Ixion, the wickedest man in the world, was invited to a Heavenly Olympic Banquet. But he intended to repay this generosity by raping Hera, the wife of Zeus, whom he fancied rotten.

Seeing through this little plan, Zeus made an exact replica of Hera from clouds. The cloned Hera was called Nephele. She was very life-like and Ixion was completely fooled. Having been caught out, Zeus tied him to a flaming wheel and sent him off for everlasting punishment in the Underworld.

This left Nephele very confused. As she could not be un-created, and kept being mistaken for Hera, she tried to avoid further bewilderment by weeping in corners. But that didn’t work as passing Gods kept asking: “What’s the matter Hera?”

Zeus got a bit fed up with it all and married her off to Athamas, the most stupid king in the world, making her Queen of Boeotia. It went well at the start but after two children Nephele got the miseries again and kept turning into a drizzling cloud.

Athamas got fed up and set up a secret love nest with Ino. Not too good a choice as Zeus was having an affair with her sister Semele, and Athamas had to let him have a spare key.

Then of course Hera found out. After telling Athamas in no uncertain terms how stupid he was, she whisked Nephele back to Olympus to work in the stables — filling the water trough with tears.

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Article last revised on September 06, 2018 by Rowan Allen.
Editors: Peter J. Allen, Chas Saunders

References: Coming soon.

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