Wealth of Hera, Zeus, and Hephaestus lore I felt the need to share from the bT 14.296 Iliad scholia!! It’s genuinely so fun and exciting it’s my favorite Hera/Hephaestus interpretation

I included bolded summaries of the big/important myths here as TLDRs. I adore how much this adds to Zeus and Hera’s relationship

[Homer wrote:] “Going to bed while secretly consorting with her beloved, she [Hera] escaped the notice of her parents.”

[bT scholia on the passage:] And how, then, does he say (Iliad 5.202) that she was reared by Oceanus? Or does ‘to rear’ (ibid.) not mean ‘from infancy’? […]

[Hera and Zeus loved eachother secretly before the fall of Kronos; Oceanus and Tethys hand off Hera to Zeus; Hera gives Hephaestus to Cedalion] So then, she [Hera] was secretly united with him [Zeus]. But when Kronos was cast into Tartarus, she, being [mistakenly] thought to still be a virgin, was given in marriage to Zeus by Tethys and Oceanus. After giving birth to Hephaestus, she pretended to have conceived without intercourse. And she handed him over to Cedalion the Naxian to be taught metalworking; for which reason even to this day a memorial is preserved among the Naxians […]

[Samians are inspired by the love of Zeus and Hera to have their dalliances of love before marriage] Others say that Zeus secretly, without the knowledge of her parents, deflowered Hera on Samos; hence the Samians, emulating the goddess in jealous devotion, secretly bring their maidens together with their suitors, and then later celebrate the marriages openly with sacrifice.

[“parents” in the passage “Going to bed while secretly consorting with her beloved, she [Hera] escaped the notice of her parents” may refer to Oceanus and Tethys, not just Kronos and Rhea] Thus, ‘parents’ refers to those of Kronos and Rhea; but some interpret ‘parents’ as the ancestors, those of Oceanus <and Tethys>. [As an example of a similar verb as ‘to rear’ being used by Homer:] ‘From the same parents who bore Alcinous’ (Odyssey 7.54), so that we may understand ‘to rear’ [as Homer used in the passage where Hera says she is reared by Oceanus and Tethys] as meaning ‘to nourish from infancy’.

While the passage from the Odyssey was only used as an example to explain the verb ‘to rear’, it seemed to remind the scholiast of another myth they are about to relate. Here is the context of that Odyssey quote:

“Arete is the name she's given, and she's from the same ancestors who gave birth to king Alcinous. First earth-shaker Poseidon and Periboea, the best looking of women, gave birth to Nausithous. She was the youngest daughter of great-hearted Eurymedon, who once was king over the insolent Giants. Though he lost his reckless people and perished himself, Poseidon mixed with her, and she bore a son, great-hearted Nausithous, who ruled over the Phaeacians. Nausithous fathered Rhexenor and Alcinous.”

[the scholiast continues:] Some, however, say that while still a virgin, Hera fell in love with Eurymedon, one of the Giants, and by him bore Prometheus. Zeus, upon discovering this, cast the one into Tartarus and crucified Prometheus on the pretext of the fire.”

For context: the above passage comes from a late antiquity bT scholiast, perhaps imperfectly quoting the earlier D scholiast on 14.295 who wrote before them:

When Hera was being raised by her parents, one of the Giants, Eurymedon, raped her and made her pregnant. She gave birth to Prometheus. Zeus later married his sister [Hera], and when he found out what had happened, he threw Eurymedon into Tartarus, and hung Prometheus up in chains (he used the fire as a pretext). The story is in Euphorion.

Homer’s Odyssey (the earliest source for their relationship):

Ariadne, daughter of Minos, whose mind loved slaughter. Theseus brought her once away from Crete to the hill in sacred Athens. But he got no joy of her. Before he did, Artemis on sea-girt Dia murdered Ariadne, because of something Dionysus said.

Pausanias’ Description of Greece (remarking on Delian tradition, which Plutarch also takes note of):

At Delos, too, there is a small xoanon [statuette] of Aphrodite, its right hand defaced by time, and with a square base instead of feet. I am of opinion that Ariadne got this image from Daedalus, and when she followed Theseus, took it with her from home. Bereft of Ariadne, say the Delians, Theseus dedicated the xoanon of the goddess to the Delian Apollo, lest by taking it home he should be dragged into remembering Ariadne, and so find the grief for his love ever renewed.

Paeon of Amathus, Cyprus (late 4th century BC, summarized by Plutarch):

He says that Theseus, driven out of his course by a storm to Cyprus, and having with him Ariadne, who was big with child and in sore sickness and distress from the tossing of the sea, set her on shore alone, but that he himself, while trying to succour the ship, was borne out to sea again. The women of the island, accordingly, took Ariadne into their care, and tried to comfort her in the discouragement caused by her loneliness, brought her forged letters purporting to have been written to her by Theseus, ministered to her aid during the pangs of travail, and gave her burial when she died before her child was born. 4 Paeon says further that Theseus came back, and was greatly afflicted, and left a sum of money with the people of the island, enjoining them to sacrifice to Ariadne, and caused two little statuettes to be set up in her honour, one of silver, and one of bronze. He says also that at the sacrifice in her honour on the second day of the month Gorpiaeus, one of their young men lies down and imitates the cries and gestures of women in travail; and that they call the grove in which they show her tomb, the grove of Ariadne-Aphrodite.

Pausanias’ Description of Greece (remarking on Athenian traditions):

the ship that carried the young people to Crete began her voyage with black sails; but Theseus, who was sailing on an adventure against the Minotaur, as it is called, had told his father beforehand that he would use white sails if he should sail back victorious over the bull. But the loss of Ariadne made him forget the signal. Then Aegeus, when from this eminence he saw the vessel borne by black sails, thinking that his son was dead, threw himself down to destruction. There is at Athens a sanctuary dedicated to him, and called the hero-shrine of Aegeus.

And then these two (5th century BC) vases (among many others) which depict Theseus being rudely awoken by Athena and then being torn away from Ariadne.

The second image is described by scholars as

Athena commands that Theseus abandon Ariadne on the island of Naxos and guides him back to his ship. Dionysus discovers the maiden and leads her away to become his wife.

Yup! Iliad D scholia 19.119:

Out of jealousy, Hera paused Alcmene’s labor and caused Sthenelos’ wife Antibia (some say it was Nicippe), who was six months’ pregnant, to deliver Eurystheus—This is why even babies born prematurely at six months are cared for. Eurystheus became king and ordered Heracles to complete the labors; when the latter finished them, he was compensated with immortality following the instructions of Athena and Apollo.

This was a summary of an epic poem called Heracleia, by Rhianus of Crete (3rd century BC).