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[[File: Hera 3.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Bust of Zeus]]
==Hera and Zeus- a love/hate relationship==
Hera had frequent rows with Zeus and on several occasions, the Father of the Gods had to punish his wife. The relationship between Zeus and Hera was a complex one and the King of the Gods, did love his wife and she loved him. However, as we will see he had a wandering eye and Hera knew this and she did all she could to retain his affections. On one occasion she borrowed the girdle of Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, and with this, she was able to charm and fascinate Zeus- but only for a while and he continued to have countless affairs. Often, she is portrayed in Greek myth as someone who is rather ridiculous as she tried and failed to stop Zeus' many affairs. Echo was a nymph in Greek legend, which can best be understood as a spirit of a forest or a body of water. She was given the job distracting Hera from Zeus many sexual adventures. Echo was something of a charmer and a flatterer and he was very successful for a long time. However, Hera discovered that she was tricked and cursed the Echo so that she would forever only repeat the words of others. This is the origin of the word echo. Despite this Hera was a powerful Goddess and she rode in a chariot drawn by two horses and she had her own retinue of Gods. Despite the many portrayals of her as a deceived wife, she was also much feared and was fervently worshipped, especially by women. Hera was the Goddess of marriage and anyone who broke their marriage vows, was thought to have insulted her and committed an act of hubris against the Goddess <ref> Powell, p. 118</ref>. She was believed to have punished unfaithful husbands and was believed to also harm those who injured those animals who were sacred to her. The Queen of the Gods was also believed to help women in childbirth. Hera played a crucial role in the Trojan War. Because of the judgment of Paris, she hated the Trojans and she did all she could to help the Greeks in their siege of Troy. Despite Zeus' many affairs, there is no story that survives that Hera was unfaithful to her husband and she was an ever-loyal if long-suffering wife <ref> Renehan, p. 113</ref>. Not that she did not have her own admirers. When King Ixion, had the temerity to try and seduce Hera, Zeus did not take it well. The King of the Gods bound to a burning solar wheel, spinning across the heavens for all eternity.;l
[[File: Temple of Hera - Agrigento - Italy 2015.JPGFile.png|200px|thumb|left|A Temple of Hera in Sicily]]
==Typhoon – the giant serpent==
One of the features of the Greek gods was the phenomenon of parthenogenous. This is where the deities were thought to be capable of asexual reproduction, that is males and females could produce offspring without a sexual partner. Zeus in some accounts gave birth to the Goddess Athena. This greatly angered Hera who saw it as a betrayal and a slight to her own children with Zeus. In the myths, she is shown as feeling threatened by the arrival of Athena. The Goddess of women and marriage then goes on to pray to Gaia, (the Earth Mother), for a son who would be the equal of Zeus. Gaia heard her prayers and decides to enable her to have a child. This was done because she was angry with Zeus for the destruction of the Giants. Gaia tells the wife of Zeus to go to Cronus and he gives her two eyes that have been smeared with his semen. Hera buried them and from them emerged the huge serpent-monster Typhoon. However, soon after is birth, Hera is reconciled with the King of the Gods and tells him about the monster. Later Zeus battles with Typhoon for control of the cosmos and the Father of the Gods emerges victorious<ref> Renehan, p. 113</ref>. It appears that Zeus did not blame Hera and they continued to be married, even if it was not domestic bliss.
