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Hebe
Oct 11, 2006 11:56:45 GMT -5
Post by Tyrant Cecelia on Oct 11, 2006 11:56:45 GMT -5
October 11th, 2006
home | greek | gods | free spirits | Hebe
Hebe at a Glance
name | Hebe (‘Hbh)
role | goddess who was a cup-bearer for the Olympians
Hebe in Greek Mythology
In Greek mythology, the youthful goddess Hebe is the cup-bearer for the gods. She is the daughter of two Olympians - Zeus and Hera - and the sister of Ares and Eileithyia. The following scene from Homer's Iliad depicts Hebe performing her duties as divine cup-bearer:
"The gods were seated near to Zeus in council, upon a golden floor. Graciously Hebe served them nectar, as with cups of gold they toasted one another, looking down toward the stronghold of Ilion." (Homer, Iliad, Book IV, 1-5)
In addition to her role as cup-bearer, Hebe also played a small but nonetheless significant part in Greek myth as the wife of the hero Herakles. According to the Odyssey of Homer, after his apotheosis Herakles married the beautiful goddess and enjoyed the pleasures of the Olympian immortals:
"Next I saw manifest the power of Herakles - a phantom, this, for he himself has gone feasting amid the gods, reclining soft with Hebe of the ravishing pale ankles, daughter of Zeus and Hera, shod in gold." (Homer, Odyssey, Book XI, 603 ff.)
Juventas was the name of Hebe's Roman counterpart in mythology.
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zl
Mermaid
Posts: 15
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Hebe
Mar 12, 2010 21:51:15 GMT -5
Post by zl on Mar 12, 2010 21:51:15 GMT -5
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