Hymn to Hera
Hera · Zeus · RheaFive lines, and in them there is not one request, not one action, not one deed of the goddess. Everything said concerns her standing.
Hera is defined by kinship: born of Rhea, sister and wife of loud-thundering Zeus, queen of the immortals. Every clause is a relation to someone. And the conclusion drawn from them: "whom all the blessed throughout high Olympus revere and honour equally with Zeus".
Ὁμῶς Διί — equally with Zeus. It is for these two words that the hymn was written: it is about precedence, and precedence is derived from marriage. Other gods in this collection get their hymns for what they do — Hephaestus taught the crafts, Asclepius heals, Artemis hunts and leads the dance. There is nothing to enter against Hera, and her greatness is set out as rank.
Ὑπείροχον εἶδος ἔχουσαν — surpassing all in form. The one attribute belonging to her rather than to her relations is her beauty, and it is mentioned in passing.
This is the Hera of Greek cult: not a patroness of anything but a wife and a queen, whose power rests not on a department but on a place in the order.