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Because her brother Zeus usurped their father’s throne, she was reared by Oceanus and Tethys. Zeus was madly in love with Hera, even though she was his sister. He did everything he could to woo her, and she eventually married him. At the wedding of Zeus and his sister/wife, Hera was presented with a magical tree with golden apples. In later traditions, she is shown as the consort of Zeus, who depends on her for advice and support.
Hera was often known as the mother of the Gods. She had eight children, and seven of these were fathered by Zeus, except for Typhoon (more on this later). Among the children she had with the King of the Gods was Ares, the God of War. Another of their children was Hephaestus, the deity of metalworking and Angelo, a goddess of the underworld. Hera was not a maternal figure, and she was not interested in justice or even morality. She even cast one of her children out of Olympus because she thought the infant was too ugly. Hera was arrogant, headstrong and vain and portrayed as a cunning and manipulative wife by poets such as Homer.<ref> Beckwith, Miles C. “The’ Hanging of Hera’ and the Meaning of Greek ἄκμων.” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology (1998): 91-102</ref>.
==Hera and Zeus- a love/hate relationship==