I sing of golden-throned Hera whom Rhea bare.
Queen of the Immortals is she, surpassing all in beauty:
she is the sister and wife of loud-thundering Zeus,
-- the glorious one whom all the blessed throughout high Olympos reverence and honour even as Zeus who delights in thunder.
(Homeric Hymn 12 to Hera, trans. Evelyn-White)
I am delighted to anounce that Queen of Olympos: A Devotional Anthology for Hera and Iuno is now available, both in kindle as well as paperback through Amazon.com. This anthology includes my own devotional poem to the glorious Hera which I am rather excited about.
Hera was the Olympian Queen of the Gods and the Goddess of women and marriage. The eldest daughter of Cronos and Rhea, as well as sister and long suffering wife of Zeus, Hera was also a Goddess of the sky and starry heavens. She was usually depicted as a beautiful woman wearing a crown and holding a royal, lotus-tipped staff. Sometimes she held a royal lion or had a cuckoo or hawk as her familiar.
A wonderful site listing the many myths relating to Hera is Theoi.com.
O royal Hera, of majestic mien, aerial-formed, divine,
Zeus' blessed queen, throned in the bosom of cerulean air,
the race of mortals is thy constant care.
The cooling gales they power alone inspires,
which nourish life, which every life desires.
Mother of showers and winds, from thee alone,
producing all things, mortal life is known:
all natures share thy temperament divine,
and universal sway alone is thine,
with sounding blasts of wind, the swelling sea
and rolling rivers roar when shook by thee.
Come, blessed Goddess, famed almighty queen,
with aspect kind, rejoicing and serene.
(Orphic Hymn 16 to Hera (trans. Taylor)
