Greek Myths XS: Zeus (Jupiter) and Hera (Juno) on Mount Ida

Mount Ida on Crete is the setting of one of the most coveted – and most covered – scenes in Homer’s account of the Trojan war. It’s the moment when supreme goddess Hera ventures to distract Zeus’ attention from the battle field, in order to give the Greeks some respite. Most gods favoured one side or the other, and she hated the Trojans, because the Trojan prince Paris had denied her the title of “fairest goddess”. (She wasn’t known for her graciousness in defeat.) Zeus – almighty or not – was defenseless to the one power she had at her disposal. She prepared meticulously and even lent Aphrodite’s love belt, though she hardly needed it. Isn’t it primarily self confidence that makes a woman irresistible? And irresistible she was. She diverted Zeus in the most pleasant way, giving the Greeks the chance to regroup. It’s a remarkable episode in Homer’s Iliad, and a coveted subject for artists. Zeus woke up all warm and fuzzy the following morning, but also a bit disgruntled. Hera just smiled.  And shrugged: “All is fair in love and war.”

Jupiter endormi sur le Mont Ida, Jean-Jacques Le Barbier, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France

The judgment of Paris, neck-amphora, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Lyon, France

Did you know?

• Zeus had no real favourite in the Trojan War and wanted to let “the best team win”. He clearly like the Greeks, but the Trojans too, as they had always shown humbleness and devotion, and his toyboy Ganymedes was one of them.

• Hera’s move could have inspired the playwright Aristophanes for his play “Lysistrata”, in which women from the whole of Greece deny their husbands sex until they agree to end all wars.

• Nonnus of Panopolis tells exactly the same story in his “Dionysiaca”, but in a different war.

• About the judgment of Paris: cfr. “The Apple of Discord” and “The Starter Wife”.

• About Aphrodite’s love belt: cfr. “The Power of Love”.