Differences Between Gods and Goddesses
Hera
Hera was the wife of Zeus and his sister. In one tale, the courting of Zeus and Hera was that Zeus changed himself into a
cuckoo and hid in Hera's clothes. When the storm was over, Zeus went back to his natural form and promised to marry Hera.
When her husband had affairs with other women, Hera was jealous. In many myths, Hera sought revenge on Zeus's lovers. In
one myth, Hera changed Calisto into a bear because Zeus was looking down on Calisto. He put her in the sky, but when Hera
tried to change what Zeus had done, she couldn't. All she could do was make the Great Bear a circumpolar constellation. (This
means the stars never rise and never set) Her sacred animal was the peacock.
Juno
Juno was the wife of Jupiter and the daughter of Saturn. The Romans saw her as a goddess of childbirth and acompanied
women from birth to death and was much kinder than Hera (she didn't cause trouble for Jupiter's lovers). She was depicted
wearing a goatskin cloak and she was worshiped on the Capitol hill with Jupiter and Minerva.
Return to page 1