era was the daughter of Cronus (Saturn) and Rhea and wife of Zeus. In the Iliad, Hera is well respected by the other Olympian gods. In the Olympian scheme of things she is wife of Zeus rather than queen of gods. Zeus and Hera were not always together and frequent disputes arose between them due to Zeus's infidelities with mortal women. After Cronus was banished from the universe Zeus and Hera reunited. Zeus then seduced her by taking the form of a cuckoo; when she cuddled it, he resumed his own shape. Zeus pursued mortal women in disguise for he was too powerful to behold in his pure or unadulterated form. In jealousy Hera persecuted all the children of Zeus by mortal women and appears in mythology as the enemy of Dionysus and Hercules. In Argos she had a temple on the road to Mycenae. Hera was the only married goddesss of the Olympians and hence is considered the goddess of marriage and of the birth of children. In the Iliad she is represented riding in a chariot drawn by two horses assisted by Hebe and the Horae. At the beginning of time Gaia (the earth) presented Zeus and Hera with a tree filled with golden apples, Their wedding night lasted three hundred years. The children of Zeus and Hera were Ares, Hephaestus, and Hebe, though Hephaestus in some accounts was created of Hera alone. Hebe, the goddess of youth, was cupbearer to the Olympians and married the deified Heracles. Hera renews her virginity each year by bathing in a sacred spring near her favorite city, Argos. Eileithyia, goddess of childbirth, was sometimes thought to be her daughter. Capricious and vengeful, Hera became a fierce enemy of Troy as Paris had offended her pride by awarding the golden apple to Aphrodite in a beauty contest. Hera was usually represented as a mature woman of majestic stature, with a beautiful forehead, white arms, large and wide eyes, and a reverent and somewhat grave countenance. Her golden hair was adorned with a crown or diadem and a veil frequently hangs from the back of her head to characterise her as the bride of Zeus. Her attributes are the peacock, crown and veil and she is often found in the company of the three graces, splendour, festivity and good cheer as well as the Horae, or seasons. She is ruler of the atmosphere, storms, tempests, and the four winds of the earth