Editing Zeus (section)

=== Marriage to Hera ===
[[File:Wall painting - wedding of Zeus and Hera - Pompeii (VI 8 3) - Napoli MAN 9559 - 01.jpg|thumb|Wedding of Zeus and Hera on an antique fresco from [[Pompeii]]]]

While Hera is Zeus's last wife in Hesiod's version, in other accounts she is his first and only wife.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA78 p. 78].</ref> In the ''Theogony'', the couple has three children, [[Ares]], [[Hebe (mythology)|Hebe]], and [[Eileithyia]].<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA79 p. 79]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:901-937 921&ndash;3]; so too [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.3.1 1.3.1]. In the ''Iliad'', [[Eris (mythology)|Eris]] is called the sister of Ares ([http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:4.401-4.445 4.440&ndash;1]), and Parada, s.v. Eris, p. 72 places her as a daughter of Zeus and Hera.</ref> While Hesiod states that Hera produces Hephaestus on her own after Athena is born from Zeus's head,<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA79 p. 79]; Gantz, p. 74; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:901-937 924&ndash;9]; so too [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.3.5 1.3.5].</ref> other versions, including Homer, have Hephaestus as a child of Zeus and Hera as well.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA79 p. 79]; Gantz, p. 74; [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.568 1.577&ndash;9], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.270-14.311 14.293&ndash;6], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.312-14.351 14.338], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:8.295-8.342 8.312]; Scholia bT on [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'', 14.296; see also [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.3.5 1.3.5].</ref>

Various authors give descriptions of a youthful affair between Zeus and Hera. In the ''Iliad'', the pair are described as having first lay with each other before Cronus is sent to Tartarus, without the knowledge of their parents.<ref>Gantz, p. 57; Pirenne-Delforge and Pironti, p. 24; Hard 2004, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA78 78], [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA78 136]; [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.270-14.311 14.293&ndash;6]. Gantz points out that, if in this version Cronus swallows his children as he does in the ''Theogony'', the pair could not sleep with each other without their father's knowledge before Zeus overthrows Cronus, and so suggests that Homer may have possibly been following a version of the story in which only Cronus's sons are swallowed.</ref> A scholiast on the ''Iliad'' states that, after Cronus is banished to Tartarus, [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]] give Hera to Zeus in marriage, and only shortly after the two are wed, Hera gives birth to [[Hephaestus]], having lay secretly with Zeus on the island of [[Samos]] beforehand; to conceal this act, she claimed that she had produced Hephaestus on her own.<ref>Gantz, p. 57; Scholia bT on [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'', 14.296. Cf. Scholia A on [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'', [https://archive.org/details/scholiagraecainh01homeuoft/page/68/mode/2up?view=theater 1.609 (Dindorf 1875a, p. 69)]; see Pirenne-Delforge and Pironti, p. 20; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA136 p. 136].</ref> According to another scholiast on the ''Iliad'', [[Callimachus]], in his ''[[Aetia (Callimachus)|Aetia]]'', says that Zeus lay with Hera for three hundred years on the island of Samos.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA136 p. 136]; [[Callimachus]], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/callimachus-aetia/2022/pb_LCL421.153.xml fr. 48 Harder, pp. 152, 153] [= Scholia A on [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'', [https://archive.org/details/scholiagraecainh01homeuoft/page/68/mode/2up?view=theater 1.609 (Dindorf 1875a, p. 69)]]; see also Pirenne-Delforge and Pironti, p. 20.</ref>

According to a scholion on [[Theocritus]]' ''Idylls'', Zeus, one day seeing Hera walking apart from the other gods, becomes intent on having intercourse with her, and transforms himself into a cuckoo bird, landing on Mount Thornax. He creates a terrible storm, and when Hera arrives at the mountain and sees the bird, which sits on her lap, she takes pity on it, laying her cloak over it. Zeus then transforms back and takes hold of her; when she refuses to have intercourse with him because of their mother, he promises that she will become his wife.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA137 p. 137]; Scholia on [[Theocritus]], [https://archive.org/details/scholiaintheocr00wendgoog/page/310/mode/2up 15.64 (Wendel, pp. 311&ndash;2)] [= ''[[FGrHist]]'' 33 F3]; Gantz, p. 58. The scholiast attributes the story to the work ''On the Cults of Hermione'', by an Aristocles.</ref> [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] similarly refers to Zeus transforming himself into a cuckoo to woo Hera, and identifies the location as Mount Thornax.<ref>''[[Brill's New Jacoby|BNJ]]'', [https://scholarlyeditions.brill.com/reader/urn:cts:greekLit:fgrh.0033.bnjo-2-comm3-eng:f3 commentary on 33 F3]{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.17.4 2.17.4], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.36.1 2.36.1].</ref>

According to a version from [[Plutarch]], as recorded by [[Eusebius]] in his ''[[Praeparatio evangelica]]'', Hera is raised by a nymph named Macris<ref>According to Sandbach, Macris is another name for [[Euboea (mythology)|Euboea]], who [[Plutarch]] calls Hera's nurse at ''[[Moralia]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/plutarch-moralia_table_talk/1961/pb_LCL424.269.xml 657 E (pp. 268&ndash;71)] (Sandbach, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/plutarch-moralia_fragments_other_named_works_lives/1969/pb_LCL429.289.xml p. 289, note b to fr. 157]).</ref> on the island of [[Euboea]] when Zeus kidnaps her, taking her to Mount [[Cithaeron]], where they find a shady hollow, which serves as a "natural bridal chamber". When Macris comes to look for Hera, Cithaeron, the [[tutelary deity]] of the mountain, stops her, saying that Zeus is sleeping there with Leto.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA137 p. 137]; [[Plutarch]] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/plutarch-moralia_fragments_other_named_works_lives/1969/pb_LCL429.287.xml fr. 157 Sandbach, pp. 286&ndash;9] [= ''[[FGrHist]]'' 388 F1 = [[Eusebius]], ''[[Praeparatio evangelica]]'' 3.1.3 ([https://archive.org/details/evangelicaepraep01euse/page/112/mode/2up?view=theater Gifford 1903a, pp. 112&ndash;3]; [https://archive.org/details/eusebius-preparation-for-the-gospel-full-work-gifford-1903-trans/page/91/mode/2up?view=theater Gifford 1903b, p. 92])].</ref> [[Photius]], in his ''[[Bibliotheca (Photius)|Bibliotheca]]'', tells us that in [[Ptolemaeus Chennus|Ptolemy Hephaestion]]'s ''New History'', Hera refuses to lay with Zeus, and hides in a cave to avoid him, before an earthborn man named Achilles convinces her to marry Zeus, leading to the pair first sleeping with each other.<ref>[[Ptolemaeus Chennus|Ptolemy Hephaestion]] ''apud'' [[Photius]], ''[[Bibliotheca (Photius)|Bibliotheca]]'' 190.47 (Harry, pp. 68&ndash;9; [https://topostext.org/work/237#190.47 English translation]).</ref> According to [[Stephanus of Byzantium]], Zeus and Hera first lay together at the city of [[Hermione (Argolis)|Hermione]], having come there from Crete.<ref>[[Stephanus of Byzantium]] [https://archive.org/details/STEPHANUSVONBYZANZMargaretheBillerbeckChristianZublerSTEPHANIBYZANTIIENICAIIpdf/page/159/mode/2up?view=theater s.v. ''Hermion'' (II pp. 160, 161)].</ref> Callimachus, in a fragment from his ''Aetia'', also apparently makes reference to the couple's union occurring at [[Naxos]].<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA136 pp. 136&ndash;7]; [[Callimachus]] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/callimachus-aetia/2022/pb_LCL421.209.xml fr. 75 Clayman, pp. 208&ndash;17] [= ''[[Oxyrhynchus papyri|P. Oxy.]]'' [https://archive.org/details/pt7oxyrhynchuspa00grenuoft/page/24/mode/2up?view=theater 1011 fr. 1 (Grenfell and Hunt, pp. 24&ndash;6)]]. Callimachus seems to refer to some form of liaison between Zeus and Hera while describing a Naxian premarital ritual; see Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA136 pp. 136&ndash;7]; Gantz, p. 58. Cf. Scholia on [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'', 14.296; for a discussion on the relation between the Callimachus fragment and the passage from the scholion, see Sistakou, p. 377.</ref>

Though no complete account of Zeus and Hera's wedding exists, various authors make reference to it. According to a scholiast on [[Apollonius of Rhodes]]' ''[[Argonautica]]'', [[Pherecydes of Athens|Pherecydes]] states that when Zeus and Hera are being married, [[Gaia]] brings a tree which produces golden apples as a wedding gift.<ref>Gantz, p. 58; ''[[FGrHist]]'' 3 F16a [= Scholia on [[Apollonius of Rhodes]]' ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=0lkhbarJcukC&pg=PA315 4.1396&ndash;9b (Wendel, pp. 315&ndash;6)]]; ''[[FGrHist]]'' 3 F16b [= Scholia on [[Apollonius of Rhodes]]' ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=0lkhbarJcukC&pg=PA317 2.992 (Wendel, p. 317)]].</ref> [[Eratosthenes]] and Hyginus attribute a similar story to Pherecydes, in which Hera is amazed by the gift, and asks for the apples to be planted in the "garden of the gods", nearby to [[Mount Atlas]].<ref>Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA292 p. 292]; [[Eratosthenes]], ''[[Catasterismi]]'' 3 (Hard 2015, [https://books.google.com/books?id=7IMSBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA12 p. 12]; Olivieri, [https://archive.org/details/mythographigrae00olivgoog/page/3/mode/2up?view=theater pp. 3&ndash;4]) [= [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[De astronomia]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.3.1 2.3.1] = ''[[FGrHist]]'' 3 F16c].</ref> [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]] specifies them as the golden apples of the [[Hesperides]], and says that Gaia gives them to Zeus after the marriage.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.5.11 2.5.11].</ref> According to [[Diodorus Siculus]], the location of the marriage is in the land of the [[Knossos|Knossians]], nearby to the river Theren,<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA136 p. 136]; [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#72.4 5.72.4].</ref> while [[Lactantius]] attributes to [[Varro]] the statement that the couple are married on the island of Samos.<ref>[[Varro]] ''apud'' [[Lactantius]], ''[[Divine Institutes]]'' [https://archive.org/details/lactantiusdivine0000lact/page/98/mode/2up?view=theater 1.17.1 (p. 98)].</ref>

There exist several stories in which Zeus, receiving advice, is able to reconcile with an angered Hera. According to Pausanias, Hera, angry with her husband, retreats to the island of Euboea, where she was raised, and Zeus, unable to resolve the situation, seeks the advice of Cithaeron, ruler of [[Plataea]], supposedly the most intelligent man on earth. Cithaeron instructs him to fashion a wooden statue and dress it as a bride, and then pretend that he is marrying one "Plataea", a daughter of [[Asopus]]. When Hera hears of this, she immediately rushes there, only to discover the ruse upon ripping away the bridal clothing; she is so relieved that the couple are reconciled.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA137 p. 137&ndash;8]; Pirenne-Delforge and Pironti, p. 99; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.36.1 9.3.1&ndash;2].</ref> According to a version from Plutarch, as recorded by Eusebius in his ''Praeparatio evangelica'', when Hera is angry with her husband, she retreats instead to Cithaeron, and Zeus goes to the earth-born man Alalcomeneus, who suggests he pretend to marry someone else. With the help of Alalcomeneus, Zeus creates a wooden statue from an oak tree, dresses it as a bride, and names it Daidale. When preparations are being made for the wedding, Hera rushes down from Cithaeron, followed by the women of [[Plataia]], and upon discovering the trick, the couple are reconciled, with the matter ending in joy and laughter among all involved.<ref>[[Plutarch]] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/plutarch-moralia_fragments_other_named_works_lives/1969/pb_LCL429.293.xml fr. 157 Sandbach, pp. 292, 293] [= ''[[FGrHist]]'' 388 F1 = [[Eusebius]], ''[[Praeparatio evangelica]]'' 3.1.6 ([https://archive.org/details/evangelicaepraep01euse/page/114/mode/2up?view=theater Gifford 1903a, pp. 114&ndash;5]; [https://archive.org/details/eusebius-preparation-for-the-gospel-full-work-gifford-1903-trans/page/93/mode/2up?view=theater Gifford 1903b, p. 93])].</ref>

{{chart top|Children of Zeus and Hera<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' 921&ndash;9 (Most, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.75.xml pp. 76, 77]); Caldwell, [https://archive.org/details/hesiodstheogony00hesi/page/12/mode/2up?view=theater p. 12, table 14].</ref>|}}
{{chart/start}}
{{chart}}
{{chart| | | | | | | |ZEU |~|~|y|~|~|~|HER |ZEU='''ZEUS'''|HER=[[Hera]]}}
{{chart| | | | | | | | |,|-|-|-|+|-|-|-|.|`|-|.}}
{{chart| | | | | | | |HEB | |ARE | |EIL | |HEP |HEB=[[Hebe (mythology)|Hebe]]|ARE=[[Ares]]|EIL=[[Eileithyia]]|HEP=[[Hephaestus]]<ref>According to Hesiod, Hera produces Hephaestus on her own, without a father (''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.77.xml 927&ndash;9]). In the ''[[Iliad]]'' and the ''[[Odyssey]]'', however, he is the son of Zeus and Hera; see Gantz, p. 74; [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.568 1.577&ndash;9], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.270-14.311 14.293&ndash;6], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.312-14.351 14.338], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:8.295-8.342 8.312].</ref>}}
{{chart/end}}
{{chart bottom}}