The Three Sisters- Hestia

Hestia- a virgin goddess of the hearth, home, family and sacrificial flame. She was the oldest of the six children and received the first offering at every sacrifice. She was initially one of the Twelve Olympians but was said to have given up her place in favour of Dionysus.

Apollo and Poseidon both courted her but she turned them down and requested to Zeus that she remain a virgin.

As she was the goddess of the hearth she did not leave it and so there are few if any tales about her. She was usually depicted as veiled with a torch in one hand and was a peaceful, docile goddess. Her symbols were the sacred flame, the kettle, the swine and the donkey.

Her Roman counterpart was Vesta, she had six virgins known as the Vestal Virgins, who swore chastity for thirty years and guarded the flame in her temple, as long as it burned Rome was safe.

The Three Sisters- Demeter

Demeter- The goddess of agriculture, the harvest, fertility, marriage, and the seasons. She and her daughter Persephone were linked to the Eleusinian Mysteries and were associated as deities of life and death.

With Zeus she had Persephone, who was also called Kore. Persephone was abducted by Hades when she was with her nymphs in a field, Hades, with the permission of Zeus, took Persephone to the Underworld and made her his bride. Demeter searched for her and in her grief the grain would not grow, crops failed and the land turned barren and cold. According to one version it was Hecate who told her where Persephone was and according to another it was the all seeing Helios.
Zeus was forced to demand Persephone's return as the land was dying but Persephone had eaten of the Underworld and so was tied to it, so it was decreed that she spent half a year with Hades and half a year with her mother (according to some versions it was nine months with Demeter and three with Hades). This explained the seasons as when Demeter and Persephone were united Demeter was happy and the world reflected this in Spring and Summer but when they were apart Demeter was sad and the world was cold in her grief, Autumn and Winter (alternately Autumn was due to Demeter knowing that her daughter would soon leave her).

While searching for Persephone she found sanctuary in disguise as an old woman in the home of Celeus, the King of Eleusis. She anointed his son Demophon with ambrosia daily and burned away his mortality at night, intending to make him immortal but his mother Metanira witnessed him being burned and screamed in fright. In anger Demeter abandoned the ritual and instead taught Demophon's brother Triptolemus the art of agriculture.

Poseidon sought to have her and she fled from him in the form of a mare but he found her and raped her in the form of a stallion. The result was Despoina/Despoena a daughter who was associated with fertility and linked to the Arkadian Mysteries, her real name was unknown and sometimes she and Persephone were said to be one and the same, and a son Arion/Areion a black maned, immortal, talking stallion rode by Hercules and Adrastus.

She was linked to Carmanor/Karmanor a Cretan demigod of harvest and with him had two children- Euboulos/Eubuleus/Eubouleos/Eubolos a god of ploughing who may have been a swineherd, and Chrysothemis/Khrysothemis a god or goddess of the harvest.

Sometimes she is linked to Triptolemus who may or may not be the same one she taught agriculture. He is also given as a son of Gaia and Okeanos and was said to have fathered Amphitheus I, a demigod of panhellenic (the unity of Greece against other nations despite being made of independent states) peace, with Demeter.

She took the mortal Iasion for her lover. He was a son of Zeus and either the Pleiad Electra, or Hemerea the goddess of the day, or of Electra and her husband the mortal king Corythus. She seduced Iasion at the wedding of Cadmus and Harmonia, Zeus guessed they had intercourse when they returned together and Demeter's back was stained in mud and he killed Iasion with a thunderbolt out of jealousy. With Demeter, Iasion fathered Plutus/Ploutos a god of wealth, described by Aristophanes as blind, lame and winged, Philomelus/Philomenus, a demigod who invented the wagon, and Korybas, another son.

Mekon was a mortal who loved Demeter or who she loved (or both) who died young and was turned into a poppy by her.

She was said to have turned Persephone's nymphs into the Sirens/Seirenes for failing to protect Persephone from Hades. Initially they were depicted as half-bird half-human or as birds with human heads before they became beautiful women with luring voices.

She punished King Erysicthon/Erisichthon by bidding the goddess of starvation Limos to plague him with an eternal hunger. This was because he cut down trees sacred to the goddess and knowingly murdered a dryad (a tree nymph). He sold his own daughter Mestra for food but her lover Poseidon gifted her with shapeshifting so that she might escape. She returned to her father who, upon realising her gift, sold her repeatedly for money for food. In the end he tried to eat himself and died.

She turned Ascalaphus/Askalaphos into a screech owl for telling the gods that Persephone had eaten pomegranate seeds in the Underworld. He was a son of the nymph Orphne and the river Acheron and looked after Hades' orchard.

Askalabos/Ascalabus was a mortal boy who angered Demeter by laughing at her great thirst, she poured the water over him and he became a gecko.

She was depicted as blonde by Homer and her symbols were the cornucopica and sheafs of grain, she was shown as a middle aged woman, crowned with a sceptre and usually in a chariot pulled by winged serpents. She is sometimes shown carrying a torch, as she did when searching for Persephone. The serpent, pig and dove were her sacred animals and the poppy, mint, barley and wheat were her sacred plants.

Her Roman counterpart was Ceres, who had twelve minor god assistants with her harvest duties. Bridal processions were headed by a young boy at night carrying a torch sacred to Ceres. She was the patron of plebeian laws. She also helped deceased souls (Di Manes) to the Underworld. She was given as a companion or mother to Liber, a Roman god viticulture, wine and fertility who became tied with Bacchus/Dionysus, and Libera a Roman goddess of fertility.

The Three Sisters- Hera

Cronus and Rhea had six children- Poseidon, Hades, Zeus, Hera, Demeter and Hestia. Hera was the goddess of marriage, wife of Zeus and queen of the gods, Demeter was the goddess of the harvest and seasons who was associated with Elysium Mysteries and Hestia was the goddess of the hearth and home.

Hera- The wife of Zeus, queen of the heavens, and goddess of marriage and women.

She is mentioned to have been fostered by Okeanos and his wife Tethys, and is said to be the most beautiful of the goddesses. Pausanias says she was fostered by the Horai or the daughters of the river god Asterion, or a man named Temenus who ruled Arcadia. Alternatively, she was swallowed with the rest of her siblings or possibly fostered after Cronus regurgitated her, minded during the Titanomachy.
 
She was seduced by Zeus in the form of a cuckoo and with him was the mother of Ares, Hebe, Eileithyia and possibly Eris. In some stories he found her in the Garden of the Hesperides and took her away or disguised himself as a cuckoo and then ravished her prompting her to marry him out of shame.


She received the Garden of the Hesperides with its golden apples as a wedding gift from Gaia. Her wedding took place in the Garden of the Hesperides, on Mt. Ida or on the island Euboea. Their honeymoon was said to have lasted for 300 years.

Sometimes she was depicted as a virgin goddess despite her marriage and children, said to renew her virginity once a year in the spring of Kanathos.

Jealous of Zeus having Athena seemingly by himself, she birthed Hephaestus without a father. According to one tale he was born lame and ugly and Hera cast him out in disgust, he got his revenge by creating a golden throne for her on which she was permanently stuck until Dionysus got him drunk and persuaded him to free her. According to another version, Hephaestus was a loyal son to Hera, attempting to free her when Zeus chained her between the earth and sky, Zeus threw him down to earth in disgust causing his lameness.

She tried to overthrow Zeus with Poseidon and Athena but was thwarted by Thetis who got Briareos to help him.


She fought against the Gigantes and was saved from being raped by Porphyrion by Zeus and Heracles.

Hera from Hercules the Legendary Journeys

Zeus swore that a child born to the line of Perseus would become king, knowing that his illegitimate son Heracles was of that line and due to be born. Hera forced Ilithyia, the goddess of childbirth, to sit crosslegged, preventing Heracles birth and then hastened the birth of Eurystheus, another descendant of Perseus. Thus Zeus was forced to make Eurystheus the king. Hera was then tricked by Galanthis, a servant of Heracles' mother Alcmene into thinking that Heracles was already born, believing this she freed Ilithyia thus allowing Heracles' birth. In anger she turned Galanthis into a weasel.
She sent two snakes to kill Heracles when he was still an infant but he strangled them. In another story she was tricked by Zeus into suckling Heracles but when she discovered the treachery, she pulled him from her breast and the stray milk formed the Milky Way.
She drove Heracles to madness causing him to murder his wife Megara and their children. She then directed the Oracle to tell Heracles to go to his rival King Eurystheus and be set labours to act as penance for his murders. She tried to thwart him from completing his labours, sending a crab to hinder him when he fought the Hydra, and a gadfly to annoy the cattle of Geryon. She also refused to have the Cretan Bull that he captured sacrifice to her and so it was let loose and became the Marathonian Bull.
According to Homer, Heracles shot her in the breast with an arrow, giving her an incurable wound that constantly vexed her. This may have been when he tried to conquer Pylos to punish King Neleus for not cleansing him of the murder of Iphitos. Hera, Hades, Poseidon and Ares all sided with Neleus whilst only Athena (or Athena and Zeus) sided with Heracles. Heracles wounded Ares, Hades, Hera and Apollo after he tried to heal Ares with arrows dipped in Hydra's blood, and they all had to be healed by Asclepius.
However, when Heracles was made immortal she reconciled with him and permitted him to take her daughter Hebe as a bride.

Hera is best known for her stories of revenge against Zeus' lovers. The Oread (mountain nymph) Echo distracted Hera from Zeus' affairs, and when Hera discovered the treachery she condemned Echo by taking her voice, all she could do was echo the another's words.
She would not allow Leto to give birth on the mainland or an island as Zeus was the father of her twins, and she had the dragon Python/Pytho persue her while she was pregnant. Eventually she was able to give birth on the floating island Delos. Hera also compelled the giant Tityos to try and rape Leto but he was stopped and slain by Apollo and Artemis.
When Zeus disguised his lover the nymph Io as a heifer, Hera was not fooled and demanded the heifer as a gift. She had her guarded by the many eyed Argus. Zeus had Hermes slay Argus and free Io. Hera then had Io plagued by a gadfly, forcing her to wander as far as Egypt.
Queen Lamia of Libya was a granddaughter and/or daughter of Poseidon and a lover of Zeus, she gave Zeus children which Hera murdered or drove Lamia to murder. Hera forbid her the ability to close her eyes so that she would forever see her dead children but Zeus gave her the ability to take them out.
She brought about Semele's death when she discovered she was pregnant by Zeus, by visiting her in the guise of her nurse and telling her that her lover probably lied about being a god and that Semele should demand proof by having him visit in his true form. Semele demanded Zeus visit her as he did Hera and he came with thunder and lightning, which killed Semele. Zeus rescued her child however by sewing him into his thigh.

She punished Gerana, queen of the Pygmies, for claiming she was more beautiful than Hera by turning her into a crane. Since then the cranes have fought with the Pygmies when the cranes migrate to their home in winter. The Pygmies were a small people who lived on the souther shores of Okeanos, they were depicted as armed and riding goats.
She killed Orion's wife Side (or had Zeus kill her) for also claiming she was more beautiful than Hera.
She drove the daughters of Proitos/Proetus, king of Argos and Tiryns, mad because they insulted her. He was brother to Acrisius and uncle to Danae, mother of Perseus. He sent the hero Bellerophon to Iobates after his wife claimed Bellerophon had tried to rape her when in fact the hero had resisted her advances. His daughters were Lysippe, Iphinoe, and Iphianassa, or Lysippe, Hipponoe and Cyrianassa, or  Elege and Celaene. When they reached maturity they went mad, lost their beauty and their hair, either because they called themselves fairer than Hera or stole gold from her statue or alternatively because they had refused to worship Dionysus. The soothsayer and healer Melampus/Melampous offered to cure them for a third of the kingdom but Proetus refused, they grew worse and Proetus went for Melampus who demanded a third of kingdom for himself but also a third for his brother Bias. Proetus was forced to consent and the daughters were healed, except for Iphione who died in the pursuit. Iphianassa then married Melampus and Lysippe probably married Bias.
Alternatively, it was Proetus son that was ill, Melampus discovered it was because a knife had frightened him and Proetus had tossed into a tree, angering a hamadryad who cursed the prince. By removing the dagger, boiling it and having the prince drink the water, Melampus could cure the prince. When he did so he was rewarded with a third of the kingdom for himself and a third for his brother.
When Queen Rhodope and her husband King Haemus of Thrace called themselves Zeus and Hera, Zeus and Hera turned them into the Rhodope and Balkan mountains.


After Eris threw a golden apple addressed 'for the fairest' at the wedding of Thetis and Peleus, Hera, Athena and Aphrodite competed for it. Zeus asked Prince Paris to judge betweent the three. They appeared before Paris promising him things, Athena promised him wisdom and glory in battle, Hera promised him control over Asia and Europe, and Aphrodite promised him the most beautiful woman in the world- Helen. Paris picked Aphrodite, this led to the Trojan War, during which Hera and Athena fought on the side of the Greeks. Despite Paris' judgement Hera is usually described as the most beautiful of the goddesses, fairer even than Aphrodite.

Hera twice asked Hypnos to put Zeus to sleep, once when Heracles was at sea so that Hera could cause a storm, which killed Heracles' friends, and again during the Trojan War by promising him Pasithea, one of the Charities/Graces for a wife, while Zeus slept Poseidon helped the Greeks take advantage.

Pelias angered Hera by killing Sidero, the wicked stepmother of his mother Tyro, he killed her in Hera's temple, which led to her hatred of him and her patronage of his nephew Jason. Jason helped her cross a river when she was disguised as an old woman and she blessed him for it. She persuaded Aphrodite to get Eros to make the witch and princess Medea fall in love with Jason so that Jason might have her aid.

She granted the sons of her priestess Cydippe death in their sleep not as punishment but as a reward. Cydippe was due to attend a festival to the goddess but the oxen to pull her cart did not show so her sons pulled it there instead. Cydippe asked Hera to grant her sons the best gift a god could and Hera had them die in their sleep. The belief ties in with the idea that you should not judge a man happy until he is dead.

King Ixion of the Lapiths, possibly a son of Ares, was married to Dia but did not give her father a bride price for her, her father, Deioneus/Eioneus, stole Ixion's horses in response. Ixion then invited Deioneus to a feast and pushed him into burning coals. He went mad and was outlawed but Zeus pitied him and invited him to dine with the gods. Ixion saw Hera and immediately coveted her, Zeus learned of his desires and was outraged, he created a cloud in the shape of Hera, Nephele and Ixion, thinking it was the goddess, lay with it, siring the first of the Centaurs- Centauros. Ixion was banned from Olympus, struck with a lightning bolt and then bound to a fiery wheel, which forever spins.

She is described as ox eyed and usually portrayed as a stern but beautiful queen with a polos crown and a pomegranate in one hand. Her animals are the cow, the cuckoo and peacock (whose 'eyes' in its tail are said to have come from her servant Argus who Hermes slain) and her flowers are the lily and poppy. The peacock was a later addition, as the bird was unknown to the Greeks until the time of Alexander the Great. Other symbols of Hera were the diadem, the sceptre and the crab.

Her Roman equivalent was Juno. Juno was the protector and counselor of state, she was a goddess of the women and held in high regard as a queen, and was sometimes seen as a moon goddess. She was viewed as warlike and usually shown on a peacock wearing a goatskin cloak.
She was part of  the Capitoline Triad with Jupiter and Minerva. Sometimes the goddess Fortuna was said to have milked Juno with her future spouse Jupiter. She was also linked to the god Janus.
When Jupiter gave birth to Minerva a jealous Juno went to Flora who with a herb helped her to conceive the god Mars.
Men had a guardian spirit called a genius, so women had one called a juno and in that respect Juno was very much a guardian goddess of women.
She did not seem troubled by infidelity and was more compassionate to women than Hera. However, she had a cruel streak, and plagued Aeneas, trying to stop him from founding a city in Italy as it had been foretold that her favourite city would be destroyed by Trojan descendants. She sent a storm against him and encouraged or brought about his romance with Dido, which Mercury brought about the end of after he was sent by Jupiter and Aphrodite to remind Aeneas of his destiny. Dido killed herself and saddened by this, Juno sent Iris to lessen her pain and make her journey to the Underworld easier. She urged Turnus to declare war on Aeneas when Aeneas took his bride to be, Lavinia.