Monday, October 17, 2005
The Furies / Erinyes
The Furies or, Erinyes, were the avenging deities, the angry goddesses of the curse pronounced upon evil-doers.
According to Hesiod they were the daughters of Earth, and sprang from the blood of the mutilated Uranus; in Aeschylus they are the daughters of Night, in Sophocles of Darkness and Earth.
Sometimes one Erinyes is mentioned, sometimes several. Euripides first spoke of them as three in number, to whom later Alexandrian writers gave the names Alecto (unceasing in anger), Tisiphone (avenger of murder), and Megaera (jealous).
Their home is the underworld, but they ascend to earth to pursue the wicked. They punish all offences against the laws of human society, such as perjury, violation of the rites of hospitality, and, above all, the murder of relations. But they are not without benevolent and beneficent attributes. When the sinner has expiated his crime they are ready to forgive.
Thus, their persecution of Orestes ceases after his acquittal by the Areopagus. It is said that on this occasion they were first called Eumenides ("the kindly"), a euphemistic variant of their real name.
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