The most important goddess was the wife of Zeus, Hera. She was featured as a woman of statuary beauty, with broad hips, tall and portly. Hera was the goddess of marital fidelity and protected wives, and above all, mothers-to-be. She was strong-willed and did not submit to her husband and least of all forgive his adventures with other women. Hera always persecuted the children born to him outside their marriage. She was very finicky and detested latecomers: when a nymph arrived late to Hera's wedding because of tight sandals, she transformed her into a tortoise.
