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56-577: The Arae are sometimes identified with the Erinyes . "[She] is exceedingly angry with her father, and in her affliction she makes supplication to the nether-world Arai (Curses), poor wretch, that he complete a bitter and accursed old age for keeping his daughter alone indoors and preventing her from marrying, although the hair will turn white on her head." "We (the Erinyes) are the eternal children of Nyx (Night). We are called Arai (Arae, Curses) in our homes beneath

112-430: A genealogy (probably Orphic) which perhaps reflected an attempt to reconcile this apparent divergence between Homer and Hesiod, with Uranus and Gaia as the parents of Oceanus and Tethys, and Oceanus and Tethys as the parents of Cronus and Rhea and the other Titans. In Roman mythology, Uranus's counterpart was Caelus (Sky). Cicero says Caelus was the offspring of Aether and Dies (Day), and that Caelus and Dies were

168-453: A messenger bringing the news of his own death to Clytemnestra. He then slays his mother and her lover Aegisthus . Although Orestes' actions were what Apollo had commanded him to do, Orestes has still committed matricide, a grave sacrilege. Because of this, he is pursued and tormented by the terrible Erinyes, who demand yet further blood vengeance. In The Eumenides , Orestes is told by Apollo at Delphi that he should go to Athens to seek

224-463: A new role, as protectors of justice, rather than vengeance, and of the city. She persuades them to break the cycle of blood for blood (except in the case of war, which is fought for glory, not vengeance). While promising that the goddesses will receive due honor from the Athenians and Athena, she also reminds them that she possesses the key to the storehouse where Zeus keeps the thunderbolts that defeated

280-797: A savage veil, severe and strong, Terrific virgins, who forever dwell endu'd with various forms, in deepest hell; Aerial, and unseen by human kind, and swiftly coursing, rapid as the mind. In vain the Sun with wing'd refulgence bright, in vain the Moon, far darting milder light, Wisdom and Virtue may attempt in vain; and pleasing, Art, our transport to obtain Unless with these you readily conspire, and far avert your all-destructive ire. The boundless tribes of mortals you descry, and justly rule with Right's [Dike's] impartial eye. Come, snaky-hair'd, Fates [Moirai] many-form'd, divine, suppress your rage, and to our rites incline. Hymn 69, to

336-593: Is associated with the Roman god Caelus . Most linguists trace the etymology of the name Οὐρανός to a Proto-Greek form *Worsanós ( Ϝορσανός ), enlarged from * ṷorsó- (also found in Greek οὐρέω ( ouréō ) 'to urinate', Sanskrit varṣá 'rain', Hittite ṷarša- 'fog, mist'). The basic Indo-European root is *ṷérs- 'to rain, moisten' (also found in Greek eérsē 'dew', Sanskrit várṣati 'to rain', or Avestan aiβi.varəšta 'it rained on'), making Ouranos

392-699: Is however identified on the Gigantomachy frieze on the Pergamon Altar , bearded and winged, fighting against the Giants with a sword, not too far from his daughter Themis, who is seen attacking another Giant. After his castration, the Sky came no more to cover the Earth at night, but held to its place, and, according to Carl Kerényi , "the original begetting came to an end". Uranus was scarcely regarded as anthropomorphic, aside from

448-559: Is of uncertain etymology; connections with the verb ὀρίνειν orinein , "to raise, stir, excite", and the noun ἔρις eris , "strife" have been suggested; Robert Beekes suggests that the word probably has a Pre-Greek origin . The word Erinys in the singular and as a theonym is first attested in Mycenaean Greek , written in Linear B , in the following forms: 𐀁𐀪𐀝 , e-ri-nu , and 𐀁𐀪𐀝𐀸 , e-ri-nu-we . These words are found on

504-597: Is that the Iranian supreme God Ahura Mazda is a development of the Indo-Iranian *vouruna-*mitra . Therefore, this divinity has also the qualities of Mitra , which is the god of the falling rain. Uranus is connected with the night sky, and Váruṇa is the god of the sky and the celestial ocean, which is connected with the Milky Way. Georges Dumézil made a cautious case for the identity of Uranus and Vedic Váruṇa at

560-568: Is the personification of the sky and one of the Greek primordial deities . According to Hesiod , Uranus was the son and husband of Gaia (Earth), with whom he fathered the first generation of Titans . However, no cult addressed directly to Uranus survived into classical times , and Uranus does not appear among the usual themes of Greek painted pottery . Elemental Earth, Sky, and Styx might be joined, however, in solemn invocation in Homeric epic . Uranus

616-530: Is the sky god. His son Kumarbis bit off his genitals and spat out three deities, one of whom, Teshub , later deposed Kumarbis. It is possible that Uranus was originally an Indo-European god, to be identified with the Vedic Váruṇa , the supreme keeper of order who later became the god of oceans and rivers, as suggested by Georges Dumézil , following hints in Émile Durkheim , The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912). Another of Dumézil's theories

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672-759: 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 . The word Erinyes

728-651: The Cyclopes : Brontes, Steropes and Arges ; and the Hecatoncheires ("Hundred-Handed Ones"): Cottus, Briareus, and Gyges. Further, according to the Theogony , when Cronus castrated Uranus, from Uranus's blood, which splattered onto the earth, came the Erinyes (Furies), the Giants , and the Meliae . Also, according to the Theogony , Cronus threw the severed genitals into the sea, around which "a white foam spread" and "grew" into

784-796: The Eumenides (Εὐμενίδες, pl. of Εὐμενίς; literally "the gracious ones", but also translated as "Kindly Ones"). This is because it was considered unwise to mention them by name (for fear of attracting their attention); the ironic name is similar to how Hades , god of the dead is styled Pluton, or Pluto, "the Rich One". Using euphemisms for the names of deities serves many religious purposes. Uranus (mythology) In Greek mythology , Uranus ( / ˈ j ʊər ə n ə s / YOOR -ə-nəs , also / j ʊ ˈ r eɪ n ə s / yoo- RAY -nəs ), sometimes written Ouranos ( Ancient Greek : Οὐρανός , lit.   ' sky ', [uːranós] ),

840-545: The Eumenides (Εὐμενίδες) and Semnae (Σεμναί, “the dread ones”) and 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". Walter Burkert suggests that they are "an embodiment of

896-556: The KN Fp 1, KN V 52, and KN Fh 390 tablets. The Erinyes live in Erebus and are more ancient than any of the Olympian deities. Their task is to hear complaints brought by mortals against the insolence of the young to the aged, of children to parents, of hosts to guests , and of householders or city councils to suppliants—and to punish such crimes by hounding culprits relentlessly. The appearance of

952-449: The Meliae (the ash-tree nymphs ). From the genitals in the sea came forth Aphrodite . According to some accounts, the mythical Phaeacians , visited by Odysseus in the Odyssey , were also said to have sprung from the blood of Uranus's castration. Various sites have been associated with Cronus's sickle, and Uranus's castration. Two of these were on the island of Sicily . According to

1008-495: The goddess Aphrodite , although according to Homer , Aphrodite was the daughter of Zeus and Dione . Other sources give other genealogies. In the lost epic poem the Titanomachy , Uranus was apparently the son of Aether , while according to others Uranus was the son of one "Acmon". According to Orphic texts, Uranus (along with Gaia) was the offspring of Nyx (Night) and Phanes . The poet Sappho (c. 630 – c. 570 BC),

1064-423: The "leap" of the sickle being thrown into the sea at Drepanum. However, other sites were also associated with the sickle. The geographer Pausanias , reports that the sickle was said to have been thrown into the sea from the cape near Bolina , not far from Argyra on the coast of Achaea , and says that "For this reason they call the cape Drepanum ". The historian Timaeus located the sickle at Corcyra , which

1120-501: The "rain-maker", or the "lord of rain". A less likely etymology is a derivative meaning 'the one standing on high' from PIE * ṷérso- (cf. Sanskrit várṣman 'height, top', Lithuanian viršùs 'upper, highest seat', Russian verh 'height, top'). Of some importance in the comparative study of Indo-European mythology is the identification by Georges Dumézil (1934) of Uranus with the Vedic deity Váruṇa ( Mitanni Aruna ), god of

1176-551: The Alexandrian poet Callimachus (c. 270 BC), Cronus's sickle was buried at Zancle in Sicily, saying that it was "hidden in a hollow under the ground" there. The other Sicilian site is Drepanum (modern Trapani ), whose name is derived from the Greek word for "sickle". Another Alexandrian poet, Lycophron (c. 270 BC), mentions "rounding the Cronos' Sickle's leap", an apparent reference to

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1232-411: The Erinyes compared to the newer generation of Apollo and Athena. The jury vote is evenly split. Athena participates in the vote and chooses for acquittal. Athena declares Orestes acquitted because of the rules she established for the trial. Despite the verdict, the Erinyes threaten to torment all inhabitants of Athens and to poison the surrounding countryside. Athena, however, offers the ancient goddesses

1288-573: The Erinyes differs between sources, though they are frequently described as wearing black. In Aesychlus' Eumenides, the Priestess of Pythian Apollo compares their monstrosity to that of the gorgon and harpies , but adds that they are wingless, with hatred dripping from their eyes. Euripides , on the other hand, gives them wings, as does Virgil. They are often evisaged as having snakes in their hair. The Erinyes are commonly associated with night and darkness. With varying accounts claiming that they are

1344-793: The Erinyes form the Chorus and play a major role in the conclusion of Aeschylus 's dramatic trilogy the Oresteia . In the first play, Agamemnon , King Agamemnon returns home from the Trojan War , where he is slain by his wife, Clytemnestra , who wants vengeance for her daughter Iphigenia , whom Agamemnon had sacrificed to obtain favorable winds to sail to Troy. In the second play, The Libation Bearers , their son Orestes has reached manhood and has been commanded by Apollo 's oracle to avenge his father's murder at his mother's hand. Returning home and revealing himself to his sister Electra , Orestes pretends to be

1400-660: The Erinyes. Hymn 68 refers to them as the Erinyes, while hymn 69 refers to them as the Eumenides. Hymn 68, to the Erinyes: Vociferous Bacchanalian Furies [Erinyes], hear! Ye, I invoke, dread pow'rs, whom all revere; Nightly, profound, in secret who retire, Tisiphone, Alecto, and Megara dire: Deep in a cavern merg'd, involv'd in night, near where Styx flows impervious to the sight; Ever attendant on mysterious rites, furious and fierce, whom Fate's dread law delights; Revenge and sorrows dire to you belong, hid in

1456-769: The Erinys) [Erinys] that haunts this house (of the Atreides ), so hard to wrestle down: how far forward you look! Even what was laid well out of harm's way you bring down with your well-aimed shafts from far off, and you strip me of those I love (i.e. her lover and cohort in murder, Aigisthos ), utterly wretched as I am.'" "( Eteokles , King of Thebes , prays before the battle of the Seven Against Thebes:) 'O Zeus and Ge (Earth), and gods that guard our city, and Ara (Curse), potent agent of my father's Erinys (Vengeance), do not destroy my city, ripping it up from its foundations, captive of

1512-671: The Eumenides: Hear me, illustrious Furies [Eumenides], mighty nam'd, terrific pow'rs, for prudent counsel fam'd; Holy and pure, from Jove terrestrial [Zeus Khthonios](Hades) born and Proserpine [Phersephone], whom lovely locks adorn: Whose piercing sight, with vision unconfin'd, surveys the deeds of all the impious kind: On Fate attendant, punishing the race (with wrath severe) of deeds unjust and base. Dark-colour'd queens, whose glittering eyes, are bright with dreadful, radiant, life-destroying, light: Eternal rulers, terrible and strong, to whom revenge, and tortures dire belong; Fatal and horrid to

1568-543: The act of self-cursing contained in the oath". They correspond to the Dirae in Roman mythology . The Roman writer Maurus Servius Honoratus wrote (ca. AD 400) that they are called "Eumenides" in hell, "Furiae" on Earth, and "Dirae" in heaven. Erinyes are akin to some other Greek deities, called Poenai . According to Hesiod 's Theogony , when the Titan Cronus castrated his father, Uranus , and threw his genitalia into

1624-408: The aid of the goddess Athena . In Athens, Athena arranges for Orestes to be tried by a jury of Athenian citizens, with her presiding. The Erinyes appear as Orestes' accusers, while Apollo speaks in his defense. The trial becomes a debate about the necessity of blood vengeance, the honor that is due to a mother compared to that due to a father, and the respect that must be paid to ancient deities such as

1680-661: The black-hearted Styx (hold) you." "([In Sophocles ' Electra ] Electra says:) 'O house of Haides and Persephone! O Hermes Khthonios (Of the Underworld) and holy Ara (Curse) and divine Erinnyes (Furies)! You who watch over those dying unjustly and those being robbed of a marriage bed: Come! Help avenge the murder of our father!" Erinyes The Erinyes ( / ɪ ˈ r ɪ n i . iː z / ih- RI -nee-eez ; sing. Erinys / ɪ ˈ r ɪ n ɪ s , ɪ ˈ r aɪ n ɪ s / ih- RIN -iss, ih- RY -niss ; Ancient Greek : Ἐρινύες , pl. of Ἐρινύς ), also known as

1736-402: The clouds; suffused with venom, her skin distends and swells with corruption; a fiery vapour issues from her evil mouth, bringing upon mankind thirst unquenchable and sickness and famine and universal death. From her shoulders falls a stark and grisly robe, whose dark fastenings meet upon her breast: Atropos and Proserpine herself fashion her this garb anew. Then both her hands are shaken in wrath,

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1792-442: The daughters of Eurynome (a name for Earth) and Cronus, or of Earth and Phorcys (i.e. the sea). In Orphic literature , they are the daughters of Hades and Persephone . 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

1848-480: The daughters of Nyx , the goddess of night, they're also associated with darkness in the works of Aeschylus and Euripides in both their physical appearance and the time of day that they manifest. Description of Tisiphone in Statius ' Thebaid : So prayed he, and the cruel goddess turned her grim visage to hearken. By chance she sat beside dismal Cocytus , and had loosed the snakes from her head and suffered them to lap

1904-488: The discovery of a sixth planet in 1781 using a telescope, there was long-term disagreement regarding its name. Its discoverer William Herschel named it Georgium Sidus (The Georgian Star) after his monarch George III . This was the name preferred by English astronomers, but others such as the French preferred "Herschel". Finally, the name Uranus became accepted in the mid-19th century, as suggested by astronomer Johann Bode as

1960-497: The earliest Indo-European cultural level. Dumézil's identification of mythic elements shared by the two figures, relying to a great extent on linguistic interpretation, but not positing a common origin, was taken up by Robert Graves and others. The identification of the name Ouranos with the Hindu Váruṇa, based in part on a posited Proto-Indo-European language root *-ŭer with a sense of "binding"—ancient king god Váruṇa binds

2016-577: The earth." "Chorus: And it is the eternal rule that drops of blood spilled on the ground demand yet more blood. Murder cries out on the Erinys (Fury), which from those killed before brings one ruin in the wake of another. Orestes: Alas, you sovereign powers of the world below, behold, you potent Arai (Curses—i.e. the Erinyes) of the slain, behold the remnants of the line of Atreus in their helpless plight, cast out from house and home in dishonor. Which way can we turn, O Zeus ?" " Klytaimestra : 'O Ara (Curse—i.e.

2072-496: The enemy, a city that speaks in Greece's tongue, and do not destroy our hearths and homes.'" "Ah, you ( Oedipus ) have wreathed your race with many troubles! In the final outcome the Arai (Curses—i.e. the Erinyes) have raised their piercing cry, now that the family is turned to flight in all directions." "Arai kata oikhomenon (Curses on those who have passed away): Look under such [stones] of

2128-566: The genitalia in the castration myth. He was simply the sky, which was conceived by the ancients as an overarching dome or roof of bronze, held in place (or turned on an axis) by the Titan Atlas . In formulaic expressions in the Homeric poems ouranos is sometimes an alternative to Olympus as the collective home of the gods; an obvious occurrence would be the moment in Iliad 1.495, when Thetis rises from

2184-472: The gods was the actual Mount Olympus , from which the epic tradition by the time of Homer had transported them to the sky, ouranos . By the sixth century, when a "heavenly Aphrodite" ( Aphrodite Urania ) was to be distinguished from the "common Aphrodite of the people", ouranos signifies purely the celestial sphere itself. The Greek creation myth is similar to the Hurrian creation myth. In Hurrian religion Anu

2240-461: The human sight, with snaky tresses wand'ring in the night; Either approach, and in these rites rejoice, for ye, I call, with holy, suppliant voice. Myth fragments dealing with the Erinyes are found among the earliest extant records of ancient Greek culture. The Erinyes are featured prominently in the myth of Orestes , which recurs frequently throughout many works of ancient Greek literature . Featured in ancient Greek literature, from poems to plays,

2296-461: The images neither of these nor of any of the under-world deities is there anything terrible. There are images of Pluto, Hermes, and Earth, by which sacrifice those who have received an acquittal on the Hill of Ares; sacrifices are also offered on other occasions by both citizens and aliens. The Orphic Hymns , a collection of 87 religious poems as translated by Thomas Taylor, contains two stanzas regarding

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2352-706: The islanders claimed to be Phaeacia the island home of the Phaeacians, who (as noted above) were said to have been born from the blood of Uranus's castration. After his castration, Uranus recedes into the background. Apart from he and Gaia (now reconciled?) warning their son Cronus that he is destined to be overthrown by one of his children, advising their daughter Rhea , Cronus's wife, to go to Lyctus on Crete to give birth to Zeus, so that Zeus would be saved from Cronus, and advising Zeus to swallow his first wife Metis , so that Zeus would not in turn be overthrown by his son, Uranus plays no further role in Greek mythology. He

2408-473: The late Neolithic, before the onset of the Bronze Age . Such sickles may have survived latest in ritual contexts where metal was taboo, but the detail, which was retained by classical Greeks, suggests the antiquity of the mytheme . The ancient Greeks and Romans knew of only five "wandering stars" ( Ancient Greek : πλανῆται [planɛːtai̯] ): Mercury , Venus , Mars , Jupiter , and Saturn . Following

2464-640: The one gleaming with a funeral torch, the other lashing the air with a live water-snake. Pausanias describes a sanctuary in Athens dedicated to the Erinyes under the name Semnai: Hard by [the Areopagos the murder court of Athens] is a sanctuary of the goddesses which the Athenians call the August, but Hesiod in the Theogony calls them Erinyes (Furies). It was Aeschylus who first represented them with snakes in their hair. But on

2520-402: The other older deities. This mixture of bribes and veiled threats satisfies the Erinyes, who are then led by Athena in a procession to their new abode. In the play, the "Furies" are thereafter addressed as "Semnai" (Venerable Ones), as they will now be honored by the citizens of Athens and ensure the city's prosperity. In Euripides ' Orestes the Erinyes are for the first time "equated" with

2576-403: The parents of Mercury ( Hermes ). Hyginus says that, in addition to Caelus, Aether and Dies were also the parents of Terra (Earth), and Mare (Sea). As Hesiod tells the story, Gaia "first bore starry Heaven [Uranus], equal to herself, to cover her on every side, and to be an ever-sure abiding-place for the blessed gods." Then, with Gaia, Uranus produced eighteen children: the twelve Titans,

2632-450: The sea to plead with Zeus: "and early in the morning she rose up to greet Ouranos-and-Olympus and she found the son of Kronos ...". William Sale remarks that "... ' Olympus ' is almost always used [as the home of the Olympian gods ], but ouranos often refers to the natural sky above us without any suggestion that the gods, collectively, live there". Sale concluded that the earlier seat of

2688-473: 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. Pseudo-Apollodorus also reports this lineage. According to variant accounts they are the daughters of Nyx ("Night"), while in Virgil's Aeneid , they are daughters of Pluto ( Hades ) and Nox ( Nyx ). In some accounts, they were

2744-467: The severed testicles into the sea. Uranus's castration allowed the Titans to rule and Cronus to assume supreme command of the cosmos. For this "fearful deed", Uranus called his sons "Titans (Strainers) in reproach" and said that "vengeance for it would come afterwards." According to Hesiod, from the blood that spilled from Uranus onto the Earth came forth the Giants , the Erinyes (the avenging Furies), and

2800-640: The sky and waters, but the etymological equation is now considered untenable. In Hesiod's Theogony , which came to be accepted by the Greeks as the "standard" account, from Gaia (Earth), the first entity to come into existence after Chaos (Void), came Uranus, the Ourea (Mountains), and Pontus (Sea). Then, according to the Theogony , Uranus mated with Gaia, and she gave birth to the twelve Titans : Oceanus , Coeus , Crius , Hyperion , Iapetus , Theia , Rhea , Themis , Mnemosyne , Phoebe , Tethys and Cronus ;

2856-491: The sulphurous waters. Straightway, faster than fire of Jove or falling stars she leapt up from the gloomy bank: the crowd of phantoms gives way before her, fearing to meet their queen; then, journeying through the shadows and the fields dark with trooping ghosts, she hastens to the gate of Taenarus , whose threshold none may cross and again return. Day felt her presence, Night interposed her pitchy cloud and startled his shining steeds; far off towering Atlas shuddered and shifted

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2912-467: The three Cyclopes , and the three Hecatoncheires (Hundred-Handers), but hating them, he hid them away somewhere inside Gaia. Angry and in distress, Gaia fashioned a sickle made of adamant and urged her children to punish their father. Only her son Cronus, the youngest Titan, was willing to do so. So Gaia hid Cronus in "ambush", giving him the adamantine sickle, and when Uranus came to lie with Gaia, Cronus reached out and castrated his father, casting

2968-614: The three Hundred-Handers and the three Cyclopes , and there were thirteen original Titans, adding the Titanide Dione to Hesiod's list. Passages in a section of the Iliad called the Deception of Zeus suggest the possibility that Homer knew a tradition in which Oceanus and Tethys (rather than Uranus and Gaia, as in Hesiod) were the parents of the Titans. Plato , in his Timaeus , provides

3024-453: The weight of heaven upon his trembling shoulders. Forthwith rising aloft from Malea ’s vale she hies her on the well-known way to Thebes: for on no errand is she swifter to go and to return, not kindred Tartarus itself pleases her so well. A hundred horned snakes erect shaded her face, the thronging terror of her awful head; deep within her sunken eyes there glows a light of iron hue, as when Atracian spells make travailing Phoebe redden through

3080-512: The wicked, ancient king god Uranus binds the Cyclops, who had tormented him. The most probable etymology is from Proto-Greek *(W)orsanόj (worsanos) from a Proto-Indo-European language root *ers "to moisten, to drip" (referring to the rain). The detail of the sickle's being flint rather than bronze or even iron was retained by Greek mythographers (though neglected by Roman ones). Knapped flints as cutting edges were set in wooden or bone sickles in

3136-452: Was said to have made Uranus the father of Eros , by either Gaia, according one source, or Aphrodite , according to another. The mythographer Apollodorus , gives a slightly different genealogy from Hesiod's. Without mentioning any ancestors, he begins his account by saying simply that Uranus "was the first who ruled over the whole world." According to Apollodorus, the Titans (instead of being Uranus's firstborn as in Hesiod) were born after

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