Hera Vs Juno

Hera and Juno are two very similar goddesses. Hera is the queen of the Greek gods and goddesses and Juno is the queen of the Roman gods and goddesses. The Ancient Greeks had a system known as Hellenism which entailed them having hundreds to thousands of gods and goddesses that looked over them and protected them and Hera was one of them. The Romans decided to steal their ingenious Hellenism when they took over and so most of the roman gods are copies of the Greek gods, just with different names.

Hera and Juno are both the goddesses of marriage, childbirth and the protectors of women, but that doesn’t mean they are exactly the same. They may have many similarities but many differences also. Both

Hera and Juno are sister and wife to the king of gods: Zeus for Hera and Jupiter for Juno. Although, their love stories are not the same. Juno apparently just paired up with Jupiter but, though Zeus tried to gain her love for a long time, Hera wouldn’t budge. Eventually Zeus disguised himself as a cuckoo in distress. Hera nursed the cuckoo back to health before Zeus revealed himself and Hera fell in love instantly.

Like all godly relationships, Jupiter and Zeus would have love affairs with various other girlfriends. Juno was calm about this, but Hera took this with jealousy and therefore spent a lot of her time trying to get revenge on Zeus’s girlfriends.

Juno, unlike Hera, was also called the light-giver and was associated with the moon. Romans worshipped her as the light-giver on a full moon as the full moon was round and full like the mother’s womb. Juno was considered the protector of the Roman woman and she was believed to ensure that childbirth went well. June was also named after her as it was a popular month for marriage. Hera was not regarded as such a mother to the Greek people.

While Juno was more heroic and warlike, Hera still had some pluck. She was known for standing up to Zeus and one time she even staged a coup against his throne.

While Juno and Hera both have the same roles in their pantheon, they have differing personalities making these two goddesses very interesting to compare.