18. Zeus Was a Cheating Dog but His Wife Punished His Mistresses Instead of Him
Hera, titled the Queen of Heaven, reigned from the gods’ home atop Mount Olympus as the wife and sister of Zeus, the chief god of the ancient Greek pantheon. Her husband/ sibling was an insatiable and predatory nymphomaniac whose eye constantly roved, was always on the prowl, and constantly cheated on Hera. Unsurprisingly, Hera was none too happy about her husband’s serial infidelities, which left her feeling slighted. However, she did not address that by taking it up with Zeus.
Rather than direct her wrath at her hubby for breaking whatever passed for marital vows and obligations of monogamy atop Mount Olympus, Hera would often fly into jealous rages. She took out her anger instead on those seduced or tricked – or sometimes flat out assaulted – by Zeus in order to satisfy his lusts. Io was one of those unfortunate victims of Hera’s fits of jealousy. According to Greek mythology, Io was a priestess whose beauty caught Zeus’ eye, and caused him to fall head over heels in love with her. So he went after her in ways that only a god can.
