So far, I hope to have established that Ancient Greeks tried a path to integrate the peoples they had conquered by matching their head god with Zeus, the Ancient Greek’s head god, which worked rather well for the larger integration, but created the problem of all the ‘goddess queens’ that were now left over…
These became, in the mythology, human women Zeus had affairs with.
The conquered men had only to blame their head god (who became fused with Zeus) for being capricious, but, whom did the conquered women have?
One of their own – a human woman from their tribe – was so awesome as to cause Zeus, the to dog god, to fall in love with her, carry her off, do all kinds of dangerous things for the love of this woman – one of their own.
In comes Hera.
She is the Goddess of ‘family’ – yet she is always being cheated on by her husband, Zeus. And with human women – to add insult to the injury!
Hera is the Goddess of protecting the nuclear family – and she cannot do it with her own family!
This rather turns Hera nasty: she cannot control her husband, the king of Gods, from cheating on her, but she still is a goddess and has the powers that come along with it. Hera, not able to punish her husband, takes her anger out on his human lovers and their children.
And she does it in very, very mean ways. There are books written just about the ways Hera punished the women Zeus romanced (whether they were willing or not).
But…let us remember: Hera threw away her son (Hephaestus/Vulcan) to what she thought would be his death simply because he was born deformed. She may be the goddess of the hearth, family and childbirth, but she did throw away her baby for having been born deformed.
So, how did she treat the children of her husband, Zeus, and human women?
Not nicely.
When there arose a particularly awesome specimen of humanity, the son of Zeus and a human woman, Hera was not happy. Like, a lot ‘not happy’.
And, she made Hercules suffer, every chance she got.
There was nothing anyone could say to her to convince her that Hercules was actually a good guy, who did good things to help people.
Yes, he had been given a bunch of tasks to do, and he did them well and cleverly, but, outside of that, he is said to have helped folks who needed help, lending his muscle power as well as his intelligence, where and when needed.
Perhaps we can argue about his worth – but, the one not willing to engage in such an argument was Hera.
For her, Hercules was a symbol of her husband’s infidelity. He had to be destroyed.
The more famous Hercules got, the more necessary it was for Hera to absolutely destroy him.
And she did – in the most devious way possible.
Hercules had a wife and two children. He loved them and protected them.
Hera knew this.
And, she had her goddess powers.
She used these powers.
When Hercules came home one day, he saw a big monster and two little monsters attacking his home – and, loving his family, he slew them to protect his wife and children.
Except that, these were not monsters, they were his wife and children. Hera’s magic made him see them as monsters. So, he slew them.
Hera’s magic made Hercules kill his own family. His wife and children…
It destroyed Hercules.
This is a sad end to an epic story – but it is really important in our times.
Hera suffered from ‘Hercules derangement syndrome’ because she had been wronged. Her role as the protector goddess of the family was challenged by her husband’s infidelity and his bastard child’s excellence.
There was no way to talk Hera down from her vengeance.
Her very being as the queen of the gods, as the patroness of the family, was completely uprooted by the very existence of Hercules. Her very essence, her reason for being, is undermined by the very existence of Hercules.
These are high stakes, for a goddess, a top goddess.
Somehow, I do not think that chatting with her about the good things Hercules did would change her mind. Rather, I think the person doing the chatting would end up in a bit of smoke…
Xanthippa's Chamberpot 