"The white armed queen,
Juno, the mistress of the golden throne."
It is thus that the Iliad describes Hera, the wife of Zeus, now more
often called by her Roman name Juno. The marriage union between the
ruler of the gods and his queen represented the Greek ideal of perfect
conjugal happiness. Hera was therefore the goddess who presided over
human marriages, and was the type of matronly virtue and dignity. As the
queen of heaven, she had it in her power to bestow great riches, honor,
and influence upon her favorites.
In the Trojan war she was, like Athena, a partisan of the Greeks, and
once or twice even accompanied the war goddess to the battlefield.
Usually, however, her pursuits were of a more peaceful and domestic
order. She was a very beautiful goddess, "ox-eyed" in the quaint Greek
phrase, that is, with large expressive eyes. She had the august and
majestic bearing befitting a queen, and is usually described in classic
literature as wearing a veil. A long passage in the Iliad gives an
account of her toilet when arraying herself for a special occasion.
After bathing in ambrosia, and anointing with oil,
"When thus her shapely form
Had been anointed, and her hands had combed
Her tresses, she arranged the lustrous curls,
Ambrosial, beautiful, that clustering hung
Round her immortal brow. And next she threw
Around her an ambrosial robe, the work
Of Pallas, all its web embroidered o'er
With forms of rare device. She fastened it
Over the breast with clasps of gold, and then
She passed about her waist a zone which bore
Fringes a hundred-fold, and in her ears
She hung her three-gemmed ear-rings, from whose gleam
She won an added grace. Around her head
The glorious goddess drew a flowing veil,
Just from the loom, and shining like the sun;
And, last, beneath her bright white feet she bound
The shapely sandals."[12]
[12] Iliad, Book xiv., lines 210-226 in Bryant's translation.
One of the prettiest stories about Hera is that in which she acted as
the friend of Jason. Jason was the son of a dethroned king and was
brought up by the centaur Chiron. When he came of age he set forth, with
much good advice from Chiron, to reclaim his father's kingdom. On his
journey he came to a swollen stream which seemed well-nigh impassable.
As he was considering the danger of crossing it, an old woman on the
bank begged him to carry her over. This was a hazardous undertaking, and
the young man was sorely tempted to refuse her. At last his kindness
triumphed and he consented. Taking her on his back, he struggled across
the river at the peril of his life. When he set her safely on the
opposite bank, a wonderful thing happened. "She grew fairer than all
women, and taller than all men on earth; and her garments shone like the
summer sea, and her jewels like the stars of heaven; and over her
forehead was a veil, woven of the golden clouds of sunset, and through
the veil she looked down on him with great soft heifer's eyes; with
great eyes, mild and awful, which filled all the glen with light."[13]
Then he knew that this was Hera, and from thenceforth she was his guide
in every time of need.
[13] From Kingsley's _Greek Heroes_: the Argonauts.
[Illustration: D. Anderson, Photo. John Andrew & Son, Sc.