The gods were seated near to Zeus in council, upon a golden floor. Graciously Hebe served them nectar, as with cups of gold they toasted one another, looking down toward the stronghold of Ilion.
So writes Homer in Book IV of the Iliad. When I was just into long trousers (pants), I discovered an american author with a delightful and sometimes outrageous sense of fun. His name was Thorne Smith and of all his characters my favourite was Hebe, from his novel "Nightlife of the Gods". In a way you could say that she was my first imaginary girlfriend, before I had properly worked out what girlfriends, either real or imagined, were actually for.
In ‘Laudate Laudanum’ (episode 1.10.1) of The MARDLINGHAM Saga Ginny is reminded of an illustration of the goddess remembered from one of the books she has been loaned by the Vicar's sister Rosamunda. Perhaps this image, taken from a cameo brooch, is similar to the one she had in mind.
Quote from H2G2 at the BBC : "Thorne Smith (1892 - 1934) was once one of America's best-known comic authors. His reputation is still strong, but the number of people who know of him has dwindled. He belonged to another age, and his works are out of step with modern sensibilities, but why should that stop anyone?"
And from Wikipedia : "The Night Life of the Gods (1931). Quirky inventor Hunter Hawk strikes gold when he invents a device that will enable him to turn living matter into stone and to reverse the process at will. After a chaotic field test he meets stunning 900 year old Megaera who teaches him to turn stone into flesh. The two and a bunch of friends set their sights on New York City to bring the Greek gods of the Metropolitan Museum of Art to life..."
My friends named their daughter Hebe, the mother being rather enamoured that the Mythical Hebe had a chariot pulled by peacocks!
Isn't it interesting that long before you wonder what girlfriends are for you feel that sense of spiritual connection, at the first, this is the element that drives maybe and not just the purely animal urge as biologists tell us.