Hebé
（
Ἥβη). Daughter of Zeus and Heré, and goddess
of eternal youth. She was represented as the handmaiden of the gods, for whom she pours out
their nectar, and the consort of Heracles after his apotheosis. She was worshipped with
Heracles in Sicyon and Phlius, especially under the name Ganymedé or Dia. She was
represented as freeing men from chains and bonds, and her rites were celebrated with
unrestrained merriment. The Romans identified Hebé with Iuventas, the
personification of youthful manhood. As representing the eternal youth of the Roman State,
Iuventas had a chapel on the Capitol in the front court of the Temple of Minerva, and in later
times a temple of her own in the city (
Livy, v. 54). It was to
Iupiter and Iuventas that boys offered prayer on the Capitol when they put on the
toga virilis, putting a piece of money into their treasury. Two fine poems in
English are suggested by the myth of Hebé—one the
Fall of
Hebé, by Thomas Moore, and the other,
Hebé, by
James Russell Lowell.
