The Iliad Hera Quotes

Her gray eyes clear, the goddess Athena answered,
"Down from the skies I come to check your rage
if only you will yield.
The white-armed goddess Hera sped me down:
she loves you both, she cares for you both alike.
Stop this fighting, now. Don’t lay hand to sword.
Lash him with threats of the price that he will face."

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 1, lines 241-246. Achilles considers attacking Agamemnon, but goddess Athena is sent down from heaven by Hera to calm their favored hero. Athena asks Achilles to stay his anger, and demands self control and obedience from him.
So, who of the gods this time, my treacherous one, was hatching plans' with you - Homer

So, who of the gods this time, my treacherous one,
was hatching plans’ with you?
Always your pleasure, whenever my back is turned,
to settle things in your grand clandestine way.
You never deign, do you, freely and frankly,
to share your plots with me – never, not a word!

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 1, lines 648-653. A row breaks out in heaven as Hera chides her "treacherous" husband Zeus for hatching plans behind her back. This is after Thetis comes to beg of Zeus that he honor Achilles by helping the Trojans. This displeases Hera as she favors the Greeks.

Maddening one…you and your eternal suspicions –
I can never escape you. Ah but tell me, Hera,
just what can you do about all this? Nothing.
Only estrange yourself from me a little more –
and all the worse for you.
If what you say is true, that must be my pleasure.
Now go sit down. Be quiet now. Obey my orders,
for fear the gods, however many Olympus holds,
are powerless to protect you when I come
to throttle you with my irresistible hands.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 1, lines 674-683. When Hera continues to taunt Zeus with what she knows about his pact with Thetis to help the Trojans, he orders her to be silent and threatens her with violence. The quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles, mediated by the elder Nestor, is paralleled in heaven with the quarrel between Zeus and Hera, mediated by Hera’s son Hephaestus.

At that the white-armed goddess Hera smiled
and smiling, took the cup from her child’s hands.
Then dipping sweet nectar up from the mixing bowl
he poured it round to all the immortals, left to right.
And uncontrollable laughter broke from the happy gods
as they watched the god of fire breathing hard
and bustling through the halls.
That hour then
and all day long till the sun went down they feasted
and no god’s hunger lacked a share of the handsome banquet
or the gorgeous lyre Apollo struck or the Muses singing
voice to voice in choirs, their vibrant music rising.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 1, lines 717-727. All is not well on Olympus as a quarrel breaks out between Zeus and his wife Hera, over Zeus helping the Trojans in the war. But the tension is broken at a banquet when Hera’s son Hephaestus, god of fire, intervenes to make peace. All the happy gods end up roaring with laughter as the deformed Hephaestus, who limps because he has crooked legs, bustles through the halls pouring out sweet wine for Hera and all the gods. They feast and celebrate all day until sunset. Note that Homer often refers to the gods as "the immortals" – their immortality is one of the most important things that distinguishes them from mortal human beings.

Whenever I am bent on tearing down some city
Filled with men you love – to please myself –
Never attempt to thwart my fury, Hera,
give me my way. For I, I gave you this,
all of my own free will but hardly willing. No,
of all the cities under the sun and starry skies,
wherever men who walk the earth have dwelled,
I honor sacred Ilium most with my immortal heart.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 4, lines 47-54. Zeus says this angrily to Hera, when the gods sit in council on Mount Olympus and watch events take place in Troy. The two row over the level of intervention in the war on different sides by the gods, including Hera. But Zeus is supreme god and makes clear to Hera that it is he who has power to destroy cities, at his pleasure, and she is never to twart him.

With that she loosed from her breasts the breastband,
pierced and alluring, with every kind of enchantment
woven through it…There is the heat of Love,
the pulsing rush of Longing, the lover’s whisper.
irresistible – magic to make the sanest man go mad.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 14, lines 257-261. Goddess of love Aphrodite gives her beautiful breastband to Hera, after Hera asks to borrow Aphrodite’s love powers to seduce Zeus and distract him from the war. Aphrodite tells Hera that it is woven with every kind of enchantment. Put it between your breasts and you will have whatever your eager heart desires, Aphrodite promises her.

"Why hurry, Hera?" –
Zeus who gathers the breasting clouds replied,
"that is a journey you can make tomorrow. Now –
come, let’s go to bed, let’s lose ourselves in love!
Never has such a lust for goddess or mortal woman
flooded my pounding heart and overwhelmed me so."

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 14, lines 377-380. Even the gods on Olympus are capable of love. In spite of all the conflict going on between the Achaeans and Trojans, Zeus would rather spend time with his wife Hera. Although the father of the gods likely has sex on his mind more than love.

With that the son of Cronus caught his wife in his arms
and under them now the holy earth burst with fresh green grass,
crocus and hyacinth, clover soaked with dew, so thick and soft
…And so, deep in peace,
the Father slept on Gargaron peak, conquered by Sleep
and strong assaults of Love, his wife locked in his arms.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 14, lines 413-415, 419-21. After making love to Hera, Zeus falls asleep locked in his wife’s arms on a bed of soft fresh grass, crocus and hyacinth. It all sounds very romantic. But is part of a plot by the deities to get Zeus out of the picture so that Poseidon can meddle in the Trojan war and steer the Achaeans to victory.

And let Apollo drive Prince Hector back to battle,
breathe power back in his lungs, make him forget
the pains that rack his heart. Let him whip the Achaeans
in headlong panic rout and roll them back once more,
tumbling back on the oar-swept ships of Peleus’ son Achilles.
And he, he will launch his comrade Patroclus into action
and glorious Hector will cut him down with a spear
in front of Troy, once Patroclus has slaughtered
whole battalions of strong young fighting men
and among them all, my shining son Sarpedon.
But then – enraged for Patroclus –
brilliant Achilles will bring Prince Hector down.
And then, from that day on, I’ll turn the tide of war:
back the fighting goes, no stopping it, ever, all the way.
till Achaean armies seize the beetling heights of Troy
through Athena’s grand design.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 15, lines 75-90. Zeus is speaking to his wife Hera, laying out the plan for the events to come. There is not much room for free will here, with each character’s fate predetermined and controlled by the gods. Apollo will drive Hector back to battle, this will launch Patroclus into action, Hector will slay him with a spear, an enraged Achilles will take Hector down, Zeus will turn the tide of war and the Greeks will seize Troy through Athena’s grand plan. A great deal of things are foreshadowed here.

Quick as a thought goes flashing through a man
who’s traveled the world – "Ah to be there, or there!" –
as his mind swarms with journeys, fresh desires –
so quick in her eager flight flew noble Hera now
and scaling steep Olympus went among the gods,
the immortal powers thronging Zeus’s halls.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 15, lines 99-104. Homer uses an epic simile of an eager world traveler to decribe how Hera rushes off to Mount Olympus to carry out Zeus’s instructions. Just before this passage an angry Zeus, having seen Hector’s armies being routed and Poseidon in the battle, accused Hera of treachery. He then ordered her to summon Iris and Apollo so as to put his plan into action to turn the tide of the war in favor of the Greeks.

Still, this time I will yield, for all my outrage…
but I tell you this, and there’s anger in my threat:
if ever – against my will and Athena queen of armies,
Hera and Hermes, and the god of fire Hephaestus –
if Zeus ever spares the towering heights of Troy,
if he ever refuses to take her walls by force
and give the Argive troops resounding triumph,
let Zeus know this full well –
the breach between us both will never heal!

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 15, lines 251-259. To avoid further conflict between the gods, Poseidon reluctantly agrees to Zeus’s request to stay out of the Trojan War. But he also tells messenger goddess Iris to warn Zeus not to spare the walls of Troy or refuse victory to the Achaeans.

Do as you please, Zeus…
but none of the deathless gods will ever praise you.
And I tell you this – take it to heart, I urge you –
if you send Sarpedon home, living still, beware!
Then surely some other god will want to sweep
his own son clear of the heavy fighting too.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 16, lines 526-531. Zeus sees that his son Sarpedon is about to be killed in the war between Trojans and Achaeans. He considers saving his son, but here Hera argues that if he interferes it will open the door to other gods to meddle too much in human affairs. So Zeus puts his duty to the other gods before his love for his son.

"Hephaestus, come –
look who’s here! Thetis would ask a favor of you!"
And the famous crippled Smith exclaimed warmly,
"Thetis – here? Ah then a wondrous, honored goddess
comes to grace our house! Thetis saved my life
when the mortal pain came on me after my great fall,
thanks to my mother’s will, that brazen bitch,
she wanted to hide me – because I was a cripple.
…And here is Thetis now, in our own house!
So I must do all I can to pay her back,
the price for the life she saved…
the nymph of the sea with sleek and lustrous locks,
Quickly, set before her stranger’s generous fare
while I put away my bellows and all my tools."

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 18, lines 457-464, 474-479. Goddess Charis tells the divine smith and god of fire, Hephaestus, that Thetis has come to call. Hephaestus is full of gratitude for the friendship of Thetis, whom he said saved his life after his mother Hera threw him out of Olympus because he was crippled.

mighty Achilles! But the day of death
already hovers near, and we are not to blame
but a great god is and the strong force of fate.
Not through our want of speed or any lack of care
did the Trojans strip the armor off Patroclus’ back.
It was all that matchless god, sleek-haired Leto’s son –
he killed him among the champions and handed Hector glory.
Our team could race with the rush of the West Wind,
the strongest, swiftest blast on earth, men say –
still you are doomed to die by force, Achilles,
cut down by a deathless god and mortal man.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 19, lines 484-494. When Achilles reproaches his horses for allowing Patroclus to die, Hera gives his horse Roan Beauty (Xanthos) a voice to speak. The animal says that Patroclus fell in battle not through their fault but because of Apollo who handed Hector glory. The horse predicts that he, Achilles, is also fated to die by a god and a man. This references that he will be killed by Paris, assisted by the god Apollo.

Hera, so hard, so senseless! Don’t leap to extremes.
I, at least, have no real lust to drive our forces
against the gods of Troy. Our side is so much stronger.
Come now, let us move off and settle down together
far from the trampled field, take a lookout post
and leave the war to mortals…
But if Ares or Phoebus cares to start things off,
if they block Achilles and keep him out of action,
they will have a fight on their hands, then and there,
an all-out fight with us.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 20, lines 157-166. Poseidon tells Hera not to get involved in the Trojan war yet, and leave it to the mortals. But he does warn of an all-out fight with himself and Hera if Ares or Phoebus (Apollo) intervene, or block Achilles in any way.

Bursting into tears
the goddess slipped from under her clutch like a wild dove
that flies from a hawk’s attack to a hollow rocky cleft
for it’s not the quarry’s destiny to be caught –
so she fled in tears, her archery left on the spot.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 21, lines 562-566. Hunt goddess Artemis has her bow and quiver stripped off her shoulders by Hera, who boxes her ears with her own weapons. Artemis runs away from Hera and withdraws from the battle, as a dove flying from a hawk’s attack, Homer writes in an epic simile.

Now, Hera, don’t fly into such a rage at fellow gods.
These two can never attain the same degree of honor.
Still, the immortals loved Prince Hector dearly,
best of all the mortals born in Troy…
so I loved him, at least:
he never stinted with gifts to please my heart.
Never once did my altar lack its share of victims,
winecups tipped and the deep smoky savor. These,
these are the gifts we claim – they are our rights.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 24, lines 79-87. When Hera rages to Apollo that Hector is less deserving than Achilles because he does not have a divine parent, Zeus responds. He agrees that Hector will never have the degree of honor as Achilles. But he says that the gods loved Hector dearly and he was generous with his gifts and sacrifices at the altar of Zeus. The gods are discussing Hector’s right to a burial.
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