Hebe was the personificatin of the beauty of youth. As the daughter of Zeus and Hera, Hebe was the official cupbearer of the gods, for which she was adapted, first because of her association with the vine growers of Phlius, and secondly, because she was the youngest daughter of the regal pair, and on the analogy of human arrangements, would be expected to wait upon the divine gods, as Briseis did on Achilles.

      Among her other duties she assisted Hera in yoking her chariot. When Apollo and the Muses played, she danced with other deities. At times she accompanied Aphrodite. But she was best known as the bride and wife of Hercules, when he was raised to Mount Olympus and achieved immortality. Nothing is known about their two sons, Alexiares and Anicetus.

      Ganymedes, son of the Trojan king, Tros and Callirrhoe, replaced Hebe as cupbearer when she married Hecules. Other say Ganymedes was the cupbear to Zeus in particular. He represented eternal youth and extraordinary beauty. Ganymedes was carried away from Troy snatched up by the eagle of Zeus. Hermes was sent to console the boy's father with a pair of fine mares or a golden grapevine, made of Hephaestus.

ACTIVITIES:
Hebe activity

KEY TEST WORDS:
Hebe, goddess of youth and the cupbearer of Mount Olympus. Symbols: goblet and pitcher.

The Lesser Deities

The Underworld

Footnotes:
Hebe was also known to the Greeks as Ganymedea or Dia. Among the Romans she was Juventas. It was the custom as far back as Servius Tullius to pay into the temple of Juventas a piece of money for every boy who lived to enter the stage of youth. When the young Roman assumed the toga virilis, he went up to the Capitol and prayed to Jupiter and Juventas.

SOURCES:
Jane Smith
Edith Hamilton's Mythology
Edward Tripp's "Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology"
"Manual of Mythology" by Alexander S. Murray.