“Such was the fear of Saturn's daughter, who remembered well what long and unavailing strife she waged for her loved Greeks at Troy. Nor did she fail to meditate th' occasions of her rage, and cherish deep within her bosom proud its griefs and wrongs: the choice by Paris made; her scorned and slighted beauty; a whole race rebellious to her godhead; and Jove's smile that beamed on eagle-ravished Ganymede.”
“The King of Heaven (Rex Superum) once was fired with love of Ganymedes Phrygius (the Phrygian), and something was devised that Jupiter [Zeus] would rather be than what he was. Yet no bird would he deign to be but one that had the power to bear his thunderbolts. At once his spurious pinions beat the breeze and off he swept Iliades [Ganymedes of Ilion]; who now, mixing the nectar, waits in heaven above, though Juno [Hera] frowns, and hands the cup to Jove.”
- Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.152
“ANTIPATER OF THESSALONICA
Hera, tortured by the beauty of Ganymede, and with the soul-consuming sting of jealousy in her heart, once spoke thus: "Troy gave birth to a male flame for Zeus; therefore I will send a flame to fall on Troy, Paris the bringer of woe. No eagle shall come again to the Trojans, but vultures to the feast, the day that the Danai gather the spoils of their labour."”
“Pine-clad Ida… boasts the cloud that veiled the heavenly rape [of Ganymedes]! She verily gave to the gods him on whom Juno [Hera] ever looks in wrath, and withdraws her hand and refuses the nectar.”
“‘THE HONORS OF GANYMEDE,’ the son of Tros, king of the Trojans. By ‘honors’ he meant either on account of the service of the cups which he performed for the gods, once Hebe, the daughter of Juno, was removed; or because, being placed among the stars, he received the name of Aquarius. Therefore Juno is angry because he was not only carried off for this purpose, that he might serve drinks, but because he was violated for this reason, so that he might obtain divine honors.”
- Servius, Scholia on Virgil’s Aeneid 1.28
“The Trojan winepourer [Ganymedes] was cunningly depicted [in the engravings on a shield] with art divine . . . the boy was depicted at the feast of the heavenly table, as one ladling the wine. There was a mixing-bowl beside him full of self-flowing nectarean dew, and he offered a cup to Zeus at the table. There Hera sat, looking furious even upon the shield, and showing in her mien how jealousy filled her soul; for she was pointing a finger at the boy, to show goddess Pallas who sat next her how cowboy Ganymedes walked among the stars to pour out their wine, the sweet nectar of Olympos, and there he was handing the cups which were the lot of virgin Hebe.”
“[Hera:] ‘Is it not shame enough, an impious thing, that I see the Trojan boy cup-lackey to Zeus, disgracing heaven and Hebe cupbearer of Zeus, when he ladles sweet nectar with human hands?”
- Nonnus, Dionysiaca 25.430 & 31.252
“HERA: Since you’ve brought this lad up here, Zeus, this Phrygian you carried off from Ida, you’ve been neglecting me.
ZEUS: What, Hera? Jealous already? Of him too, though he’s so simple and harmless? I thought you were only down on my various lady friends.
HERA: It’s bad enough and quite out of place for you, the master of all gods, to desert me, your lawful wife, and go down to earth, turning into gold or satyr or bull, to commit adultery. But your women do stay on the earth, but as for this boy from Ida, you grabbed hold of him and flew him up here, my fine king of the birds, and you’ve brought him into our family over my head, “as wine-waiter”, you say. Were you so badly in need of wine-waiters? Have Hebe and Hephaestus, then, gone on strike? And you can’t take the cup from him, without kissing him first before all our eyes, and you find his kiss sweeter than the nectar, and so you keep on and on asking for a drink, even when you’re not thirsty. Sometimes, too, you just take a sip, and give him the cup, and when he has drunk, you take it back and drain it, from the side he’s drunk from and touched with his lips, so that you can be drinking and kissing at the same time. And the other day, you, the king and father of all, laid aside your aegis and thunderbolt, and sat down playing dice with him, you with that great beard on your face! I see it all. Don’t think you’re hoodwinking me.
ZEUS: And what’s so terrible, my dear, in kissing a pretty boy like that while I’m drinking, and enjoying both the kiss and the nectar? Why, if I let him kiss you just once, you’ll never again blame me for preferring his kiss to the nectar.
HERA: Admirers of boys may talk like that, but I hope I’ll never be so mad as to give my lips to that Phrygian softie. Oh, the effeminate creature!”
- Lucian, Dialogues of the Gods V (213-6)
