Hebe

Hebe is the goddess of youth, born to Zeus and Hera alongside her siblings Ares and Eileithyia. Homer's Iliad shows her serving as cupbearer, pouring nectar for the assembled gods on Olympus. After Heracles completes his labors and dies, Hesiod's Theogony and Homer's Odyssey agree that he joins the immortals and marries Hebe, ending his story on an unusually happy note for a Greek hero.

By Mythographia Editorial Team Reviewed by Mythographia Editorial Team Updated 2026-09-08

Core Myth

Hesiod's Theogony names Hebe among the children Hera bears to Zeus, listed in the same breath as her siblings Ares, god of war, and Eileithyia, goddess of childbirth. Beyond her birth, Hebe's defining role in Homer is a working one rather than a dramatic one: in the fourth book of the Iliad, as the gods sit in council on a golden floor, it is Hebe who moves among them pouring nectar, the drink that keeps them immortal. She performs this same duty elsewhere in the poem, most visibly when the wounded Ares needs help returning to Olympus. Long before Ganymede is brought up from Troy to take over cup-bearing duties in later tradition, Hebe already holds the job simply by being who she is: the goddess whose name means youth itself.

Who are Hebe's parents and siblings?

Hebe is a daughter of Zeus and Hera. Hesiod's Theogony names her alongside her siblings Ares, god of war, and Eileithyia, goddess of childbirth, all born to the same divine couple.

Hesiod, Theogony 921-924

What is Hebe's role among the Olympian gods?

She serves as their cupbearer. Homer's Iliad shows her pouring nectar for the gods as they sit together on Olympus watching the Trojan War, and helping the wounded god Ares back to the divine assembly on another occasion.

Homer, Iliad 4.2-3

Why does Hebe marry Heracles?

Once Heracles finishes his labors and joins the immortal gods, Hesiod's Theogony has him marry Hebe on Olympus, calling him fortunate to have completed his hard work and now live forever, untroubled and unaging, among beings like himself.

Hesiod, Theogony 950-955

Does the Odyssey agree that Heracles marries Hebe?

Yes. When Odysseus meets Heracles's shade in the underworld, Homer is careful to explain that the shade is not the whole story: the real Heracles feasts among the immortal gods and has Hebe, "of the fair ankles," as his wife, while only his phantom lingers among the dead.

Homer, Odyssey 11.601-604

Is Hebe replaced as cupbearer later in Greek myth?

Later tradition brings in Ganymede, a Trojan prince Zeus takes up to Olympus specifically to serve as cup-bearer, and by the time many readers encounter Greek myth, he is the more famous name for the job. Homer's own Iliad, though, has Hebe doing the pouring, with no mention of Ganymede taking over the role.

Homer, Iliad 4.2-3

Later Traditions

Hebe's other major role concerns not the gods but a mortal made immortal. Hesiod's Theogony records that Heracles, once he finishes his hard labors, takes Hebe, "the child of great Zeus and gold-shod Hera," as his wife on snowy Olympus, and calls him happy for it: his great work finished, he now lives among the undying gods, untroubled and unaging for the rest of his days. Homer's Odyssey backs up the same tradition from a different angle, distinguishing Heracles's phantom, which Odysseus meets wandering the underworld, from the real Heracles, who feasts among the immortal gods and "has to wife Hebe, of the fair ankles." It is one of the few Greek myths where a mortal hero's story ends not in death but in marriage to a goddess whose whole identity is never growing old.

Lineage

See the full family tree

4 recorded relations, each with the ancient line behind it.

Parents

Siblings

Ares Hesiod, Theogony 921-924
Hera bears Hebe, Ares, and Eileithyia to Zeus in the same passage of the Theogony.
Eileithyia Hesiod, Theogony 921-924
Hera bears Hebe, Ares, and Eileithyia to Zeus in the same passage of the Theogony.

Also Connected

1 recorded connection, each with the ancient line behind it.

Connected

Heracles Hesiod, Theogony 950-955; Homer, Odyssey 11.601-604
Once Heracles completes his labors and joins the immortal gods, he marries Hebe on Olympus.