Power couples in Greek mythology

Greek mythology and history is full of extraordinary power couples and tragic lovers.  Some are remembered for their long-lasting romances, while others are defined by their tragic downfalls, yet there are some famous couples who have revealed love’s most cruel and stormy face.

Zeus & Hera: The rocky relationship

Zeus, the king of the gods of Mount Olympus, had many relationships but it was his sister, Hera, whom he wanted to rule by his side as his wife. Hera, the goddess of marriage and childbirth and the ruler of the sky, said no every time Zeus proposed marriage. She was all too aware of Zeus’ past and had no interest in the proposition. Zeus continued to propose for hundreds of years, each time getting a “no” from Hera.  Finally, she  agreed to be his wife. Zeus and Hera’s wedding was the first formal marriage ceremony , took place at the Garden of Hesperides and was a huge occasion.

From then on out Zeus and Hera endured a rocky relationship, caused mostly by Zeus becoming involved with and falling in love with other women. He constantly had affairs with goddesses, nymphs, and mortals. Hera became extremely jealous and spent much of her time on Mount Olympus spying on Zeus and plotting revenge if she found out that Zeus spent time with another woman. She had a violent temper and went out of her way to punish the women and their children that Zeus fathered. And was also very vain. In a competition as to who was “the fairest goddess”, Hera was extremely angry that the title went to Aphrodite. Since it was Paris of Troy that chose the winner, Hera’s reaction led to the Trojan War.

Clytemnestra and Agamemnon: Revenge is a dish best served cold

Clytemnestra was a beautiful queen married to the powerful king of Mycenae, Agamemnon. Their troubles started when Agamemnon agreed to help his brother Menelaus to retrieve his unfaithful wife, Helen, and lead an army of Greeks against Troy, where she had found shelter with her lover Paris. Yet, the winds were unfavourable and his fleet, gathered at the coast, was prevented from sailing to Troy. He was, then, told by an oracle that, unless he sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to goddess Artemis, the winds wouldn’t blow. Driven by his ferocious thirst for war, Agamemnon had a message sent to his daughter announcing that she would marry the great hero Achilles and was asked to arrive at the coast for the wedding. Upon her arrival, poor Iphigenia was sacrificed. Clytemnestra never forgave Agamemnon for his terrible act. She took her husband’s cousin, Aegisthus, as her lover and both ruled Mycenae while he was in Troy. After the end of the war, Agamemnon returned to Mycenae triumphant with a young Trojan princess, Cassandra, as his trophy and new lover. Little did he know that he was fated to die by the hands of his own wife as he was taking his hot bath, his blood drawing the thin line between human revenge and divine judgment.

Odysseus & Penelope: The power couple  all want to be

It was 20 years since Odysseus had left his palace, but still his wife Penelope had some hope he would return, though most believed him dead. Many suitors had come to woo "the widow". She put them off with a ruse, persuading them to wait until she had finished a funeral shroud for Laertes, Odysseus's father, which she wove by day and secretly unravelled by night. In this way she managed to deceive them for three years. While they waited, the suitors made themselves the king's uninvited guests, eating him out of house and home. But then Penelope's ruse was discovered and the suitors demanded a decision. She came up with another ruse, an archery contest. She would marry whoever could string Odysseus's bow and fire it through 12 axes. The bow once belonged to the archer Eurytus, grandson of Apollo, and no one, she hoped, could wield it.

One by one the suitors tried their hand, but none could even string the bow let alone shoot an arrow with it through the axes. Then one of the beggars who was accustomed to feeding off the scraps the suitors left asked if he could try his hand. The suitors laughed, but were amazed to see him string the bow with ease and fire it all the way through the 12 axes. The beggar then turned his weapon on the suitors and shot them one by one. Penelope looked at the carnage. "Does this mean I must marry a beggar now?" she asked. "I am no beggar," he said, "but Odysseus, your husband."