Hera

Hera is the queen of the Greek pantheon and the wife of Zeus.

Few things are ever as scary as an angry Greek woman. We think it has something to do with temperament, especially when they have found out that their husband is cheating on them. That brings us to Hera, who played the role of the angry Greek wife quite often. As she was the wife of Zeus, she often found out that her husband was fooling around with other women.

The domain of Hera fits that of a queen of Greece. Hers is the family, fertility, femininity, and marriage. She is one of the original Olympians as she is the daughter of Cronus and Rhea. That makes her the sister of Zeus. It is quite ironic that she is the goddess of marriage, as the vows Zeus made to her were broken both fast and often. Instead, it is filled with love and jealousy. Nymphs, giants, titanides, humans… nothing escaped her husband’s lust.

This would often be the way of things. Zeus would cheat. Hera would find out. Hera would seek out the ‘person of interest’ and punish her and her offspring. And then Zeus would punish her in return, only to set her free after some years and start the cycle anew.  One famous example is that of Herakles, who was the result of one of Zeus’ escapades. She placed a curse on the hero to drive him mad. As a result, Herakles killed his wife and children. In return, Zeus inflicted punishment on Hera as well.

Zeus and Hera would have multiple children together. Ares, the god of war was their firstborn. Hephaestus, god of the forge was another. Less famous, for they did not get a seat at the table of Olympus, are their daughters: Lilithyia, Enyo, Eris, Hebe, and Angelos.