Erinyes

Erinys is named in offering lists on at least two Linear B tablets from Knossos. We do not know how much, if any, of the Mycenaean goddess’ personality persisted in the Erinys and plural Erinyes of later centuries, but an Arkadian worderinu(), “to be angry,” seems to be derived from her name. Anger is also an important component in the personality of Arkadian Demeter Erinys, a descendant of the Mycenaean goddess.35 The Homeric Erinyes (or Erinys), who inhabit the underworld (II. 9.571-72, 19.259, etc.), are concerned with the punishment of deviant behavior, especially transgressions of filial duty and respect. Outraging a parent, committing a murder of a blood relative, or breaking an oath were all actions that aroused the anger and merciless pursuit of the goddesses. Both dead and living relatives, especially mothers, were thought to have the power to awake the Erinyes through curses. Although by nature inimical to the processes by which the claims of the family and blood ties give way to the demands of larger social groups, they were successfully integrated into polis religion. This process is memorialized in Aeschylus’ Eumenides, which shows how the goddesses’ enduring powers could be harnessed for the benefit of the state through a program of propitiation.

In local cult contexts, the Panhellenic name “Erinyes” was assiduously avoided in favor of euphemistic titles.36 The Athenians consistently used the name Semnai Theai (Revered Goddesses) in their principal cult, an ancient observance that was closely related to the Council of the Areopagos. A relic of Athens’ earliest constitution, the Council lost most of its political clout by Solon’s day but remained highly respected as the court before which homicides were tried. The abode of the Semnai Theai was a chasm beside the Areios pagos (Hill of Ares), where according to legend the goddesses were persuaded to descend after their unsuccessful prosecution of the matricide Orestes. We learn from the Attic orators and their scholiasts that legal proceedings were limited to the last three days of the month, which were sacred to the three Semnai Theai (and inauspicious days for any other business to be carried out). Each party at the start of a trial took a solemn oath over the cut pieces of a boar, a ram, and a bull, calling down ruin on himself and his descendants if he lied. When a man was acquitted of murder, sacrifice to the Semnai Theai was required to satisfy their anger. The Athenians also conducted an annual torchlight procession for the goddesses, in which the family of the Hesychidai (the “silent ones,” referring to the solemn silence kept during the proceedings) played a leading role. The women of the Hesychidai formed a college of priestesses attending the goddesses. Other citizens, of whom the orator Demosthenes was one, were also selected to serve as hieropoioi (doers of sacred things). Wine was excluded from the worship (a feature typical of old chthonian cults), and offerings consisted of cakes and libations of milk or honey. The grove of the Eumenides (Kindly Ones) in the Athenian town of Kolonos, associated with the hero Oedipus, hosted an independent cult of the goddesses (who were also locally known as Semnai Theai) with its own unique rituals. Both sanctuaries were known as places where suppliants could find refuge.37

Worship of the Eumenides and similar goddesses was widespread in the Peloponnese, where it was associated with Orestes, or less often, Oedipus. Near Megalopolis in Arkadia was a sanctuary of the Maniai (Crazes), who maddened Orestes until he bit off his own finger. This is an extreme form of expiation, the sacrifice of an expendable body part. The satisfied goddesses, who had previously appeared black, now turned white and Orestes, recovered from his madness, established the custom of sacrifice to each group, enagismos to the black and thusia to the white. That the sanctuary was located in a place called Ake (cure) suggests that people sought healing there, perhaps for mental illnesses.38 Material evidence of an Argive cult exists in the form of several votive reliefs dedicated to the Eumenides. One, inscribed as a thank offering, shows three benevolent-looking goddesses, each holding a flower in the left hand and a snake in the right. They are greeted by a couple approaching from the right side of the relief. These dedications from the fourth century illustrate a more personal, family-oriented cult practice, and show how the actual worship of these goddesses invariably focused not on their dark and threatening aspects, but on the benefits they could provide if properly appeased.39

OTHER PANHELLENIC DEITIES Further reading

Harrison 1977a, b reconstructs the interior sculptures of the splendidly preserved temple to Hephaistos in the Athenian agora, while Faraone 1987 shows how the myths of Hephaistos as a maker of talismanic statues reflect ritual practices in the Near East. Vernant 1983a, a classic article, uses structuralist analysis to define Hestia in relation to Hermes. Marinatos 1996 reexamines the traditional identification of the Kretan cave at Amnisos as the shrine of Eileithyia. Johnston 1999 (203-87) includes the fullest recent discussions of Hekate and the Erinyes.