Hera--villain or misunderstood?

EyeofZeus

New Member
Do Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, Hestia and Demeter represent different aspects of female life ?

Also I wonder if Hera came south with the Olympians when the early Greek speaking tribes migrated down - they didn't just have male gods - I think they had both.
 

Nadai

Active Member
Hera is goddess of marriage and childbirth.
Athena is goddess of wisdom in battle and the womanly arts.
Aphrodite is goddess of love and beauty.
Demeter is goddess of the harvest.
Hestia is goddess of the home and hearth.
 
i think Hera has been misunderstood thoroughly like the lord of planet saturn is misunderstood in Hindu mythology. she is a loving and caring woman who has been bittered by her husbands infidelity. She is the goddess of marriage and child birth and takes care of women's well being.
 

magickz

Active Member
I think they are all a little misunderstood sometimes if you look back at it. Either that or people who wrote about each just felt the need to add a little extra in, making their words of wisdom lead the read into thinking it.
 

OracleLady

Member
Hera, no doubt, is misunderstood. Hera evolved. Throughout time, as one culture conquered another, their gods were absorbed into the ruling culture's pantheon of gods. The chief god ultimately became Zeus. The problem remains: what to do with all those wives of previous "chief" gods who evolved into Zeus? Consequently, the chief god ended up with all those former wives. Zeus may have had a previous name before he was absorbed into the Zeus figure. All these chief gods had wives. The wives survived as individuals. The chief gods melded into one chief god, for there can be only one chief god in surviving cultures. The wives' stories were passed down, but they became known as wives of Zeus, no matter who their husbands started out being. Naturally, Hera is going to be jealous of so many of her husband's wives. In actuality, many of these wives attributed to Zeus started out as the wife of a former chief god. I hope I'm working through this well. . . Edith Hamilton touches upon this phenomenon. Hera has become a composite of all these wives and their personality traits. I think she's one amazing woman.
 
Of course she evolved over time as all deities did. OracleLady has the right of it as to why the changes evolved. There were many Native American tribes who had just one God whom the called the Great Spirit. That's how a lot of tribal members transitioned so easily into the Christian culture. BTW, my tribe was Matriarchal. When a young couple got married, the groom came to live at the WIFE'S families dwellings.
 
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