bitches i will defend to the death ♢ 8 - hera, greek mythology
In my first day of Ancient Greek Religion class, my T.A.—in listing the Olympian gods—said “Hera… she’s kind of a bitch.” My jaw dropped; excuse you. If by bitch you mean fierce, flawless goddess, then yes. Yes, she is. Did you know Zeus has been called ‘Zeus Heraios’—Zeus, consort of Hera? Did you know the cult of Hera predates the cult of Zeus? Did you know the first Greek sanctuary* was dedicated to Hera? Probably not, because she is demoted to ‘jealous wife’ by Homer and countless other storytellers…
Awesome. A few extra points: Hera was often treated as an equal to Zeus. His only equal. Their marriage was a weird, unGreek, partnership of equals. There’s this image of her that I love: Zeus is always portrayed in the position of power and yet in this one he’s in the subordinate position of SITTING DOWN while this flawless bitch is STANDING. So yeah….
will you marry me
I totally would but I kinda have a thing against traditional marriage. But hey! If they ever legalize poly marriages I’d totally be on board!
One thing I forgot to mention:
There is a lovely scene in Ovid’s Metamorphosis after Zeus had been unfaithful and Hera had retaliated and etc and etc. They’re relaxing on Mt. Olympus sipping nectar and just chatting nicely (in my head they’re on lawn chairs on the porch of Olympus with their nectar in martini glasses with lemon twists and they’re wearing bathing suits, working on their tans and Hera’s wearing those huge circular sun glasses). Then Zeus says something along the lines of “I think men suffer more in love.” and the next line reads, verbatim: Hera disagrees.
And that’s the end of it. THE END.
I just imagine them as this ridiculously dysfunctional couple who fight all the time and there’s all this drama.. but nobody can be like that all the time. And in the end they are married, and they are equals, so there’s moments like these when they’re being civil to eachother. And Hera doesn’t rant or berate him because there is no point. So she just disagrees and moves on. And so does he. Because they are married and equals and immortal and there’s only hurt to be had on both sides if they keep fighting. So Hera is cynical and exasperated, but she still loves Zeus, because he’s her brother and her husband and if you’re stuck with anyone long enough (like eternity say) eventually you’ll start to care for them. No matter how much of a fucker they are. Because that’s just how life works.
The most epic case of Stockholm syndrome? Maybe.
i now feel bad because i sat here promising back-and-forth discussions of mythology and all i can do is sit here with hearts in my eyes and drool coming out of my mouth *_* blame my tiredness/just-finished-midterms mind mush
but this is just perfection and now i’m gonna try to liveblog my classics classes as much as possible in hopes that you (and other classics nerds!!!) will reply :3
