This book makes a central claim that was simultaneously unexpected and absolutely convincing to me: that the essence of Hera's personality, in both myth and cult, lies in the dynamic, productive tension that endures between her and her husband, Zeus. This manifests itself most markedly in what P.-D. and P. describe as Hera's role as gatekeeper to Olympus – that is, in deciding which of Zeus's progeny by other females will be allowed to join the circle of gods, perhaps only after Hera has tested them severely, as in the cases of Heracles and Dionysus. In the course of the book P.-D. and P. explore the way in which this paradigm appears in individual myths and rituals.
More specifically, they suggest that three frequently recognised aspects of Hera – her anger and contentiousness, her concern with childbirth and her identity as queen of the gods – cumulatively comprise this core identity. To do so, they look closely at, first, the ways in which she behaves and is described in myths (Part 1) and then the ways in which she is worshipped (Part 2). Part 3 pulls some of the strands of Parts 1 and 2 together into a unified portrait.
Part 1, ‘On Olympus: Conjugal Bed and Royal Throne’, emphasises Hera's identity not only as Zeus's wife but also as his sister and equal, who is given the title ‘daughter of Cronus’ just as he is given the title ‘son of Cronus’; this makes her a bride who need not leave her paternal home. Indeed, as Hyginus (Fab. 139) tells us, there was a myth in which Hera helped her mother deliver and protect her future husband, which gives pride of place to her role as sibling rather than spouse and confirms that her sovereignty is anchored not only by her marriage to the king but also by her own birthright. Somewhat perversely and yet logically, her sexual attractiveness for Zeus springs from her power to periodically return to the status of parthenia that she possessed before their union (a point to which P.-D. and P. understand the Dios Apatē to be gesturing, when Zeus tells Hera he desires her even more now than he ever had before). Her frequent challenges to Zeus cumulatively create a tension that keeps his power – but also hers – within reasonable limits, ultimately confirming the immensity of each spouse's authority.
The royal couple have no prominent child of their own, which has sometimes puzzled scholars looking for a mythical analogue for Hera's concern with mothers in cult. P.-D. and P. suggest that Hera's prerogatives in terms of children extend less to matters of fertility and childbirth per se than to the legitimacy and social integration of the child within its family, an argument that they use as the key point of their analysis of myths in which Hera attacks the mothers of Zeus's illegitimate children or attacks the children themselves. In P.-D. and P.'s understanding, then, feminine jealousy does not drive Hera's behaviour as much as does concern for protecting the integrity of the divine oikos. They also suggest that Hera's viciousness is proportionate to the child's inborn potential to join that family. Thus, children such as Perseus, who are born fully mortal, are either not attacked at all or are not attacked as ardently as is Dionysus, who is born fully immortal.
P.-D. and P. further suggest that children with divine mothers, such as Athena and Apollo, are allowed in without challenge. Here, I found the analysis of Hera's attacks on Leto and her unborn children as narrated in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo to be less than satisfying; I also found myself wondering what to make of Polydeuces (we have no record of Hera attacking either Leda or her twins, although Leda is mortal). P.-D. and P. stress that their formulation cannot be applied neatly across the board, but it would have been helpful to hear more about some of the cases where their formulation – which is provocative and generally persuasive – does not fit. I also found myself wishing for some discussion of the ‘Orphic’ Dionysus, the son of Persephone and Zeus whom Hera viciously contrived to destroy after Zeus declared the child to be his rightful heir. Even if P.-D. and P. are among those who think that the story is relatively late, it would have served as an intriguing complication of their model.
Part 2, ‘In the Cities: Teleia and Basileia’, surveys our information about Hera's cults in various parts of Greece – Stymphalus, Plataia, Argos, Samos, Olympia and, in less detail, Delos, Perachora, Corinth and Lesbos. The authors look for ways in which cults ‘speak with the same accents’ as the myths surveyed in Part 1, ‘even if the specific phrases they use are different’ (p. 93) – an admirable formulation that neatly avoids the usual problems confronting those who study myths and rituals in tandem.
The section on Stymphalus reviews our information about Hera's three cult titles there (Pais, Teleia, Chēra) and speculates on the rituals that may have accompanied these, emphasising the cyclicity of Hera's periodic departure from, and return to, Zeus. A similar pattern is found in the evidence from Plataia, with the authors emphasising anew the indissoluble link between Hera's marriage and her sovereignty.
The longer section on Hera in Argos – one of the goddess's favourite cities – follows the same pattern, somewhat less convincingly. A sacrifice to Hera that is mentioned by Pausanias called the lecherna is interpreted as having something to do with her marriage bed; this may well be so, but words built on the lech- root may also imply the childbed. Similarly, I am not yet convinced that the famous wooden relief, from a Samian sanctuary of Hera, of a male clutching the naked breast of a female, must represent the gamos of Hera and Zeus, rather than Hera's suckling of Heracles.
The discussion of the Heraia at Olympia nicely supports the book's argument that Hera is consistently presented not only as Zeus's spouse but also as his equal. The treatment of Periander's famous sacrifice of the best clothing of all the married women of Corinth after he had stripped them bare in the goddess’ sanctuary (Hdt. 5.92; discussed at pp. 203–4) is apt, but I would suggest that it supports P.-D. and P.'s thesis even better than they realised: Periander is forced to make the sacrifice because of a tussle for power with the ghost of the dead wife upon whom he committed a perverse act of marital union.
Part 3, ‘From Anger to Glory: Testing and Legitimizing’, further explores the thesis that Hera is a gatekeeper, whose approval must be won by any illegitimate child of Zeus's who seeks admission to Olympus, with emphasis on Heracles and Dionysus. Particularly explored here is the importance of Hera's milk; according to what P.-D. and P. call the ‘law of Eratosthenes’ (citing Cat. 44), there is no possible way for Zeus's children to gain access to Olympus without being suckled or otherwise adopted by Hera. Here again, more discussion of the exceptions to the otherwise convincing case, such as Polydeuces and for that matter Helen, whom some traditions count as a goddess after her death, would have enriched the authors’ analysis.
If I quibble with P.-D. and P. on some points, it demonstrates how deeply their fascinating arguments engaged, and by and large convinced, me. The book is erudite in the best sense of that word – full of ideas that are backed up by copious references to ancient texts or archaeological materials. Immediately after reading The Hera of Zeus, I reworked the lecture on Hera that I was about to give to students in my Greek myth course, and I foresee that it will significantly impact my research as well.
