. He was knownalso as the lord of riches, because both food crops and precious metal were believed tocome form his kingdom below ground. The underworld itself was often called Hades. It was divided into two regions: Erebus, where the dead pass as soon as they die, and Tartarus, the deeper region, wherethe Titans had been imprisoned. Tartarus was a dim and unhappy place, inhabited byvague forms and shadows and guarded by Cerberus, the three-headed, dragon-tailed dog. Sinister rivers separated the underworld from the world above, and the aged boatmanCharon ferried the souls of the dead across these waters. Somewhere in the darkness ofthe underworld Hades’ palace was located. It was represented as a many-gated, dark andgloomy place, thronged with guests, and set in the midst of shadowy fields and anapparition-haunted landscape. In later legends of the underworld is described as the placewhere the good are rewarded and the wicked punished. HERA Hera, in Greek mythology, queen of the gods, the daughter of the Titans Cronusand Rhea, and the sister and wife of Zeus. Hera was the goddess of marriage and theprotector of married women. She was the mother of Ares, god of war; Hephaestus, godof fire; Hebe, goddess of youth; and Eileithyia, goddess of childbirth. Hera was a jealouswife, who often persecuted Zeus’s mistresses and children. She apparently never forgotan injury and was known for her vindictive nature. Angry with the Trojan Prince Paris forpreferring Aphrodite, goddess of love, to herself, Hera aided the Greeks in the Trojan Warand was not happy until Troy was finally destroyed. Zeus changed one of his mistresses,the beautiful princess Io, into a cow to hide her from Hera. But Hera found Io and sentthe monster Argus, who had 100 eyes, to guard her. On Zeus’s orders, the god Hermesbeheaded Argus. Hera honored Argues by putting his eyes on the tail of the peacock, herfavorite bird. Hera also tormented Io ...
