Hera

Hera, jealous Hera, sister and wife of Zeus, Queen of the Gods. Her watchful eye is forever on Zeus, yet always he slips away for another conquest, and then the Gods know well to give Hera leave, for her fury is the stuff of literal legend. She claims marriage as her personal fiefdom, and married women in particular, and so marriage rites in ancient Greece were carried out in her name, shepherding young women from Artemis’ patronage to her own. Spurned wives call upon her for restitution, and her vengeance descends upon the offending husband.

In Rome she was Juno, wife of Jupiter and queen of the Gods, Goddess of marriage and of the community. Men and women alike fell under her domain here, of youthful energy and action. Unlike in Greece, here she bore a martial character, and was often portrayed bearing the goatskin Aegis. The kalends of every month of the Roman calendar were hers, Goddess of beginnings and birth as she was.

The modern World pleases Hera little. As mortalkind multiplies, so too do opportunities for Zeus to be unfaithful — seven billion and counting. Meanwhile marriage declines in social importance, particularly in the West, despite every attempt (both on her part and by mortal government) to encourage it. The institution has fundamentally changed in so much of the World from what it was even a few hundred years ago, with the partners making their own decisions in who to marry, doing so out of love of all things, and separating a few years later! Hera has been digging in her heels against this trend in every way imaginable — after all, if she’s stuck with Zeus, why should mortals be allowed to leave spouses they hate? So far, she’s had little success, and while she blames Zeus for this, it’s mostly out of habit.