When Zeus Turned Hera Into a Cloud to Romance a Man

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss Nephele, a cloud nymph whom Zeus created in the likeness of Hera to seduce Ixion, a man infatuated with Hera. This was contrived as a test Ixion failed spectacularly, and his lust and lack of scruples earned him a permanent vacation in Tartarus, bound to a spinning flaming wheel for all of eternity. Let's get into it.In Greek mythology, Nephele was a cloud nymph who played a significant role in the story of Ixion and the creation of the centaurs.Ixion was a mortal king who had attempted to seduce Hera, the wife of Zeus. In order to punish Ixion for his hubris and unbridled hedonism, Zeus decided to create a decoy doppelganger of Hera, which he called Nephele. Nephele was a cloud nymph, and Zeus created her in the image of Hera so that she would look and act like the real goddess.When Ixion saw Nephele, he was immediately taken with her beauty and so uncannily similar was she in manner and appearance that he believed her to be the goddess in the flesh, the queen of the gods herself. He attempted to seduce her, but Zeus, who had been watching the entire time, closed the jaws of his trap. He was outraged, understandably so - the man actually had the audacity to make a play for the queen of the gods, wife of Zeus, aegis bearer, whose wrath was the black-clouded sky wreathed with lightning. An example was to be made, and Zeus' thought process must have been akin to a torturer running the tips of his fingers over his instruments of pain, deliberating over which one he'd use.