Hera (Roman name: Juno) is the wife of Zeus and queen of the ancient Greek gods. She represented the ideal woman, she was the goddess of marriage and family, and protector of women in childbirth. Although she was always faithful, Hera was famous for her jealous and vindictive nature, mainly directed against her husband's mistresses and her illegitimate children.
In Greek mythology, Hera was the daughter of Cronus and Rhea, and mother of Ares (god of war), Hebe (goddess of youth) and Ilithiía (goddess of childbirth), all of them with Zeus. Hera also gave birth alone to Hephistos (god of metallurgy) in retaliation for the birth of Athena, also alone, by Zeus. However, Hera threw Hephistos from Mount Olympus because of his ugliness, and when he fell to earth, the god was left lame. In other accounts, Hephistos was thrown from the heavens by Zeus precisely because of his limp. In any case, Hephistos held a grudge against her mother and even imprisoned her on a special throne. Hera only freed herself from the device by promising her son Aphrodite's hand in marriage.
Hera constantly struggled with her husband's infidelity and often took quick revenge. Leto was punished by Hera by vowing to curse any land that gave shelter to the pregnant goddess. Only after months of wandering could Leto find a place (Delos) to give birth to her son, the god Apollo. Even then, Hera made her daughter Ilithya prolong the labor to nine months.
