Golden-throned Hera, among immortals the queen,
Chief among them in beauty, the glorious lady
All the blessed in high Olympus revere,
Honor even as Zeus, the lord of thunder.
Hera, the evil queen of the gods, is beautiful but vain. She has quite the reputation for being hateful and vindictive. She dislikes humans especially, more than likely because of Hercules and the human lovers her husband Zeus has. She is the protector of marriage and takes special care of married women. Hera's marriage was founded in strife with Zeus and continued in strife. Zeus courted her unsuccessfully, so he turned to trickery, changing himself into disheveled cuckoo. Hera feeling sorry for the bird held it to her breast to warm it. Zeus then resumed his normal form and, taking advantage of the surprise he gained, had his ways with her. She then married him to cover her shame. Once when Zeus was being particularly overbearing to the other gods, Hera convinced them to join her in a revolt. Her part in the revolt was to drug Zeus, and in this she was successful. The gods then bound the sleeping Zeus to a couch, taking care to tie many knots. This done they began to quarrel over the next step when Briareus overheard the arguments.
Still full of gratitude to Zeus, Briareus slipped in and was able to quickly untie the many knots, Zeus then sprang from the couch and grabbed up his mighty thunderbolt. The gods fell to their knees begging and pleading for mercy and he seized Hera and hung her from the sky with gold chains. She wept in pain all night but none of the others dared to interfere for fear they'd anger Zeus. Her weeping kept Zeus up all night, so the next morning he agreed to release her if she would swear never to rebel again. She had little choice but to agree. While she never again rebelled, she often plotted against Zeus' plans and she was often able to outwit him. Most stories concerning Hera have to do with her jealous revenge on Zeus. She is never seen fully in her true form by mortals, the only thing one may see of her is her glowing eyes glaring down from the heavens. Her symbol is the peacock (her sacred animals are the cow and peacock, her favorite city is Argos).