Goddess · Character in Homer’s Odyssey

Hera

Queen of the Olympian house

Queen of the gods; here an oath and a precedent more than an actor.

Zeus' sister and queen, throned above the quarrels of this story rather than in them. She is sworn by in oaths, and remembered for loving Jason and sending the Argo safely through the Clashing Rocks; in this poem her power is felt as rank and precedent.

Bonds

• Hera wife of Zeus — queen consort of heaven
• Hera dwells in Olympus — throned beside the Thunderer

Appears in

• Book IV Conference of Telemachus and Menelaus
• Book VIII Festivals in Honor of Odysseus
• Book XI Visit of Odysseus to the Land of the Dead
• Book XII The Sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis
• Book XV Return of Telemachus
• Book XX The Last Banquet of the Suitors

Scenes

1. Fates of Ajax and Agamemnon — Book IV. Ajax drowns, Aegisthus kills Agamemnon
2. Nausicaä’s Farewell — Book VIII. Nausicaä reminds Odysseus, who vows honor
3. Heracles and the Flight — Book XI. Heracles recalls hound, Odysseus flees
4. Sirens, Scylla, Charybdis — Book XII. Circè describes Sirens, Scylla, Charybdis
5. Gifts and Farewell Feast — Book XV. Menelaus and Helen give goblet, robe
6. Eagle and Prophecy — Book XV. Helen reads the eagle omen as return
7. Penelope’s prayer to Artemis — Book XX. Penelope begs Artemis for death after dream

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