But Zeus placed both mother and son in the sky as the constellations
of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor (the Big Bear and the Little Bear, also
known as the Big and Little Dippers).
Hera was humiliated by Zeus’s many affairs. He dishonored their
marriage, which was sacred to her, and caused her further grief by
favoring his children by other women. To add insult to injury, he
himself gave birth to his daughter Athena, Goddess of Wis-
dom—demonstrating that he did not need his wife even for this
function.
Hera had several children. In a tit-for-tat reaction to Athena’s
birth, Hera decided to be the sole parent of a son. She conceived
Hephaestus, God of the Forge. When he was born with a clubfoot—a
defective child, unlike perfect Athena—Hera rejected him and threw
him out from Mt. Olympus.
Hera was also, by some accounts, the sole parent of Typhaon, an
inhuman, destructive, “dreadful and baneful” monster. And Ares,
God of War, was the son of Hera and Zeus (Zeus held Ares in con-
tempt for losing his head in the heat of battle). Hera also had two
colorless daughters: Hebe, an adolescent cupbearer, and Eileithyria,
a goddess of childbirth, who shared this role with Artemis (women
in labor appealed to her as Artemis Eileithyria).
Hera usually reacted to each new humiliation by taking action.
But rage and vindictiveness were not her only responses. At other
times, she withdrew. Myths tell of Hera’s wanderings to the ends
of the earth and the sea, during which she wrapped herself in
deepest darkness, separating herself from Zeus and the other
Olympians. In one myth, Hera returned to the mountains where she
had spent her youthful, happy days. When Zeus saw that she did
not intend to return, he tried to stir her jealousy by announcing that
he was about to marry a local princess. Then he arranged a mock
ceremony with a statue of a woman. This prank amused Hera, who
forgave him and came back to Mt. Olympus.
Although Greek mythology emphasizes Hera’s humiliations and
vindictiveness, in her worship—by contrast—she was greatly
revered.
In her rituals, Hera had three epithets and three corresponding
sanctuaries where she was worshipped during the year. In the spring,
she was Hera Parthenos (Hera the Maiden,
Hera: Goddess of Marriage, Commitment Maker and Wife