VIII

Roman Goddesses

Juno/Hera was Jupiter’s (or Zeus, more common.) main wife. She was very jealous of him, and often tortured him with her trusty guard, Argus. ( He has a hundred eyes all over his body!) There was a story of Zeus, Juno, and Io... Zeus was bored. He thought about what he could do. Suddenly, he saw two men walking on the side of the road. "Hey stupid." Zeus yelled, trying to make it sound like somebody else was speaking. "What?" One of the men sputtered furiously. Before you could say, 'Zeus threw lightning bolts on Mount Olympis', the two men were fighting. Meanwhile, Io the river spirit was spotted by Zeus while she was bathing in the river. Almost instantly, Zeus fell in love. Jealous Juno was near, But Zeus was smart, and covered the universe with some really thick clouds. Unfortunately Juno saw the big clouds and had a urge to fly down, Just to see what lay underneath the layer of fog. Zeus caught something zooming overhead with the corner of his eye. He whirled around to see Juno flying about a mile away from him. Juno did not see him, but he sure saw her! Badly alarmed and recovering from shock, Zeus quickly turned Io into a small cow. When Juno reached him, she was not fooled for an instant! She went all soft on him, and urged him to hand over the innocent cow. Zeus could not do anything but to agree. Io was locked in a prison, and was guarded by Argus, the hundred eyed beast. Zeus acted quickly. He sent his messenger son Hades, to play music. Argus was put to sleep. Hades killed Argus and allowed little Io to escape. This was the reason Juno laid the eyes of Argus on the peacock. Anyway, When Juno found out that Io escaped, She sent a gadfly (biting fly) after Io. Soon, Io was stuck in Egypt and was turned back into human form. From reading this, you probably think Juno was NOT a nice guy. If so, you're right. She was never nice to any of her children, let alone her husband. She was jealous of Zeus because he had lots of admirers and she was plain old Juno. Every time she finds Zeus with a new girlfriend, she would track her down with deadly force, and throw her in prison. Zeus would always try to hide the admirer with his amazing powers, but Juno usually won, with the help of her smart head. Io then turned out to be a very special spirit. Even though she was stuck in Egypt, surrounded by crocodiles, she learned to like the gloomy old place. Juno was never punished for the horrible thing she did, And for good old Zeus, well, to be honest, nothing happened to him. ( Except to be bored, of course.) Okay, now you've heard about the goddess Juno/Hera, and now You're gonna learn about Aphrodite/Venus. She wasthe goddess of love and beauty. Her parents were unknown, and she was just considered the goddess of love and beauty when she was born for some reason... Anyway, When the Romans heard about the myths of Aphrodite, they Just went completely nuts over her. They only changed her name to Venus. More likely because they thought the last name was too ugly or something. She was made from foam at the ocean, and was formed into a human body. Even though Aphrodite was loved from people all over Rome, She was more liked by women then men. (Obviously because she was the goddess of love and beauty?)

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