as most of her siblings — swallowed whole by Cronus shortly after birth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It had been prophesied that one of his children would overthrow him, and he wasn’t taking any chances. Rhea eventually grew tired of her husband’s cannibalism, so, after giving birth to Zeus, she hid he baby away and tricked her husband into eating a stone instead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Zeus grew up, he returned to slay his father and free his siblings from Cronus’ corpse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n