Another Hera

I've actually been sitting on this drawing for a few months now, it just needed a few final touches and some inking. I was a little dissatisfied with how I portrayed Hera in the sketch I posted a month or two back so I redesigned her making her a little younger, more beautiful and more decked out in finery. As a fun little addition, the design on the pediment on the top of her throne is the myth of how she and Zeus wed, an appropriate story for the goddess of marriage.




Hera actually spurned Zeus' advances for many years. At his wit's end, Zeus remembered Hera's fondness for birds and created a violent storm, transformed himself into a cuckoo and let himself be tossed about by the winds and the rain. Hera saw the poor bird and took it in claiming that she would love it forever. At this point Zeus transformed back, held Hera to her promise and they married.
Because of this myth, I've always thought of Hera as a goddess of vows, promises, and contracts. I mean, what is marriage but a series of vows?