Erinyes
Uranus lay upon the earth as his son Cronus struck with a sickle. Drops of blood fell from the wound and stained the soil below. These drops gave birth to three female deities known as Erinyes. They emerged alongside giants and nymphs called Meliae from the same spilled fluid. Hesiod wrote that this event occurred when Cronus castrated his father Uranus. Apollodorus confirmed this lineage in later accounts. Some texts claim they were daughters of Night instead. Virgil described them as children of Pluto and Nox. Other versions suggest parents named Eurynome or Phorcys. Orphic literature stated Hades and Persephone were their mother and father. Their number remained indeterminate in most early myths. Three names became standard: Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone.
Aeschylus depicted the goddesses without wings in one play. He compared their monstrosity to gorgons and harpies. Hatred dripped from their eyes according to the Priestess of Pythian Apollo. Euripides gave them wings in another version of the story. Virgil also included wings for these chthonic figures. Snakes coiled around their heads in many descriptions. Propertius mentioned snakes wreathing equally in coils. Ovid wrote about a monster with black vipers in her mind. Statius described a hundred horned snakes erecting shade over a face. The skin distended and swelled with corruption during moments of wrath. A fiery vapour issued from an evil mouth bringing sickness and death. Day felt her presence while Night interposed a pitchy cloud. They wore dark robes whose fastenings met upon the breast. Atropos and Proserpine fashioned this garb anew for them.
Orestes stood before a jury of Athenian citizens on the Areopagus. Athena presided over the trial that followed his matricide. The Erinyes appeared as accusers demanding further blood vengeance. Apollo spoke in defense of the young man who killed Clytemnestra. The vote among jurors ended evenly split between guilt and innocence. Athena cast the deciding ballot for acquittal despite the tie. She declared Orestes free because she established specific rules for the trial. The goddesses threatened to poison the surrounding countryside if they were ignored. Athena offered them a new role as protectors of justice instead. She promised honor from citizens and reminded them of Zeus's thunderbolts. This mixture of bribes and veiled threats satisfied the ancient deities. They were led by Athena in a procession to their new abode. The Furies became known as Semnai or Venerable Ones thereafter.
Scholars found the name Erinys written in Mycenaean Greek script. It appears on tablets KN Fp 1, KN V 52, and KN Fh 390. These documents date back to the Bronze Age period of Greece. Robert Beekes suggested the word has Pre-Greek origins. Connections exist with verbs meaning to raise or stir up strife. The noun eris translates directly to conflict or struggle. Homer invoked them as Erinyes in the Iliad during an oath. Walter Burkert described them as an embodiment of self-cursing acts. The singular form Erinys functions as a theonym in early texts. Later sources used plural forms like E-ri-nu-we on clay records. Pausanias noted that Hesiod called them Erinyes while Athenians called them Semnai. Orphic Hymns refer to them as both Erinyes and Eumenides in separate stanzas.
A sanctuary dedicated to the goddesses stood near the Areopagus hill. Pausanias recorded that Athenians called this place home to the August ones. Sacrifices were offered by citizens and aliens alike at this site. Images of Pluto, Hermes, and Earth appeared within the shrine walls. No terrible features adorned these statues according to ancient observers. The Orphic Hymns contain two stanzas regarding the Erinyes specifically. Hymn 68 invokes Tisiphone, Alecto, and Megara dire from deep caverns. Nightly profound retreats hide them where Styx flows impervious to sight. They dwell endued with various forms in deepest hell. Hymn 69 addresses them as illustrious Furies mighty named. Their piercing sight surveys deeds of all the impious kind. Dark-coloured queens wander in the night with snaky tresses. Eternal rulers bring revenge and tortures dire to human sight.
Homer mentioned the Erinyes in the Iliad during a formulaic oath. Virgil recognized three specific names: Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. He worked from an Alexandrian source when writing the Aeneid. Dante Alighieri followed Virgil's triptych structure in Canto IX of Inferno. Poets confronted the gates of Dis under the watchful eyes of these goddesses. Euripides equated Erinyes with Eumenides for the first time in Orestes. This ironic name avoided attracting their attention directly. Plutarch noted that Hades was styled Pluto meaning Rich One. The Roman writer Servius Honoratus wrote they were called Eumenides in hell. Furiae appeared on Earth while Dirae existed in heaven according to his commentary. Pausanias described scenes where Clytemnestra tried to awaken sleeping figures. William-Adol Bouguereau painted Remorse of Orestes surrounded by Erinyes in 1862. These artistic depictions show how the figure evolved over centuries.
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Common questions
Who were the Erinyes in Greek mythology?
The Erinyes were chthonic female deities of vengeance born from the blood of Uranus when Cronus castrated him. Hesiod wrote that this event occurred when Cronus struck his father with a sickle, and Apollodorus confirmed this lineage in later accounts.
What are the three standard names of the Erinyes?
Three names became standard for these goddesses: Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. Virgil recognized these specific names when writing the Aeneid, and Dante Alighieri followed this triptych structure in Canto IX of Inferno.
When did the trial of Orestes take place on the Areopagus?
Orestes stood before a jury of Athenian citizens on the Areopagus after killing Clytemnestra to avenge Agamemnon. Athena presided over the trial and cast the deciding ballot for acquittal despite an evenly split vote among jurors.
Where is the sanctuary dedicated to the Erinyes located near Athens?
A sanctuary dedicated to the goddesses stood near the Areopagus hill where Pausanias recorded that Athenians called this place home to the August ones. Images of Pluto, Hermes, and Earth appeared within the shrine walls without terrible features according to ancient observers.
How does the name Erinys relate to Mycenaean Greek script?
Scholars found the name Erinys written in Mycenaean Greek script on tablets KN Fp 1, KN V 52, and KN Fh 390 from the Bronze Age period of Greece. Robert Beekes suggested the word has Pre-Greek origins connected with verbs meaning to raise or stir up strife.
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25 references cited across the entry
- 1webErinyesRandom House
- 6inlineHesiod, Theogony 173–206.
- 7inlineApollodorus, 1.1.4.
- 10bookGriechisches Etymologisches Worterbuch Band 1Hjalmar Frisk — Carl Winter Universitätsverlag — 1960
- 13inlineAeschylus Eumenides 34-59
- 15bookLight and Darkness in Ancient Greek Myth and ReligionMenelaos Christopoulos — Lexington Books — 2010
- 18inlineThe Orphic Hymns, Hymn 68
- 19inlineThe Orphic Hymns, Hymn 69
- 20journalTragedy and Transformation: The Oresteia of AeschylusRichard Trousdell — 2008
- 21journalAnonymity and Polarity: Unknown Gods and Nameless Altars at the AreopagosAlbert Henrichs — 1994
- 22journalThe Casting VoteD. A. Hester — 1981
- 23journalWhy the Oresteia's Sleeping Dead Won't Lie, Part II: "Choephoroi" and "Eumenides"Sarah Mace — 2004
- 24encyclopediaSuda
- 26bookCrowell's Handbook of Classical MythologyEdward Tripp — Thomas Y. Crowell Co. — June 1970