Erinyes

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The Erinyes (/ɪˈrɪni.iːz/ ih-RIN-ee-eez; sing. Erinys /ɪˈrɪnɪs, ɪˈraɪnɪs/ ih-RIN-iss, ih-RY-niss;^[1] Ancient Greek: Ἐρινύες, pl. of Ἐρινύς),^[2] also known as the Eumenides (commonly known in English as the Furies), are chthonic goddesses of vengeance in ancient Greek religion and mythology. A formulaic oath in the Iliad invokes them as "the Erinyes, that under earth take vengeance on men, whosoever hath sworn a false oath".^[3] Walter Burkert suggests that they are "an embodiment of the act of self-cursing contained in the oath".^[4] They correspond to the Dirae in Roman mythology.^[5] The Roman writer Maurus Servius Honoratus wrote (ca. AD 400) that they are called "Eumenides" in hell, "Furiae" on Earth, and "Dirae" in heaven.^[6]^[7] Erinyes are akin to some other Greek deities, called Poenai.^[8]

According to Hesiod's Theogony, when the Titan Cronus castrated his father, Uranus, and threw his genitalia into the sea, the Erinyes (along with the Giants and the Meliae) emerged from the drops of blood which fell on the Earth (Gaia), while Aphrodite was born from the crests of sea foam.^[9] Pseudo-Apollodorus also reports this lineage.^[10] According to variant accounts they are the daughters of Nyx ("Night"),^[11] while in Virgil's Aeneid, they are daughters of Pluto (Hades)^[12] and Nox (Nyx).^[13] In some accounts, they were the daughters of Euronymè (a name for Earth) and Cronus,^[14] or of Earth and Phorcys (i.e. the sea).^[15] In Orphic literature, they are the daughters of Hades and Persephone.^[16]

Their number is usually left indeterminate. Virgil, probably working from an Alexandrian source, recognized three: Alecto or Alekto ("endless anger"), Megaera ("jealous rage"), and Tisiphone or Tilphousia ("vengeful destruction"), all of whom appear in the Aeneid. Dante Alighieri followed Virgil in depicting the same three-character triptych of Erinyes; in Canto IX of the Inferno they confront the poets at the gates of the city of Dis. Whilst the Erinyes were usually described as three maiden goddesses, the Erinys Telphousia was usually a byname for the wrathful goddess Demeter, who was worshipped under the title of Erinys in the Arkadian town of Thelpousa.

^ "Erinyes". Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
^ Lidell and Scott, s.v. Ἐρινύς
^ Homer, Iliad 19.259–260; see also Iliad 3.278–279.
^ Burkert, p. 198
^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Furies" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
^ Servius, Commentary on Virgil, Aeneid 4.609.
^ John Lemprière (1832). Lemprière's Classical Dictionary for Schools and Academies: Containing Every Name That Is Either Important or Useful in the Original Work, p. 150.
^ A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Poena
^ Hesiod, Theogony 173–206.
^ Pseudo-Apollodorus Library 1.1.4.
^ Aeschylus Eumenides 321; Lycophron Alexandra 432; Ovid Metamorphoses 4.453.
^ "When she had spoken these words, fearsome, she sought the Earth: and summoned Allecto, the grief-bringer, from the house of the Fatal Furies, from the infernal shadows: in whose mind are sad wars, angers and deceits, and guilty crimes. A monster, hated by her own father Pluto, hateful to her Tartarean sisters: she assumes so many forms, her features are so savage, she sports so many black vipers. Juno roused her with these words, saying: 'Grant me a favour of my own, virgin daughter of Night, this service, so that my honour and glory are not weakened, and give way, and the people of Aeneas cannot woo Latinus with intermarriage, or fill the bounds of Italy'" (Aeneid 7.323 - Verg. A. 7.334 ).
^ Men speak of twin plagues, named the Dread Ones, whom Night bore untimely, in one birth with Tartarean Megaera, wreathing them equally in snaky coils, and adding wings swift as the wind (Aeneid 12.845-12, 848ff.).
^ Epimenides ap. Tzetzes on Lycophron, 406
^ Welcker Griech. Götterl. 3.81
^ West 1983, pp. 73–74; Orphic Hymns 70 to the Furies 4-5 (Athanassakis and Wolkow, pp. 56–57).

[1] "Erinyes". Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House. Retrieved 12 September 2013.

[2] Lidell and Scott, s.v. Ἐρινύς

[3] Homer, Iliad 19.259–260; see also Iliad 3.278–279.

[4] Burkert, p. 198

[5] Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Furies" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

[6] Servius, Commentary on Virgil, Aeneid 4.609.

[7] John Lemprière (1832). Lemprière's Classical Dictionary for Schools and Academies: Containing Every Name That Is Either Important or Useful in the Original Work, p. 150.

[8] A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Poena

[9] Hesiod, Theogony 173–206.

[10] Pseudo-Apollodorus Library 1.1.4.

[11] Aeschylus Eumenides 321; Lycophron Alexandra 432; Ovid Metamorphoses 4.453.

[12] "When she had spoken these words, fearsome, she sought the Earth: and summoned Allecto, the grief-bringer, from the house of the Fatal Furies, from the infernal shadows: in whose mind are sad wars, angers and deceits, and guilty crimes. A monster, hated by her own father Pluto, hateful to her Tartarean sisters: she assumes so many forms, her features are so savage, she sports so many black vipers. Juno roused her with these words, saying: 'Grant me a favour of my own, virgin daughter of Night, this service, so that my honour and glory are not weakened, and give way, and the people of Aeneas cannot woo Latinus with intermarriage, or fill the bounds of Italy'" (Aeneid 7.323 - Verg. A. 7.334 ).

[13] Men speak of twin plagues, named the Dread Ones, whom Night bore untimely, in one birth with Tartarean Megaera, wreathing them equally in snaky coils, and adding wings swift as the wind (Aeneid 12.845-12, 848ff.).

[14] Epimenides ap. Tzetzes on Lycophron, 406

[15] Welcker Griech. Götterl. 3.81

[16] West 1983, pp. 73–74; Orphic Hymns 70 to the Furies 4-5 (Athanassakis and Wolkow, pp. 56–57).

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