Fawn Patton answers that age-old question:

HERCULES and XENA (HERC in particular) depict Hera as being quite the [unprintable derogatory word]. What does Greek mythology really say about this?

Greek mythology did, in fact, depict Hera as an evil-tempered harridan in most of the stories. BUT, she was not a "death cult, kill all the infants as a sacrifice to me and consume the bodies" kind of goddess. In fact, she was supposed to be the goddess of women, wives in particular. Along with Demeter, she was supposed to help with home, hearth, sexual politics, birth, and that sort of thing. Her main fault appears to have been that she could never take out her anger on Zeus directly, and so she took it out on the women he ::ahem:: "seduced." He'd gallop/fly/swim (almost always in some kind of disguise) up to a fair maiden. She'd turn him down (strange, eh? After all, he IS a GOD. But then, everybody had heard what happens to the women he consorts with). He'd insist, she'd run away. He'd chase, she'd run some more. He'd catch her, she'd struggle. He'd rape her, and leave her for dead. She'd recover.

(This is where Hera comes in . . .) Hera, getting wind of Zeus' infidelity, yet again, would get royally pissed off. Unable to do ANYTHING to the King of the Gods, she'd instead blast the woman he'd slept with into little bitty pieces. Sometimes he'd actually like the girl and hide her someplace till she could bear his kid . . . that's how Hercules came to be. But as you can see, Hera was pretty justifiably angry . . . the only fault to be found was that she blamed the mortals and blew them to smithereens, when it wasn't really their fault. But then, the gods weren't noted for their respect towards mortals . . . mortals were protected only like prized property . . . "this city is MINE, don't touch it" kind of thing.

Anyway, some historians think that both Hera and Aphrodite were goddesses of a previous pantheon,(or at the very least Aphrodite was), and that when the Hellenes conquered the other peoples there, they took them into their own pantheon, but subjected them to male gods in one way or another. So Aphrodite went from "mother earth, goddess of sexuality and child birth, guardian of the Female mysteries, who chose her own consort at will" to "local slut, constantly unfaithful to her husband, and unable to stop bed-hopping."

In the same way, Hera went from the Queen of heaven, Elder of the gods and all that rot, to just the wrathful and nagging wife of the King of the gods . . . And frankly, if'n I'd been taken down a couple of pegs and made subservient to a two-timing adulterous jerk like Zeus, I'd be pretty pissy too. . . .

If you'll forgive the discourse into mythology and sexual politics, the things I've read have some interesting things to say about Athena and Artemis, as well. It seems that all the goddesses that were involved with men (which was, of course, the norm for the time period, seeing as how marriages were pretty much arranged affairs) were depicted as powerless and ineffectual. That is to say, they could cause tidal waves, but they could not stop their male counterparts/tormentors from doing anything they very well pleased.

The only exceptions to this general ineffectiveness (on a regular basis, anyhow) were Athena and Artemis. Artemis was a huntress. Very powerful, but denied any kind of sexual contact or love (sworn to virginity because of lost love). So she was not someone that Greek women would necessarily want to model themselves after, therefore making her mostly harmless. And Athena was even more interesting. NOT born of woman, she was a special creation of a MAN, which is given as the reason for her intelligence and military prowess. Sort of an honorary man, it was only her maleness that elevated her to any kind of height. And you never really hear about her taking any kind of lover, either. Apparently most guys were too intimidated. . . .

I guess this all goes to show that Greeks really DID think men were better, and that women were petty, jealous, and morally inferior. And this is how they portrayed their immortal women, as well as the mortals. Only by being LIKE a man could they aspire to greatness, but then they were cut off from family and society, becoming sworn virgin followers of Artemis, or other such things.

All of which makes me REALLY glad that HERC and XENA don't follow the actuality of Greek mythology, but instead go off into an alternate universe entirely. Because I LOVE the way they portray Xena, and it just wouldn't be possible in the actual mythological systems.

But I DO wish the shows would start showing some positive representations of goddesses, tho'. So far they've stuck with the petty and dishonorable picture--except for Nemesis. But she's more of a "messenger of the gods" rather than a goddess.

Fawn Patton

"The world as it is has very little use for your womanhood. You are considered a weaker sex and are treated as a sexual object. You are thoroughly dispensable except for bearing children. Your youth is the measure of your worth, and your age is the measure of your worthlessness. Do not look to the world for your sustenance or for your identity as a woman because you will not find them there. The world despises you." --Williamson, Marianne

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