Erinyes: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Chthonic female deities of vengeance in Greek mythology}}

{{Greek myth (earth)}}

{{redirect|Furies|other uses|Furies (disambiguation)|text=Not to be confused with [[Furries]]}}

In [[Greek mythology]] the '''Erinyes''' (the Romans called them the '''Furies''') were female personifications of vengeance. They were usually said to have been born from the blood of [[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]] that fell upon [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]] when [[Cronus]] castrated him; i.e., they were chthonic (earth) deities. According to a variant account, they were born from [[Nyx]]. Their number is usually left indeterminate, though [[Virgil]], probably working from an [[Alexandria]]n source, recognized three; Alecto ("unceasing"), Megaera ("grudging"), and Tisiphone ("avenging murder"). The heads of the Erinyes were wreathed with serpents, their eyes dripped with blood, and their whole appearance was terrific and appalling. Sometimes they had the wings of a bat or the body of a dog.

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}

[[File:Klytaimnestra Erinyes Louvre Cp710.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Clytemnestra]] tries to awaken the sleeping Erinyes. Detail from an [[Apulian]] [[Red-figure pottery|red-figure]] bell-krater, 380–370 BC.]]

{{Greek underworld}}

{{Contains special characters |special=[[Linear B Syllabary|Linear B Unicode characters]] |fix=Help:Multilingual_support#Linear B |characters=Linear B}}

The '''Erinyes''' ({{IPAc-en|ɪ|ˈ|r|ɪ|n|i|.|iː|z}} {{respell|ih|RI|nee|eez}};<ref>{{cite web|title=Erinyes|website=Dictionary.com Unabridged|publisher=Random House|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/erinyes|access-date=12 September 2013}}</ref> {{langx|grc|[[wikt:Ἐρινύες|Ἐρινύες]]}}, {{singular}} {{lang|grc|Ἐρινύς}} {{lang|el-latn|Erinys}}),<ref>Lidell and Scott, ''s.v.'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=*)erinu/s Ἐρινύς]; <small>pronounced:</small> {{IPAc-en|ɪ|ˈ|r|ɪ|n|ɪ|s|,_|ɪ|ˈ|r|aɪ|n|ɪ|s}} {{respell|ih|RIN|iss|,_|ih|RY|niss}}</ref> also known as the '''Eumenides''' ({{lang|grc|Εὐμενίδες}}, the "Gracious ones"),{{efn|To avoid uttering their names, the ancient Greeks also used [[euphemistic]] titles, such as ''Eumenides'' in [[Sicyon]] and '''Semnai''' ({{lang|grc|Σεμναί}}), the "August ones”, in [[Athens]].<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Furies#ref152643 Furies], Encyclopedia Britannica, Retrieved 4 February 2025</ref>}} are [[chthonic]] [[goddess]]es of [[revenge|vengeance]] in [[ancient Greek religion]] and [[Greek mythology|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".<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:19.238-19.275 19.259&ndash;260]; see also ''Iliad'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.264-3.301 3.278&ndash;279].</ref> [[Walter Burkert]] suggests that they are "an embodiment of the act of self-cursing contained in the oath".<ref>Burkert, p. 198</ref> Their [[interpretatio romana|Roman counterparts]] are the '''Furies''',<ref>Grimal, s.v. Erinyes, p. 151.</ref> also known as the '''Dirae'''.<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Furies}}</ref> The Roman writer [[Maurus Servius Honoratus]] ({{circa|400}} AD) wrote that they are called "Eumenides" in hell, "Furiae" on Earth, and "Dirae" in heaven.<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], Commentary on [[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' 4.609.</ref><ref>[[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.</ref> Erinyes are akin to some other Greek deities, called [[Poenai]].<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=poena-bio-1 A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Poena]</ref>

Tisiphone fell in love with [[Cithaeron]]. She caused his death by snakebite, specifically, one of the snakes from her head.

According to [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Theogony]]'', when the [[Titan (mythology)|Titan]] [[Cronus]] castrated his father, [[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]], and threw his genitalia into the sea, the Erinyes (along with the [[Giants (Greek mythology)|Giants]] and the [[Meliae]]) emerged from the drops of blood which fell on the Earth ([[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]]), while [[Aphrodite]] was born from the crests of sea foam.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+173 173&ndash;206].</ref> [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]] also reports this lineage.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D4 1.1.4].</ref> According to variant accounts, they are the daughters of [[Nyx]] ('Night'),<ref>[[Aeschylus]] ''[[Oresteia|Eumenides]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0006%3Acard%3D321 321]; [[Lycophron]] ''Alexandra'' 432; [[Ovid]] ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D4%3Acard%3D416 4.453.]</ref> while in Virgil's ''[[Aeneid]]'', they are daughters of [[Pluto (mythology)|Pluto]]<ref>"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 ).</ref> and Nox (the Roman name for Nyx).<ref>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.).</ref> In some accounts, they were the daughters of [[Eurynome]] (a name for Earth) and Cronus,<ref>[[Epimenides]] ap. [[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]] on Lycophron, 406</ref> or of Earth and [[Phorcys]] (i.e., the sea).<ref>Welcker Griech. Götterl''.'' 3.81</ref> In [[Orphic literature]], they are the daughters of Hades and [[Persephone]].<ref>West 1983, pp. 73&ndash;74; ''[[Orphic Hymns]] 70 to the Furies'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=rvSuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA151 4-5] (Athanassakis and Wolkow, pp. 56&ndash;57).</ref>

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 (parricide), 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 goddess [[Nike (mythology)| Nike]] filled a similar role. When not stalking victims on [[Earth]] the Furies were thought to dwell in [[Tartarus]] where they applied their tortures to the damned souls there.

Their number is usually left indeterminate. [[Virgil]], probably working from an [[Alexandria]]n 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 (Dante)|Inferno]],'' they confront the poets at the gates of the city of [[Dis (Divine Comedy)|Dis]]. Whilst the Erinyes were usually described as three maiden goddesses, "Telphousia" (a name for Erinys) was a byname for the wrathful goddess [[Demeter]], who was worshipped under the title of Erinys in the [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadian]] town of [[Thelpusa]].

The Erinyes are particularly known for the persecution of [[Orestes (mythology)|Orestes]] for the murder of his mother, [[Clytemnestra]]. Since [[Athena]] had told Orestes to kill the murderer of his father, [[Agamemnon]], and that person turned out to be his mother, Orestes prayed to her. Athena intervened and the Erinyes turned into the ''Eumenides'' ("kind-hearted"), as they always did in their beneficial aspects.

==Etymology==

As a [[euphemism]], the Erinyes were known as [[Semnai]] ("the venerable ones").

The word ''Erinyes'' is of uncertain etymology; connections with the verb ὀρίνειν ''orinein'', "to raise, stir, excite", and the noun ἔρις ''[[Eris (mythology)|eris]]'', "strife" have been suggested;<ref>{{cite book |last1=Frisk |first1=Hjalmar |title=Griechisches Etymologisches Worterbuch Band 1 |date=1960 |publisher=Carl Winter Universitätsverlag |page=559 |url=https://archive.org/details/griechischesetym0001hjal/page/558/mode/2up |access-date=9 November 2024}}</ref> Robert Beekes suggests that the word probably has a [[Pre-Greek substrate|Pre-Greek origin]].<ref>Beeks pp.&nbsp;458&ndash;459.</ref> The word ''Erinys'' in the [[grammatical number|singular]] and as a [[theonym]] is first attested in [[Mycenaean Greek]], written in [[Linear B]], in the following forms: {{lang|gmy|{{script|Linb|𐀁𐀪𐀝}}}}, ''e-ri-nu'', and {{lang|gmy|{{script|Linb|𐀁𐀪𐀝𐀸}}}}, ''e-ri-nu-we''. These words are found on the [[Knossos|KN]] Fp 1, KN V 52,<ref>Chadwick, [https://archive.org/details/mycenaeanworld00chad/page/98 p. 98]: "Then comes a surprising figure: ''Erinus'', the later name, usually in the plural, for the Furies or avenging spirits believed to pursue murderers. The same name has now been deciphered on the edge of the famous list of Greek gods at Knossos (V 52) with which I began this chapter."</ref> and KN Fh 390 tablets.<ref>Chadwick, [https://archive.org/details/mycenaeanworld00chad/page/98 p. 98]: "Here we have another reference to ''Erinus'' (Fh 390)..."</ref>

==Description==

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

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 [[Xenia (Greek)|hosts to guests]], and of householders or city councils to suppliants—and to punish such crimes by hounding culprits relentlessly. The appearance of the Erinyes differs between sources, though they are frequently described as wearing black.<ref>Aeschylus, ''Libation Beaers'' 1048</ref> In Aesychlus' ''Eumenides,'' the Priestess of Pythian Apollo compares their monstrosity to that of the [[gorgons|gorgon]] and [[harpies]], but adds that they are wingless, with hatred dripping from their eyes.<ref>Aeschylus ''Eumenides'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0005%3Acard%3D34 34-59]</ref> [[Euripides]], on the other hand, gives them wings, as does Virgil.<ref>Euripides ''[Orestes (play)|Orestes]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0115%3Acard%3D316 317]; Virgil, ''Aeneid'' 12. 848</ref> They are often envisaged as having snakes in their hair.<ref>Virgil, ''Georgics'' 4. 471; Propertius, ''Elegies'' 3. 5; Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'' 4. 451.</ref>

The Erinyes are commonly associated with night and darkness. With varying accounts claiming that they are 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.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Christopoulos|first=Menelaos|title=Light and Darkness in Ancient Greek Myth and Religion|publisher=Lexington Books|year=2010|isbn=978-0-7391-3898-4|___location=Landham, MD|pages=134}}</ref>

[[Virgil]] VII, 324, 341, 415, 476.

Description of Tisiphone in [[Statius]]' [[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]:

----

<blockquote>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 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 (mythology)|Atlas]] shuddered and shifted the weight of heaven upon his trembling shoulders. Forthwith rising aloft from [[Cape Maleas|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 [[Atrax (Thessaly)|Atracian]] spells make travailing Phoebe redden through 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, the one gleaming with a funeral torch, the other lashing the air with a live water-snake.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/StatiusThebaidI.php#anchor_Toc337135243|title = Statius (C.45–c.96) - Thebaid: Book I}}</ref>

In DC Comics, The Furies are invoked in the ninth collection of [[The_Sandman_(DC_Comics_Modern_Age)|The Sandman]], [[The_Kindly_Ones_(Sandman)|The Kindly Ones]] by Hipployta Hall. She mistakenly believed that [[Dream (Sandman)|Dream]] had kidnapped her baby, and she summoned the Furies, or the Kindly Ones, as they are known in the Sandman mythos, in a desperate attempt to recover the child.

</blockquote>

[[File:Altemps, sleeping Erinyes 01.JPG|alt=A bust of the head of an Erinyes, asleep and laying on her side. She has human features and normal hair.|thumb|Altemps, sleeping Erinyes]]

[[Category:Greek goddesses]][[Category:Vengeance goddesses]]

[[de:Erinnyen]] [[fr:Érinyes]] [[nl:Erinyen]]

==Cult==

[[File:Shrine_of_Erinyes_under_Areopagus,_080655.jpg|alt=Image of the site of a shrine to the Erinyes in Athens.|thumb|Shrine of Erinyes under Areopagus, Athens|left]]

[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] describes a sanctuary in Athens dedicated to the Erinyes under the name Semnai:<blockquote>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 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.</blockquote> The ''[[Orphic Hymns]]'', a collection of 87 religious poems as translated by Thomas Taylor, contains two stanzas regarding the Erinyes. Hymn 68 refers to them as the Erinyes, while hymn 69 refers to them as the Eumenides.<ref>Orphic Hymns: Classical Texts [https://www.theoi.com/Text/OrphicHymns1.html Library]</ref>

'''Hymn 68, to the Erinyes:'''

<blockquote>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 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.<ref>The Orphic Hymns, Hymn [https://www.theoi.com/Text/OrphicHymns2.html#68 68]</ref></blockquote>'''Hymn 69, to the Eumenides:'''<blockquote>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 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.<ref>The Orphic Hymns, Hymn [https://www.theoi.com/Text/OrphicHymns2.html#69 69]</ref></blockquote>

==In ancient Greek literature==

[[File:Orestes Delphi BM GR1917.12-10.1.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Orestes]] at [[Delphi]], flanked by [[Athena]] and [[Pylades]], among the Erinyes and [[priest]]esses of the [[oracle]]. [[Paestum|Paestan]] [[Red-figure pottery|red-figure]] bell-krater, c. 330 BC.]]

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]].

===Aeschylus===

Featured in ancient Greek literature, from poems to plays, the Erinyes form the Chorus and play a major role in the conclusion of [[Aeschylus]]'s dramatic trilogy the ''[[Oresteia]]''. In the first play, ''[[Oresteia#Agamemnon|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, ''[[Oresteia#The Libation Bearers|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 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.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Trousdell|first1=Richard|title=Tragedy and Transformation: The Oresteia of Aeschylus|journal=Jung Journal|volume=2|issue=3|pages=5–38|jstor=10.1525/jung.2008.2.3.5|doi=10.1525/jung.2008.2.3.5|year=2008|s2cid=170372385}}</ref> Because of this, he is pursued and tormented by the terrible Erinyes, who demand yet further blood vengeance.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Henrichs|first1=Albert|title=Anonymity and Polarity: Unknown Gods and Nameless Altars at the Areopagos|journal=Illinois Classical Studies|volume=19|pages=27–58|jstor=23065418|year=1994}}</ref>

[[File:Deux furies.png|thumb|left|upright|Two Furies, from a nineteenth-century book reproducing an image from an ancient vase.]]

In ''[[Oresteia#The Eumenides|The Eumenides]]'', Orestes is told by Apollo at [[Delphi]] that he should go to [[Athens]] to seek 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 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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Hester|first1=D. A.|title=The Casting Vote|journal=The American Journal of Philology|volume=102|issue=3|pages=265–274|jstor=294130|year=1981|doi=10.2307/294130}}</ref> Despite the verdict, the Erinyes threaten to torment all inhabitants of Athens and to poison the surrounding countryside. Athena, however, offers the ancient goddesses 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 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.<ref name="auto2">{{Cite journal|last1=Mace|first1=Sarah|title=Why the Oresteia's Sleeping Dead Won't Lie, Part II: "Choephoroi" and "Eumenides"|journal=The Classical Journal|volume=100|issue=1|pages=39–60|jstor=4133005|year=2004}}</ref>

===Euripides===

In [[Euripides]]' ''[[Orestes (play)|Orestes]]'' the Erinyes are for the first time "equated" with the 'Eumenides'<ref>Gantz, p. 832.</ref> (Εὐμενίδες, pl. of Εὐμενίς; literally "the gracious ones", but also translated as "Kindly Ones").<ref>{{cite encyclopedia| title = [[Suda]]| script-quote = el:Ἄλλα δ' ἀλλαχοῦ καλά· παρόσον τὰς Εὐμενίδας ἄλλοι ἄλλως καλοῦσιν. ἄλλα οὖν ὀνόματα παρ' ἄλλοις καλὰ νομίζονται, παρ' ἡμῖν δὲ ταῦτα, τὸ ὀνομάζειν αὐτὰς Εὐμενίδας κατ' εὐφημισμόν, τὰς Ἐριννύας.| trans-quote = Inasmuch as different men call the Eumenides by different names. So other names are judged good by other people, but we prefer to call them Eumenides ''[Favoring Ones]'' by euphemism instead of Erinnyes ''[Furies]''.}}</ref> This is because it was considered [[Noa-name|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".<ref>Graves, Pp. 122–123.</ref> Using [[euphemisms]] for the names of deities serves many religious purposes.{{Citation needed|date=August 2025}}

[[File:Orestes Pursued by the Furies by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1862) - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''The Remorse of [[Orestes]]'', where he is surrounded by the Erinyes, by [[William-Adolphe Bouguereau]], 1862]]

==Notes==

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

==References==

* [[Aeschylus]], "[[Oresteia]]". Trans. Lloyd-Jones. Lines 788–1047.

* [[Robert S. P. Beekes|Beekes, Robert S. P.]] (2009), ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Leiden: E.J. Brill.

* [[Walter Burkert|Burkert, Walter]], 1977 (tr. 1985). ''Greek Religion'' (Harvard University Press).

* {{cite book|last1=Chadwick|first1=John|title=The Mycenaean World|date=1976|publisher=Cambridge University Press|___location=Cambridge, England|isbn=978-0-521-29037-1|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/mycenaeanworld00chad}}

* {{cite book |last1=Frisk |first1=Hjalmar |title=Griechisches Etymologisches Worterbuch Band 1 |date=1960 |publisher=Carl Winter Universitätsverlag |url=https://archive.org/details/griechischesetym0001hjal/page/558/mode/2up |access-date=9 November 2024}}

* [[Timothy Gantz|Gantz, Timothy]], ''Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5360-9}} (Vol. 1), {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5362-3}} (Vol. 2).

* [[Robert Graves|Graves, Robert]]; ''[[The Greek Myths]]'', Moyer Bell Ltd; Unabridged edition (December 1988), {{ISBN|0-918825-80-6}}.

* [[Pierre Grimal|Grimal, Pierre]], ''The Dictionary of Classical Mythology'', Malden, Oxford, and Carlton, Blackwell Publishing, 1986. {{ISBN|0631201025}}. [https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas0000grim/page/n3/mode/2up Internet Archive].

*[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]''. trans. Hugh G. Evelyn-White. 1914. Lines 176–206. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D173 Online Text: Perseus Project. Tufts University.]

* [[Homer]], ''The Iliad with an English Translation by A. T. Murray, PhD in Two Volumes''. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].

* [[Henry George Liddell|Liddell, Henry George]], [[Robert Scott (philologist)|Robert Scott]]. ''[[A Greek-English Lexicon]]''. Revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1940. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=E61EDD48E4F1A22F839AA4DC149C0955?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.04.0057 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]

* Littleton, Scott. ''Gods, Goddesses, and Mythology, Volume 4''. Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2005. Google Book Search. Web. 24 October 2011.

* [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes.'' Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+1.1.1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].

* Scull, S. A. ''Greek Mythology Systematized''. Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1880. Print.

* [[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' vii, 324, 341, 415, 476.

* Wilk, Stephen R. ''Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Google Book Search. Web. 24 October 2011.

==External links==

{{commons category|Erinyes}}

* [http://www.theoi.com/Khthonios/Erinyes.html The Theoi Project, "The Erinyes"]

* [https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/category/vpc-taxonomy-000327 The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (images of Furies)]

{{Greek religion|state=collapsed}}

{{Greek mythology (deities)|state=collapsed}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Erinyes| ]]

[[Category:Greek underworld]]

[[Category:Greek goddesses]]

[[Category:Justice goddesses]]

[[Category:Vengeance goddesses]]

[[Category:Children of Gaia]]

[[Category:Deities in the Iliad]]

[[Category:Characters in the Odyssey]]

[[Category:Metamorphoses characters]]

[[Category:Children of Hades]]

[[Category:Children of Nyx]]

[[Category:Children of Persephone]]

[[Category:Underworld goddesses]]

[[Category:Gnostic deities]]

[[Category:Avian humanoids]]

[[Category:Chthonic beings]]

[[Category:Residents of the Greek underworld]]