Hera

Also known as: Juno / Saturnia · Family: Gods · Role: goddess · First appears: Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound — Scene 1

As Hera, also called Juno and Saturnia, she was married to Zeus and hated Io because she was dear to him. In Prometheus Bound, she sent a gadfly that drove Io across many lands, while Argos pursued and guarded her; in The Suppliants, she transformed Io into a heifer, set Argos over her, tormented her with the gadfly, and drove her far from her country. “The Argive goddess made the maid a heifer.”

Hera stood near Zeus alongside Aphrodite, but also rivalled Aphrodite and Athena in the contest of beauty. She was an enemy of Ino, Semele, and Dionysus, and forced Eurystheus to undertake his strife; with Iris, she later conspired against Heracles, driving him into madness and causing him to kill his children. “Those oft-polluted hands with recent gore / Will Juno stain, by urging him to slay / His children: in this scheme I too conspire.”

At Troy, Paris awarded the golden prize to Aphrodite instead of Hera, and Hera responded by promising him expanded empire while also thwarting his possession of Helen through an image made in her likeness. She sent Hermes to carry the real Helen to a distant land, leaving the image behind during the war. Though Helen called Hera her enemy and blamed her for her ruin, Hera later became her friend and sought, against Aphrodite, to return Helen and Menelaus safely to Sparta.