{"id":43,"date":"2021-06-01T13:20:27","date_gmt":"2021-06-01T17:20:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/myths\/chapter\/the-hieros-gamos-of-zeus-and-hera-2\/"},"modified":"2022-02-16T11:31:21","modified_gmt":"2022-02-16T16:31:21","slug":"the-hieros-gamos-of-zeus-and-hera","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/chapter\/the-hieros-gamos-of-zeus-and-hera\/","title":{"raw":"L2-The Hieros Gamos of Zeus and Hera","rendered":"L2-The Hieros Gamos of Zeus and Hera"},"content":{"raw":"Homer, Iliad<\/em>, book 14, lines 185-419, translated by Ian Johnston, 2019.<\/strong>\r\n\r\nProf. Johnston\u2019s complete translation of the Iliad<\/em> can be found at:\r\n\r\nHomer's Iliad<\/em>, trans. Ian Johnston\u00a0<\/a>\r\n\r\nIn this section of the <\/em>Iliad, Zeus has forbidden the pro-Greek gods (among them Hera, Athena,\u00a0 and Poseidon) to intervene by helping the Greeks in the battle against the Trojans. Zeus is now\u00a0 watching the battle from the top of Mount Ida, just outside Troy. The gods are furious, and\u00a0 Poseidon, in disguise, is already helping the Greek, ignoring Zeus\u2019s order. Hera now decides to\u00a0 seduce Zeus and then have Hypnos (Sleep) make Zeus fall asleep so that Poseidon can continue\u00a0 help the Greeks for as long as possible.<\/em>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nAs this was happening, on a peak of Mount Olympus\r\nHera of the golden throne was standing watching.\r\nShe recognized her brother-in-law at once,\r\nas he kept busy in the war where men win glory,\r\nfor he was her brother and her husband\u2019s, too.190<\/span>\r\nHera\u2019s heart was pleased. She looked across at Zeus,\r\nsitting on the highest peak on top of Ida,\r\nwith its many fountains. Hatred filled her heart.\r\nSo ox-eyed queen Hera then began considering\r\nhow she might deceive the mind of aegis-bearing Zeus.\r\nIn her heart the best course of action seemed to be\r\nto make herself look most attractive, go to Ida,\r\nthen see if Zeus would want to lie down with her,\r\nembrace her, and make love. Then she could pour out\r\non his eyelids and his crafty mind a deep warm sleep.200<\/span>\r\nShe went off to her bedroom, which Hephaestus,\r\nher dear son, had made for her, with close-fitting doors\r\nset against their posts, secured with a secret lock,\r\nwhich no other god could open. She went in there,\r\nthen closed the shining doors. First, with ambrosia\r\nshe washed from her lovely body all the stains,\r\nthen rubbed her skin with fragrant oil, divinely sweet,\r\nmade specially for her. If this perfume were merely stirred\r\ninside Zeus\u2019s bronze-floored house, its scent would then diffuse\r\nthroughout heaven and earth. She used this perfume210<\/span>\r\nall over her fair body, then arranged her hair.\r\nWith her own hands she combed her shining locks in braids,\r\na stunning style for an immortal goddess.\r\nThen she wrapped around herself a heavenly robe,\r\nwhich Athena made for her from silky fabric,\r\nadorning it with gorgeous embroidery.\r\nShe pinned the robe around her breast with golden brooches.\r\nOn her waist she put a belt with a hundred tassels.\r\nHera then fixed earrings in her pierced ear lobes,\r\neach with three gemstones, an enchanting glitter.220<\/span>\r\nNext the queen of goddesses placed on her head\r\na fine new dazzling shawl, white as the sun.\r\nShe then slipped lovely sandals over her sleek feet.\r\n

Hera Vists Aphrodite<\/h1>\r\nOnce Hera had dressed her body in this finery,\r\nshe left the room and summoned Aphrodite.\r\nSome distance from the other gods, she said to her:\r\n

\u201cMy dear child, will you agree to do\r\nwhat I ask of you, or will you refuse,\r\nbecause you\u2019re angry with me in your heart,\r\nsince I help the Greeks and you aid the Trojans?\u201d230<\/span><\/p>\r\nZeus\u2019s daughter Aphrodite answered her:\r\n

\u201cHera,\r\nhonoured goddess, daughter of great Cronos,\r\nsay what\u2019s on your mind. My heart tells me\r\nI should do what you ask, if I can,\r\nif it\u2019s something that can be carried out.\u201d<\/p>\r\nThen queen Hera, with her devious mind, replied:\r\n

\u201cThen give me Love and Sexual Desire,\r\nwhich you use to master all immortals,\r\nand mortal men as well. I\u2019m going to visit\r\nthe limits of this all-nourishing earth,240<\/span>\r\nto see Oceanus, from whom the gods arose,\r\nand mother Tethys, the two who reared me,\r\ntaking good care of me inside their home,\r\nonce they got me from Rhea, that time Zeus,\r\nwho sees far and wide, forced Kronos\r\nunderground, under the restless seas.\r\nI\u2019m going to visit them. And I\u2019ll resolve\r\ntheir endless quarrel. For a long time now,\r\nthey\u2019ve stayed apart from one another,\r\nnot sharing love there in the marriage bed,250<\/span>\r\nsince anger fills their hearts. If my words\r\ncould reconcile the hearts in these two gods,\r\nbring them to bed again, once more in love,\r\nthey\u2019d think of me with loving reverence.\u201d<\/p>\r\nLaughter-loving Aphrodite answered Hera:\r\n

\u201cIt would not be appropriate for me\r\nto say no to your demand, since you sleep\r\nin the arms of Zeus, the greatest of the gods.\u201d<\/p>\r\nAphrodite spoke, then loosened from her breasts\r\nthe finely decorated, embroidered garment260<\/span>\r\nin which all her magic charms were fixed\u2014for love,\r\nerotic lust, flirtation, and seduction,\r\nwhich steals the wits even of clear-thinking men.\r\nAphrodite put this in Hera\u2019s hands, then said:\r\n

\u201cTake this garment. Tie it round your breasts.\r\nEverything is interwoven in the cloth.\r\nI don\u2019t think you\u2019ll come back unsuccessful\r\nin getting what it is your heart desires.\u201d<\/p>\r\nAphrodite finished. Ox-eyed queen Hera smiled,\r\nand, as she did so, put the garment round her breasts.270<\/span>\r\nThen Aphrodite, Zeus\u2019s daughter, went back home.\r\n

Hera Visits Hypnos (Sleep)<\/h1>\r\nHera sped off, leaving the crest of Mount Olympus.\r\nShe touched down on Pieria, lovely Emathia,\r\nrushed by the highest mountains of Thracian horsemen\u2014\r\nher feet did not touch ground on those snow-covered peaks.\r\nFrom Athos she went across the heaving sea,\r\ncoming to Lemnos, city of godlike Thoas.\r\nThere she met Sleep, Death\u2019s brother. Clasping his hand,\r\nshe spoke to him:\r\n
\u201cSleep, king of all men and gods,<\/div>\r\n
if you\u2019ve ever listened to what I say,280<\/span>\r\nobey me now. I\u2019ll be grateful always.\r\nLull Zeus\u2019s radiant eyes to sleep for me,\r\nwhen I\u2019m stretched out for sex beside him.\r\nI\u2019ll give you as a gift a lovely throne,\r\nindestructible gold which my own son\r\nHephaestus with his ambidextrous skills\r\nwill make for you. Under it he\u2019ll set a stool,\r\nso you can rest your feet when drinking wine.\u201d<\/div>\r\nSweet Sleep then said in reply:\r\n
\u201cHonoured goddess Hera,<\/div>\r\n
daughter of mighty Kronos, I could with ease290<\/span>\r\nbring some other immortal one to sleep,\r\neven the streams of river Oceanus,\r\nthe source of all of them. But I won\u2019t come\r\nnear Zeus, lull him to sleep, unless he bids me,\r\nasks in person. Your request some time ago\r\ntaught me my lesson, on that very day\r\nwhen Hercules, son of almighty Zeus,\r\nset sail from Troy, after he\u2019d sacked\r\nthe Trojans\u2019 city. That\u2019s when I seduced\r\nthe mind of aegis-bearing Zeus, pouring300<\/span>\r\nmy sweetness over him. You then carried\r\nevil in your heart for Hercules, driving\r\nblasts of hostile winds across the sea,\r\ntaking him at last to well-settled Cos,\r\nfar from all his friends. When Zeus woke up,\r\nhe was incensed, throwing gods around his house,\r\nlooking, above all, for me. He\u2019d have tossed me\r\nfrom heaven into the sea, if Night,\r\nwho subdues gods and men, had not saved me.\r\nI ran away to her, and Zeus held back,310<\/span>\r\nthough still enraged, not wishing to offend\r\nswift Night. Now here you are again, asking me\r\nto do something I simply must not do.\u201d<\/div>\r\nOx-eyed queen Hera then answered him:\r\n
\u201cSleep,<\/div>\r\n
why concern your heart about these matters?\r\nDo you think all-seeing Zeus feels for Trojans\r\nthe same rage he felt then for Hercules,\r\nhis own son? But come, I\u2019ll give you as your wife\r\none of the younger Graces. You can marry\r\nPasithea, whom you long for every day.\u201d320<\/span><\/div>\r\nHera finished. Sleep was overjoyed and said:\r\n

\u201cAll right, then. Swear to me by waters\r\nof the inviolable river Styx, setting\r\none hand on the all-nourishing earth,\r\nthe other on the shimmering sea,\r\nso all may witness our agreement,\r\neven those gods underground with Kronos,\r\nthat you will give me one of the Graces,\r\nPasithea, whom I long for every day.\u201d<\/p>\r\nHera goes to Zeus on Mount Ida\r\nWhite-armed goddess Hera agreed to Sleep\u2019s request.330<\/span>\r\nShe made the oath, as he had asked, invoking\r\nall the gods under Tartarus, those called the Titans.\r\nOnce she finished saying the oath, they both set off,\r\nwrapping themselves in mist. They left behind them\r\nthe cities of Lemnos and Imbros, moving quickly,\r\nthen came to Mount Ida with its many springs,\r\nmother of wild creatures, and arrived at Lectum,\r\nwhere for the first time they left the sea. They walked\r\non dry land, shaking treetops underneath their feet.\r\nSleep then stopped, before Zeus\u2019s eyes could see him,340<\/span>\r\nclimbed a high pine tree, at that time the tallest one\r\ngrowing on Ida. It stretched up through the lower air\r\nright into the sky. Concealed in that tree\u2019s branches,\r\nSleep perched there, shaped like the clear-voiced mountain bird\r\nwhich gods call Chalcis, but people name Cymindis.\r\n\r\nHera moved quickly on to Ida\u2019s peak, high Gargarus.\r\nCloud-gatherer Zeus caught sight of her. As he looked,\r\nhis wise heart became suffused with sexual desire,\r\nas strong as when they\u2019d first made love together,\r\nlying on a couch without their parents\u2019 knowledge.350<\/span>\r\nZeus stood up in front of her, called her, and said:\r\n

\u201cHera, what are you looking for, coming\r\ndown here from Olympus? Your chariot,\r\nyour horses are not here. You should use them.\u201d<\/p>\r\nQueen Hera with her crafty mind then answered Zeus:\r\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to visit the outer limits\r\nof this all-nourishing earth, to Oceanus,\r\nfrom whom gods came, and mother Tethys,\r\nwho looked after me in their own home.\r\nThey raised me well. I\u2019ll try to mediate360<\/span>\r\ntheir endless quarrel. For a long time now,\r\nthey\u2019ve stayed apart from one another,\r\nnot sharing love there in the marriage bed,\r\nsince anger fills their hearts. As for my horses,\r\nthey\u2019re standing at the foot of Ida,\r\nwith its many springs, to carry me\r\nacross dry land and sea. I\u2019ve come here now,\r\ndown from Mount Olympus, to stop you\r\nfrom being angry with me afterwards,\r\nif I say nothing about going to visit370<\/span>\r\ndeep-flowing Oceanus in his home.\u201d<\/p>\r\nCloud-gatherer Zeus then answered:\r\n

\u201cHera,\r\nyou can go there later. But why don\u2019t we\r\nlie down and make joyful love together?\r\nI\u2019ve never felt such sexual desire before\r\nfor any goddess, for any mortal woman.\r\nIt\u2019s flooding through me, overpowering the heart\r\nhere in my chest\u2014not even when I lusted for\r\nIxion\u2019s wife, who bore me Peirithous,\r\na man as wise as gods, or Dana\u00eb,380<\/span>\r\nwith her enchanting ankles, daughter\r\nof Acrisius, who gave birth to Perseus,\r\nmost illustrious of men, nor the daughter\r\nof famous Phoenix, who bore me Minos\r\nand godlike Rhadamanthus, nor Alcmene,\r\nwho gave birth to Hercules in Thebes,\r\na mighty hearted son, nor Semele,\r\nwho bore that joy to mortals Dionysus,\r\nnor fair-haired lady Demeter, nor Leto,\r\nthat glorious girl, not even for yourself\u2014390<\/span>\r\nI felt for none of these the love I feel\r\nfor you right now\u2014such sweet desire grips me.\u201d<\/p>\r\nQueen Hera with her cunning mind then said in reply:\r\n

\u201cMost fearsome son of Cronos, what are you saying?\r\nIf you now want us to make love lying here,\r\non Ida\u2019s peaks, where anyone can see,\r\nwhat if one of the immortal gods observes us,\r\nas we sleep, then goes and tells the other gods?\r\nI could not get up from this bed and go\r\ninto your home. That would be scandalous.400<\/span>\r\nBut if that\u2019s your wish, if your heart\u2019s set on it,\r\nyou have that bedroom your own son Hephaestus\r\nhad built for you. It has close-fitting doors\r\nfixed into posts. Let\u2019s go and lie down there,\r\nsince you\u2019re so keen for us to go to bed.\u201d<\/p>\r\nCloud-gatherer Zeus then answered her:\r\n

\u201cHera,\r\ndon\u2019t be afraid that any god or man\r\nwill glimpse a thing. I\u2019ll cover you up\r\nin a golden cloud. Even sun god Helios\r\nwill not see the two of us, and his rays410<\/span>\r\nare the most perceptive spies of all.\u201d<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\nZeus finished. Then Kronos\u2019 son took his wife in his arms.\r\nUnderneath them divine Earth made fresh flowers grow\u2014\r\ndew-covered clover, crocuses, and hyacinths,\r\nlush and soft, to hold the lovers off the ground.\r\nThey lay together there covered with a cloud,\r\na lovely golden mist, from which fell glistening dew.\r\nThen Zeus slumbered peacefully on Mount Gargarus,\r\novercome with love and sleep, his wife in his embrace.","rendered":"

Homer, Iliad<\/em>, book 14, lines 185-419, translated by Ian Johnston, 2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Prof. Johnston\u2019s complete translation of the Iliad<\/em> can be found at:<\/p>\n

Homer’s Iliad<\/em>, trans. Ian Johnston\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

In this section of the <\/em>Iliad, Zeus has forbidden the pro-Greek gods (among them Hera, Athena,\u00a0 and Poseidon) to intervene by helping the Greeks in the battle against the Trojans. Zeus is now\u00a0 watching the battle from the top of Mount Ida, just outside Troy. The gods are furious, and\u00a0 Poseidon, in disguise, is already helping the Greek, ignoring Zeus\u2019s order. Hera now decides to\u00a0 seduce Zeus and then have Hypnos (Sleep) make Zeus fall asleep so that Poseidon can continue\u00a0 help the Greeks for as long as possible.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As this was happening, on a peak of Mount Olympus
\nHera of the golden throne was standing watching.
\nShe recognized her brother-in-law at once,
\nas he kept busy in the war where men win glory,
\nfor he was her brother and her husband\u2019s, too.190<\/span>
\nHera\u2019s heart was pleased. She looked across at Zeus,
\nsitting on the highest peak on top of Ida,
\nwith its many fountains. Hatred filled her heart.
\nSo ox-eyed queen Hera then began considering
\nhow she might deceive the mind of aegis-bearing Zeus.
\nIn her heart the best course of action seemed to be
\nto make herself look most attractive, go to Ida,
\nthen see if Zeus would want to lie down with her,
\nembrace her, and make love. Then she could pour out
\non his eyelids and his crafty mind a deep warm sleep.200<\/span>
\nShe went off to her bedroom, which Hephaestus,
\nher dear son, had made for her, with close-fitting doors
\nset against their posts, secured with a secret lock,
\nwhich no other god could open. She went in there,
\nthen closed the shining doors. First, with ambrosia
\nshe washed from her lovely body all the stains,
\nthen rubbed her skin with fragrant oil, divinely sweet,
\nmade specially for her. If this perfume were merely stirred
\ninside Zeus\u2019s bronze-floored house, its scent would then diffuse
\nthroughout heaven and earth. She used this perfume210<\/span>
\nall over her fair body, then arranged her hair.
\nWith her own hands she combed her shining locks in braids,
\na stunning style for an immortal goddess.
\nThen she wrapped around herself a heavenly robe,
\nwhich Athena made for her from silky fabric,
\nadorning it with gorgeous embroidery.
\nShe pinned the robe around her breast with golden brooches.
\nOn her waist she put a belt with a hundred tassels.
\nHera then fixed earrings in her pierced ear lobes,
\neach with three gemstones, an enchanting glitter.220<\/span>
\nNext the queen of goddesses placed on her head
\na fine new dazzling shawl, white as the sun.
\nShe then slipped lovely sandals over her sleek feet.<\/p>\n

Hera Vists Aphrodite<\/h1>\n

Once Hera had dressed her body in this finery,
\nshe left the room and summoned Aphrodite.
\nSome distance from the other gods, she said to her:<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dear child, will you agree to do
\nwhat I ask of you, or will you refuse,
\nbecause you\u2019re angry with me in your heart,
\nsince I help the Greeks and you aid the Trojans?\u201d230<\/span><\/p>\n

Zeus\u2019s daughter Aphrodite answered her:<\/p>\n

\u201cHera,
\nhonoured goddess, daughter of great Cronos,
\nsay what\u2019s on your mind. My heart tells me
\nI should do what you ask, if I can,
\nif it\u2019s something that can be carried out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then queen Hera, with her devious mind, replied:<\/p>\n

\u201cThen give me Love and Sexual Desire,
\nwhich you use to master all immortals,
\nand mortal men as well. I\u2019m going to visit
\nthe limits of this all-nourishing earth,240<\/span>
\nto see Oceanus, from whom the gods arose,
\nand mother Tethys, the two who reared me,
\ntaking good care of me inside their home,
\nonce they got me from Rhea, that time Zeus,
\nwho sees far and wide, forced Kronos
\nunderground, under the restless seas.
\nI\u2019m going to visit them. And I\u2019ll resolve
\ntheir endless quarrel. For a long time now,
\nthey\u2019ve stayed apart from one another,
\nnot sharing love there in the marriage bed,250<\/span>
\nsince anger fills their hearts. If my words
\ncould reconcile the hearts in these two gods,
\nbring them to bed again, once more in love,
\nthey\u2019d think of me with loving reverence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laughter-loving Aphrodite answered Hera:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would not be appropriate for me
\nto say no to your demand, since you sleep
\nin the arms of Zeus, the greatest of the gods.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aphrodite spoke, then loosened from her breasts
\nthe finely decorated, embroidered garment260<\/span>
\nin which all her magic charms were fixed\u2014for love,
\nerotic lust, flirtation, and seduction,
\nwhich steals the wits even of clear-thinking men.
\nAphrodite put this in Hera\u2019s hands, then said:<\/p>\n

\u201cTake this garment. Tie it round your breasts.
\nEverything is interwoven in the cloth.
\nI don\u2019t think you\u2019ll come back unsuccessful
\nin getting what it is your heart desires.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aphrodite finished. Ox-eyed queen Hera smiled,
\nand, as she did so, put the garment round her breasts.270<\/span>
\nThen Aphrodite, Zeus\u2019s daughter, went back home.<\/p>\n

Hera Visits Hypnos (Sleep)<\/h1>\n

Hera sped off, leaving the crest of Mount Olympus.
\nShe touched down on Pieria, lovely Emathia,
\nrushed by the highest mountains of Thracian horsemen\u2014
\nher feet did not touch ground on those snow-covered peaks.
\nFrom Athos she went across the heaving sea,
\ncoming to Lemnos, city of godlike Thoas.
\nThere she met Sleep, Death\u2019s brother. Clasping his hand,
\nshe spoke to him:<\/p>\n

\u201cSleep, king of all men and gods,<\/div>\n
if you\u2019ve ever listened to what I say,280<\/span>
\nobey me now. I\u2019ll be grateful always.
\nLull Zeus\u2019s radiant eyes to sleep for me,
\nwhen I\u2019m stretched out for sex beside him.
\nI\u2019ll give you as a gift a lovely throne,
\nindestructible gold which my own son
\nHephaestus with his ambidextrous skills
\nwill make for you. Under it he\u2019ll set a stool,
\nso you can rest your feet when drinking wine.\u201d<\/div>\n

Sweet Sleep then said in reply:<\/p>\n

\u201cHonoured goddess Hera,<\/div>\n
daughter of mighty Kronos, I could with ease290<\/span>
\nbring some other immortal one to sleep,
\neven the streams of river Oceanus,
\nthe source of all of them. But I won\u2019t come
\nnear Zeus, lull him to sleep, unless he bids me,
\nasks in person. Your request some time ago
\ntaught me my lesson, on that very day
\nwhen Hercules, son of almighty Zeus,
\nset sail from Troy, after he\u2019d sacked
\nthe Trojans\u2019 city. That\u2019s when I seduced
\nthe mind of aegis-bearing Zeus, pouring300<\/span>
\nmy sweetness over him. You then carried
\nevil in your heart for Hercules, driving
\nblasts of hostile winds across the sea,
\ntaking him at last to well-settled Cos,
\nfar from all his friends. When Zeus woke up,
\nhe was incensed, throwing gods around his house,
\nlooking, above all, for me. He\u2019d have tossed me
\nfrom heaven into the sea, if Night,
\nwho subdues gods and men, had not saved me.
\nI ran away to her, and Zeus held back,310<\/span>
\nthough still enraged, not wishing to offend
\nswift Night. Now here you are again, asking me
\nto do something I simply must not do.\u201d<\/div>\n

Ox-eyed queen Hera then answered him:<\/p>\n

\u201cSleep,<\/div>\n
why concern your heart about these matters?
\nDo you think all-seeing Zeus feels for Trojans
\nthe same rage he felt then for Hercules,
\nhis own son? But come, I\u2019ll give you as your wife
\none of the younger Graces. You can marry
\nPasithea, whom you long for every day.\u201d320<\/span><\/div>\n

Hera finished. Sleep was overjoyed and said:<\/p>\n

\u201cAll right, then. Swear to me by waters
\nof the inviolable river Styx, setting
\none hand on the all-nourishing earth,
\nthe other on the shimmering sea,
\nso all may witness our agreement,
\neven those gods underground with Kronos,
\nthat you will give me one of the Graces,
\nPasithea, whom I long for every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hera goes to Zeus on Mount Ida
\nWhite-armed goddess Hera agreed to Sleep\u2019s request.330<\/span>
\nShe made the oath, as he had asked, invoking
\nall the gods under Tartarus, those called the Titans.
\nOnce she finished saying the oath, they both set off,
\nwrapping themselves in mist. They left behind them
\nthe cities of Lemnos and Imbros, moving quickly,
\nthen came to Mount Ida with its many springs,
\nmother of wild creatures, and arrived at Lectum,
\nwhere for the first time they left the sea. They walked
\non dry land, shaking treetops underneath their feet.
\nSleep then stopped, before Zeus\u2019s eyes could see him,340<\/span>
\nclimbed a high pine tree, at that time the tallest one
\ngrowing on Ida. It stretched up through the lower air
\nright into the sky. Concealed in that tree\u2019s branches,
\nSleep perched there, shaped like the clear-voiced mountain bird
\nwhich gods call Chalcis, but people name Cymindis.<\/p>\n

Hera moved quickly on to Ida\u2019s peak, high Gargarus.
\nCloud-gatherer Zeus caught sight of her. As he looked,
\nhis wise heart became suffused with sexual desire,
\nas strong as when they\u2019d first made love together,
\nlying on a couch without their parents\u2019 knowledge.350<\/span>
\nZeus stood up in front of her, called her, and said:<\/p>\n

\u201cHera, what are you looking for, coming
\ndown here from Olympus? Your chariot,
\nyour horses are not here. You should use them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Queen Hera with her crafty mind then answered Zeus:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to visit the outer limits
\nof this all-nourishing earth, to Oceanus,
\nfrom whom gods came, and mother Tethys,
\nwho looked after me in their own home.
\nThey raised me well. I\u2019ll try to mediate360<\/span>
\ntheir endless quarrel. For a long time now,
\nthey\u2019ve stayed apart from one another,
\nnot sharing love there in the marriage bed,
\nsince anger fills their hearts. As for my horses,
\nthey\u2019re standing at the foot of Ida,
\nwith its many springs, to carry me
\nacross dry land and sea. I\u2019ve come here now,
\ndown from Mount Olympus, to stop you
\nfrom being angry with me afterwards,
\nif I say nothing about going to visit370<\/span>
\ndeep-flowing Oceanus in his home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cloud-gatherer Zeus then answered:<\/p>\n

\u201cHera,
\nyou can go there later. But why don\u2019t we
\nlie down and make joyful love together?
\nI\u2019ve never felt such sexual desire before
\nfor any goddess, for any mortal woman.
\nIt\u2019s flooding through me, overpowering the heart
\nhere in my chest\u2014not even when I lusted for
\nIxion\u2019s wife, who bore me Peirithous,
\na man as wise as gods, or Dana\u00eb,380<\/span>
\nwith her enchanting ankles, daughter
\nof Acrisius, who gave birth to Perseus,
\nmost illustrious of men, nor the daughter
\nof famous Phoenix, who bore me Minos
\nand godlike Rhadamanthus, nor Alcmene,
\nwho gave birth to Hercules in Thebes,
\na mighty hearted son, nor Semele,
\nwho bore that joy to mortals Dionysus,
\nnor fair-haired lady Demeter, nor Leto,
\nthat glorious girl, not even for yourself\u2014390<\/span>
\nI felt for none of these the love I feel
\nfor you right now\u2014such sweet desire grips me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Queen Hera with her cunning mind then said in reply:<\/p>\n

\u201cMost fearsome son of Cronos, what are you saying?
\nIf you now want us to make love lying here,
\non Ida\u2019s peaks, where anyone can see,
\nwhat if one of the immortal gods observes us,
\nas we sleep, then goes and tells the other gods?
\nI could not get up from this bed and go
\ninto your home. That would be scandalous.400<\/span>
\nBut if that\u2019s your wish, if your heart\u2019s set on it,
\nyou have that bedroom your own son Hephaestus
\nhad built for you. It has close-fitting doors
\nfixed into posts. Let\u2019s go and lie down there,
\nsince you\u2019re so keen for us to go to bed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cloud-gatherer Zeus then answered her:<\/p>\n

\u201cHera,
\ndon\u2019t be afraid that any god or man
\nwill glimpse a thing. I\u2019ll cover you up
\nin a golden cloud. Even sun god Helios
\nwill not see the two of us, and his rays410<\/span>
\nare the most perceptive spies of all.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Zeus finished. Then Kronos\u2019 son took his wife in his arms.
\nUnderneath them divine Earth made fresh flowers grow\u2014
\ndew-covered clover, crocuses, and hyacinths,
\nlush and soft, to hold the lovers off the ground.
\nThey lay together there covered with a cloud,
\na lovely golden mist, from which fell glistening dew.
\nThen Zeus slumbered peacefully on Mount Gargarus,
\novercome with love and sleep, his wife in his embrace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"menu_order":3,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[48],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-43","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/43","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/43\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":269,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/43\/revisions\/269"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/43\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=43"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=43"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=43"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}