Irlandos at 16:23, February 18, 2007

2007-02-18T16:23:25Z

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In [[Greek mythology]] the '''Erinyes''' (Ερινύες) or '''Eumenides''' (the Romans called them the '''Furies''') were female personifications of vengeance. When a formulaic oath in the ''[[Iliad]]'' (iii.278ff; xix.260ff) invokes "those who beneath the earth punish whoever has sworn a false oath. The Erinyes are simply an embodiment of the act of self-cursing contained in the oath" (Burkert 1985 p 198). They were usually said to have been born from the blood of [[Ouranos]] when [[Cronus]] castrated him. According to a variant account, they issued from an even more primordial level—from [[Nyx]], "Night". Their number is usually left indeterminate, though Virgil, probably working from an [[Alexandria]]n source, recognized three: [[Alecto]] ("unceasing," who appeared in Virgil's [[Aeneid]]), [[Megaera]] ("grudging"), and [[Tisiphone]] ("avenging murder"). The heads of the Erinyes were wreathed with serpents (compare [[Gorgon]]), their eyes dripped with blood, and their whole appearance was horrific and appalling. Sometimes they had the wings of a bat or bird, or the body of a dog.

==Erinyes in Mythology==

The Erinyes generally stood for the rightness of things within the standard order; for example, [[Heraclitus]] declared that if [[Helios]] decided to change the course of the Sun through the sky, they would prevent him from doing so. But for the most part they were understood as the persecutors of mortal men and women who broke "natural" laws. In particular, those who broke ties of kinship through patricide, murdering a brother (fratricide), or other such familial killings brought special attention from the Erinyes. It was believed in early epochs that human beings might not have the right to punish such crimes, instead leaving the matter to the dead man's Erinyes to exact retribution.

The Erinyes were connected with [[Nemesis (mythology)|Nemesis]] as enforcers of a just balance in human affairs. The goddess [[Nike]] originally filled a similar role, as the bringer of a ''just'' victory. When not stalking victims on Earth, the Furies were thought to dwell in [[Tartarus]], where they applied their tortures to the damned souls there.

The Erinyes are particularly known for the persecution of Orestes for the murder of his mother, [[Clytemnestra]]. Since [[Apollo]] had told [[Orestes]] to kill the murderer of his father, [[Agamemnon]], and that person turned out to be his mother, Orestes prayed to him. Athena intervened and the Erinyes turned into the ''Eumenides'' ("kindly ones"), as they were called in their beneficial aspects. The story of these events form the basis of the final play in [[Aeschylus]]' cycle ''[[The Oresteia#The Eumenides|The Oresteia]]''.

Many scholars believe that when they were originally referred to as the Eumenides it was not to reference their good sides but as a euphemism to avoid their wrath that would ensue from calling them by their true name. This taboo on speaking the names of certain uncanny spirits included [[Persephone]]; there are parallels in many cultures (for instance, the tendency to refer to faeries as "the fair folk" or "the little people"). The Erinyes might also be recognized as ''Semnai'' ("the venerable ones"), the ''Potniae'' ("the Awful Ones"), the ''Maniae'' ("the Madnesses") and the ''Praxidikae'' ("the Vengeful Ones").

Another myth says that the Erinyes struck the magical horse [[Balius and Xanthus|Xanthus]] dumb for rebuking [[Achilles]].

The Furies (their Roman name) or ''Dirae'' ("the terrible") typically had the effect of driving their victims insane, hence their Latin name ''furor''.

==See also==

*[[Nemesis (mythology)]]

==References==
*''[[Iliad]]'' xiv.274-9; xix.259f.
*Virgil, ''Aeneid'' vii, 324, 341, 415, 476.
*Burkert, Walter, 1977 (tr. 1985). ''Greek Religion'' (Harvard University Press)

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[[Category:Greek goddesses]]

Erinyes - Revision history

Irlandos at 16:23, February 18, 2007