This is something I don't understand. If Hera hates Zeus' infidelity, to the point of cursing his lovers and even trying to overthrow him, why not marry someone else?
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4Perhaps she enjoyed her status as queen of the gods.– Harel13Feb 3, 2021 at 15:59
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@Harel13, of course she did. It is just a shame, because she never agreed to the marriage in the first place. Zeus raped her and she was ashamed of that, and reluctantly agreed to marriage. She must regret it from that day forward…– Amortal DemonFeb 3, 2021 at 19:44
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Hera is the goddess of marriage. There is a scene in the musical Evita where Eva Perón is diagnosed with ovarian cancer, but she and her husband refuse surgery because the "Mother of Argentina" just has to have ovaries....– SpencerFeb 6, 2021 at 17:45
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Could Greek women divorce their husbands? (Roman women could, but there were a lot of differences.)– MaryMar 15, 2022 at 1:03
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2 Answers
Zeus is more powerful than Hera and all the other gods. In fact, he is even stronger than all of them put together, if we take his word for it (Iliad 8.19-27). This is what Zeus says to Hera after he realizes that she had tricked him into falling asleep in order to help the Achaeans:
The sire of gods and men had pity on him, and looked fiercely on Juno. "I see, Juno," said he, "you mischief-making trickster, that your cunning has stayed Hector from fighting and has caused the rout of his host. I am in half a mind to thrash you, in which case you will be the first to reap the fruits of your scurvy knavery. Do you not remember how once upon a time I had you hanged? I fastened two anvils on to your feet, and bound your hands in a chain of gold which none might break, and you hung in mid-air among the clouds. All the gods in Olympus were in a fury, but they could not reach you to set you free; when I caught any one of them I gripped him and hurled him from the heavenly threshold till he came fainting down to earth; yet even this did not relieve my mind from the incessant anxiety which I felt about noble Hercules whom you and Boreas had spitefully conveyed beyond the seas to Cos, after suborning the tempests; but I rescued him, and notwithstanding all his mighty labours I brought him back again to Argos. I would remind you of this that you may learn to leave off being so deceitful, and discover how much you are likely to gain by the embraces out of which you have come here to trick me." (Iliad 15.14-33; there are similar speeches in book 8)
The myths have Hera trying to thwart Zeus many times, and she always suffers for it. She couldn't simply decide to get divorced from the king of the gods, if he didn't want her to separate from him.
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Wow, that must really suck for Hera. She, after all, does deserve better, than a cheating scumbag. Feb 3, 2021 at 19:42
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@AmortalDemon I mean, you are aware that Hera isn't real, right? And I really don't think you can reserve the words "cheating scumbag" for any god - that would be making them too human. And while in myth they might seem very human, there is vast gulf between religious beliefs and practices and the stories told to convey them.– cmwMar 16, 2022 at 12:23
Hera is the goddess of family. By divorcing Zeus she would be breaking her own family further apart, therefore creating rifts between her children and the other gods and demigods. By refusing to divorce zeus, she is setting an example: she is the queen of the gods, and he the King. He may cheat, but he will be punished for it.
