Listed 3 sub titles with search on: Mythology for destination: "HELLAS Ancient country GREECE".
Erinyes (Erinues), and by the Romans Furiae or Dirae.
Originally a personification of curses pronounced upon a guilty criminal. The
name Erinys, which is the more ancient one, was derived by the Greeks from the
verb erino or ereunao, "I hunt down," or "persecute," or from
the Arcadian word erinuo, "I am angry"; so that the Erinyes were either
the angry goddesses, or the goddesses who hunt or search for the criminal. The
name Eumenides, which signifies "the well-meaning," or "soothed
goddesses," is a mere euphemism, because people dreaded to call these fearful
goddesses by their real name; and it was said to have been first given them after
the acquittal of Orestes by the court of the Areopagus, when the anger of the
Erinyes had become soothed. It was by a similar euphemism that at Athens the Erinyes
were called semnai theai, or the Revered Goddesses.
In the sense of "curse" or "curses," the
word Erinys or Erinyes is often used in the Homeric poems, and Aeschylus calls
the Eumenides Arai, that is, curses. According to the Homeric notion, the Erinyes,
whom the poet conceives as distinct beings, are reckoned among those who inhabit
Erebus, where they rest until some curse pronounced upon a criminal calls them
to life and activity. The crimes which they punish are disobedience towards parents,
violation of the respect due to old age, perjury, murder, violation of the laws
of hospitality, and improper conduct towards suppliants. The notion which is the
foundation of the belief in the Eumenides seems to be that a parent's curse takes
from him upon whom it is pronounced all peace of mind, destroys the happiness
of his family, and prevents his being blessed with children. As the Eumenides
not only punished crimes after death, but during life on earth, they were regarded
also as goddesses of fate, who, together with Zeus and the Moerae or Parcae, led
such men as were doomed to suffer into misery and misfortunes. In the same capacity
they also prevented man from obtaining too much knowledge of the future. Homer
does not mention any particular names for the Erinyes, nor does he seem to know
of any definite number. Hesiod, who is likewise silent upon these points, calls
the Erinyes the daughters of Gaea, who conceived them in the drops of blood that
fell upon her from the body of Uranus. Epimenides called them the daughters of
Cronos and Euonyme, and sisters of the Moerae; Aeschylus calls them the daughters
of Night; and Sophocles, of Scotos (Darkness) and Gaea. In the Greek tragedians,
with whom (e. g. in the Eumenides of Aeschylus) the number of these goddesses
is not limited to a few, no particular name of any one Erinys is yet mentioned,
but they appear in the same capacity, and as the avengers of the same crimes,
as before. They are sometimes identified with the Poenae, though their sphere
of action is wider than that of the Poenae. From their hunting down and persecuting
the accursed criminal, Aeschylus calls them kunes or kunegetides. No prayer, no
sacrifice, and no tears can move them, or protect the object of their persecution;
and when they fear lest the criminal should escape them, they call in the assistance
of Dike, with whom they are closely connected, the maintenance of strict justice
being their only object. The Erinyes were more ancient divinities than the Olympian
gods, and were therefore not under the rule of Zeus, though they honoured and
esteemed him; and they dwelt in the deep darkness of Tartarus, dreaded by gods
and men. Their appearance is described by Aeschylus as Gorgo-like, their bodies
covered with black, serpents twined in their hair, and blood dripping from their
eyes; Euripides and other later poets describe them as winged beings. The appearance
they have in Aeschylus was more or less retained by the poets of later times;
but they gradually assumed the character of goddesses who punished crimes after
death, and seldom appeared on earth. On the stage, however, and in works of art,
their fearful appearance was greatly softened down, for they were represented
as maidens of a grave and solemn mien, in the richly adorned attire of huntresses,
with a band of serpents around their heads, and serpents or torches in their hands.
With later writers, though not always, the number of Eumenides is limited to three,
and their names are Tisiphone, Alecto, and Megaera. At Athens there were statues
of only two. The sacrifices which were offered to them consisted of black sheep
and nephalia--i. e. a drink of honey mixed with water. Among the objects sacred
to them we hear of white turtledoves and the narcissus. They were worshipped at
Athens, where they had a sanctuary and a grotto near the Areopagus; their statues,
however, had nothing formidable, and a festival, Eumenidia, was there celebrated
in their honour. Another sanctuary, with a grove which no one was allowed to enter,
existed at Colonus. Under the name of Maniai, they were worshipped at Megalopolis.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Dec 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
(Tuche). The Greek goddess of Fortune; also identified with
Isis in one of her phases, and with the Roman goddess Fortuna. When identified
with Isis she is represented with the lotus-flower, with erected feathers on her
head, with the crescent and orb, and as holding a sistrum.
Aether (Aither), a personified idea of the mythical cosmogonies. According to that of Hyginus (Fab. Pref.), he was, together with Night, Day, and Erebus, begotten by Chaos and Caligo (Darkness). According to that of Hesiod (Theog. 124), Aether was the son of Erebus and his sister Night, and a brother of Day. (Comp. Phornut. De Nat. Deor. 16) The children of Aether and Day were Land, Heaven, and Sea, and from his connexion with the Earth there sprang all the vices which destroy the human race, and also the Giants and Titans. (Hygin. Fab. Prof.) These accounts shew that, in the Greek cosmogonies, Aether was considered as one of the elementary substances out of which the Universe was formed. In the Orphic hymns (4) Aether appears as the soul of the world, from which all life emanates, an idea which was also adopted by some of the early philosophers of Greece. In later times Aether was regarded as the wide space of Heaven, the residence of the gods, and Zeus as the Lord of the Aether, or Aether itself personified. (Pacuv. ap. Cic. de Nat. Deor. ii. 36, 40; Lucret. v. 499; Virg. Aen. xii. 140, Georg. ii. 325)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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