Hera was the original goddess of the era, the Greeks spent a lot of time discrediting her and coming up with ways to spin her to fit their intended purpose for the religion.
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Tidbit about Hera: The myths were believed to have been passed down by the muses. The muses were children of Zeus, but not Hera. Some theorize that Hera looks so bad because the storytellers were biased against her.
Yeah, they were children of Zeus and a Titan.
Don’t forget though, Hera was the patron deity of Argus, who were enemies of Thebes (who were allies with Athens aka where most of our surviving versions of myths originate). The Greeks also had an INCREDIBLY poor opinion of women in general, which doesn’t help her.
I’ll defend Hera with my life. She was more than just a vengeful spinster. She was Queen of the Skies, we actually KNOW more about her childhood than any other of the original gods save Zeus (you can interpret it either AFTER she was vomited back up or if she managed to hide and have a life before being eaten alive). She lived in the Ocean with her uncles, it’s generally agreed Helios, Selene, and all their children sided with the Olympians because of an alliance they made with HER; she also probably arranged Poseidon’s marriage with Amphitrite to gain an alliance with Oceanus and his ilk; even after warring against Gaia, the two remained on good terms and interacted with each other often she’s the goddess of marriage, and the Greeks were OBSESSED with their legacy, she could make or break a kingdom with her blessing.
HECK, Hera was POWERFUL. Remember Typhon? There’s a version of the story that HERA birthed him just to spite Zeus after Athena’s birth. And she could control him. SHE sent him on the rampage that nearly destroyed the world, just for an apology from Zeus. She’s petty, vindictive, and a force to be reckoned with. I love her
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So she managed to make allies with the sun, the moon, and the Atlantic Ocean (they were all Titans, yes)? I guess she’s quite the diplomat…
Sounds like she should be the patron of politicians and ambassadors
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I never said anything bad about her did I? I said she got turned into a propaganda item. Athena was the ideal female goddess, she was a new one.
Zeus and Hera had two kids, Ares and Hebe, she created and gave birth to Hepaestus herself and he came out deformed so she chucked him off Mt. Olympus (Zeus did the same thing when H-man freed Hera after she orchestrated a rebellion against him).
@RanchoJoe, Oceanus was the Titan of all Oceans. Poseidon was just the god of the seas.
That’s essentially what she was, yeah. Marriage was a political move, and who do you think ruled Olympus everytime Zeus went chasing tunics?
Oh no! I know you didn’t say anything derogatory about her, I just get really defensive over her. I’m sorry if it seemed like I was attacking you, that wasn’t my intent, I promise.
Actually Delphin, King of the Dolphins arranged Poseidon’s marriage with Amphrite. Dude was having a hard time since she originally didn’t want to marry him.
Poseidon having a hard time= Sea Storm, Hurricanes, and Earthquakes.
True, but that was a Roman myth created to explain the Delphinus constellation, so I don’t put as much credibility in it.
Rome was greater than Greece so, they were able to push whatever they wanted.
Without Rome, the Olympians might have faded like poor Helios. For it was the Roman’s who caused him to fade.
I’m not sure how much of this is true, but I’ve heard that Athena was so popular in part because she was a woman who rejected her womanhood to be amongst the male gods. I never put much focus on that though since I’ve never been able to find the versions of the myths that back that up.
Greater is subjective. Plus, the two are not interchangeable. They had different values and customs, and had different viewpoints on certain myths (Ares v. Mars, Minerva v. Athena, the fact that Odysseus is adored by the Greeks for his cunning and underhanded tactics and hated by Romans for the _exact same reasons__)
Plus, after they reach the Common Era, Christianity starts merging into a lot of their stories and takes away a lot of the complexity found in the original myths.
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She was the goddess of Wisdom, Battle-Strategy, Defensive War, and home-crafts. These include weaving, pottery, cooking…
@River, the Romans adopted a lot of gods and goddesses. They had Bellona, a more proper Roman goddess take over as female war goddess.
I’ve heard that too. While it definitely seems in line with her character, I haven’t found anything that has her out and out reject her femininity.
That said, trans!Athena would be an AWESOME modernAU
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Athena was the unattainable conquest for a culture that worshipped conquering women. (Hence everything Zeus did) She was both hated and loved for this reason. The only way she came out looking so good in the myths was because she was the patron god of Athens who, as was mentioned, wrote most of the versions we are familiar with.
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Well there was at least one female hero who had herself turned into a man so that she could fight better (Caeneus, although whether s/he would count as transgender, I don’t know).
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Caeneus would definitely be considered transgender! But I’m not sure how canon we could consider that, since his transformation was added later by Ovid. (I mean, I’m pretty sure he was mentioned in the Illiad, but his transformation and backstory wasn’t invented until centuries later)
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Washington was a demigod, calling it now.
With Ares as his father, probably. Or Apollo.