The cosmological functions of Hera
I’ve been thinking a lot about Hera these past few weeks, and while reading “The Hera of Zeus: Intimate Enemy, Ultimate Spouse”, a new thought and association emerged about the goddess, leading me to analyse and interpret her role in the cosmos, both as a standalone goddess, and as the wife of Zeus.
[This analysis might contain UPG]
The gods as personifications: Zeus’s family as an extension of his power
Many of the gods we know and love have specific functions when they are in relation to Zeus. Hermes delivers his messages to gods and heroes, Apollo is his voice in the mortal world, and Athena is the personification of Zeus’s racing mind. Let me explain my thoughts
Athena is born from the head of Zeus himself, from Metis (which we translate as “wisdom” or “craft”) that he has in himself. As such, she would be one of the few beings in the universe to know and understand Zeus’s grand plans. For example, in the Iliad, Zeus’s grand plan is the destruction of Troy, which Athena was in firm favour of, despite the apparent opposition from her father, who had to restrain her from enacting his plan too soon.
“How is it relevant?” One may ask. “And how does that relate to Hera?” Put a pin in that thought dear reader.
Zeus did not create the universe: the cosmological role of Zeus and his marriages
Based on the interpretation above, many of Zeus’s family members are extensions of the reach he has over the universe, but only some of them could claim to be or have been his wife. Hesiod cites 7 goddesses as having been his wives, namely Metis, Themis, Eurynome, Demeter, Mnemosyne, Leto, and finally Hera. Since we have established the notion that Zeus’s family mean something in relation to him, my theory is that older goddesses, such as the Titans and early Olympians Zeus takes as wives are personifications of abstract concepts and concrete principles from which Zeus orders the universe.
[I would like to preface this next part by explaining a bit about the Ancient Greek view of marriage and sexuality. Marriage’s main function was the accomplishment of one’s personhood as well as creating new life who would contribute positively towards society. Additionally, sex was all about power dynamics, making the dominant partner (the man) the one in control of the submissive partner (the woman), making sex a sort of “subduing” of the other person.]
Zeus did not create the universe at all. He merely inherited it. It was established in Hesiod’s Theogony that all elements in the cosmos existed prior to his existence, albeit in a state of disarray and chaos. Zeus, as a god of structure, therefore inherited this disorderly world and created order from its constituents. In order to do so, he would need to be wise or crafty, which is the reason for his marriage to (and subsequent absorption of) Metis. After doing so he would need to determine the functionings and happening of the world, hence why he marries the Titan (natural force) responsible for establishing universal laws, Themis, from whom he creates goddesses who regulate the happenings of nature and human life, the Horae (Seasons or Hours). After establishing the functionings of the world and determining the best course of action for its happenings, Zeus had to think of what the world would look like, hence he took Eurynome, and from her made the Charites to make the world beautiful and full of delight. But the world was rough and unforgiving, yielding nothing of substance to that which Zeus would make, hence he married Demeter for her treasure of bounty and vegetation, and made Persephone. Then, after the world was beatiful, fruitful and plenty, there had to be intelligent creatures to inhabit it, so Zeus married Mnemosyne to create intelligence, learning, art and the delight of music, in the form of the Muses. Next, when intelligence had been created, it was time for the beings to proliferate in colonies, which is why Zeus married the fertile Leto, who produced Apollo and Artemis, representing the divide between civilisation and the savage wilderness. Lastly, when all had been made in good order, Zeus, whose hymn calls the most Excellent and Great, took in a wife, a final wife, the most beautiful goddess in existence, most excellent of birth, power and status: his sister-wife Hera, an equal to He who is Excellent.
The marriages of Zeus therefore represent a sequence of events that allow Zeus to structure the universe according to his will as the Divine Craftsman or Demiurge. His marriage to Hera therefore represents the completion of this ordering, the state of perfection in which all things exist under the order established by Zeus.
Hera the goddess of perfection
In “The Hera of Zeus”, Pirenne-Delforge and Pironti analyse the role of Hera as a goddess who pushes beings to their fullest potential. This is why, she is the mother of Hebe, which is the goddess of youth, a state where one reaches the full potential and power they will ever be capable of in life. This is also why in the story of the daughters of Pandareus, Hera gives the young women beauty and intellect above all other women. Therefore, it might come as no surprise that the goddess who grants perfection and loves excellence would be seen and worshipped as the goddess in charge of determining which deities are suitable to enter Olympus (see here), of initiating young people into greater society, and finding the most excellent match befitting of one’s status in marriage. However, as many of us know, perfection can not be achieved without a certain level of conflict, whether internal (like an artist willing to improve their craft) or external (a teacher giving students tough exercises to test their knowledge), and Hera being a lover of perfect things, thrives in this state of conflict or discomfort, which is exemplified in her relationship with her husband Zeus, with whom she argues quite a bit, with the goal to spur him on to consider and reconsider the way he rules the cosmos, and reestablish his supremacy among the gods. In the Iliad, Zeus seems to be used, or even expect to conflict and opposition from Hera, and even goes to her for advice on whether he should save Sarpedon from the war or not. In another story, Hera creates Typhon as the biggest challenge to Zeus’s reign, a challenge Zeus wins, reinforcing his superiority. Hera, in her role as wife of Zeus, is both a representation of the completion of Zeus’s reshaping of the universe, the goddess that reinforces her husband’s supremacy, as well as the goddess that forces Zeus to stay perfect to keep ruling and ordering the universe by constantly opposing and arguing with him to make him consider and reconsider courses of action to accomplish his plans.
Analysis of the Orphic hymn to Hera: the goddess of essences
Now that it was established that Hera is the goddess of excellence, and that she represents the state of completion that the universe exists in, a little question remains: why is the world so imperfect then?
Well, my friend, let me introduce you to the Platonic concept of “essences”. Plato saw essences as the universal, most basic, most condensed, most recognisable form of a thing or concept. They are essentially the “soul” of things or concepts. What is a cat? What makes a cat a cat? If you have a basic idea of what a cat is, it is because you are using the essence of “Cat” to produce a mental image of “cat”. Plato then proceeds to explain that we can not know these essences or experience them because we live in the material world, which is imperfect, which then alters the perfection of essences to make them appear to us in diverse forms.
“Then where are the essences?” One may ask. I answer: in Hera
The Orphic hymn to Hera calls her ψυχοτρόφους (psūchotróphous), which is translated as mother or nurse of souls, then proceeds to call her παντογένεθλε (pantogénthle), the source of everything, and say that she is in everything. Such a description is befitting of the goddess of essences.
[Here is part of a prayer I have written to Hera after a meditation on that aspect:
“Your hymn calls you the mother of souls, the Ψυχοτρόφος, the nurse of clouds, the source of all, my lady, wife and bedmate of Zeus, whose hymn calls him ἀρχὴ πάντων and πάντων τε τελευτή, the beginning and end of all things. In yourself you have held and mixed all things, and have mingled your essence in them. All things are from you, all things are in you, you are in all things, and in the act of breathing we inhale your essence. You are queen, you are παμβασίλεια, for you are the blessed creator of the universe, who makes all things alongside Zeus, whose head contains the knowledge of all things.”]
In summary, Hera, the final wife of Zeus, does not only represent a simple marriage if you think about it on a cosmological scale. She represents the state of completion our universe exists in after a series of restructuring by Zeus, she is the goddess that makes both people and gods suitable and perfect, and she contains in her the essences of everything in the universe. She is a complex goddess whose interactions with other beings in myth and cult are often brushed off as being “simplistic” or “dramatic”, but reveal a very interesting story once they are given more thought.
[P.S: please feel free to add any thoughts or opinions to this discussion. It will fuel the voices]
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