Hera

Also known as: Bunæan Hera / Flowery Hera / Full-Grown / Olympian Hera / The Bride · Family: mythological · Role: goddess · First appears: Book 1 · Chapter 18

In Book 1, Chapter 18, Adrian erected a temple to Hera at Athens, alongside temples to Pan-Hellenian Zeus and all the gods. In Chapter 20, Hera exposed Hephæstus at birth; he later sent her a golden seat that imprisoned her when she sat on it. In Chapter 25, her hatred was associated with the fates of Io and Callisto, whom Zeus loved: Io was changed into a cow, and Callisto into a she-bear.

In Book 2, Chapter 15, Inachus, Cephisus, and Asterion (river god) judged that the disputed land belonged to Hera rather than Poseidon. Poseidon took away their water, but Hera later persuaded him to drain the flood. In Book 2, Chapter 13, a hymn attributed her motherhood of Ares and Hebe to her upbringing by the Seasons. In Book 3, Chapter 15, Hercules built a temple to her and first sacrificed goats to her.

In Book 5, Hippodamia inaugurated games to Hera in gratitude for her marriage with Pelops, while Clymenus (son of Cardys) dedicated an altar to Olympian Hera. In Book 5, Chapter 19, Hermes brought Hera, Athene, and Aphrodite to Paris for the beauty judgment. In Book 8, Chapter 22, Temenus (son of Pelasgus) was said to have brought her up at Stymphelus; after she married Zeus, he called her the “Full-grown.” When she later broke with Zeus and returned there, he called her the Widow.

In Book 8, Chapter 3, Hera turned Callisto into a she-bear, and Artemis shot her to please Hera. In Book 9, Hera left Zeus after becoming displeased with him, but was reconciled when she discovered that the supposed bride was a wooden image; the Dædala festival commemorated their reconciliation. In Book 10, Chapter 30, Camiro and Clytie received prudence and beauty from Hera.