Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

ERINYES (Lat. Furiae)

Online Encyclopedia

Originally appearing in Volume V09, Page 745 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.

Encyclopedia Home :: EMS-EUD

Spread the word:

del.icio.us it!

See also:

ERINYES (Lat. Furiae)

ERINYES (See also:
LAT
Lat. Furiae) , in See also:

Greek See also:

MYTHOLOGY

mythology, the avenging deities, properly the angry goddesses or goddesses of the curse pronounced upon evil-doers. According to See also:

HESIOD

Hesiod (Theog. 185) they were the daughters of See also:

Earth, and sprang from the See also:

BLOOD

blood of the mutilated See also:

Uranus; in See also:

AESCHYLUS (525–456 B.c.)

Aeschylus (Eum. 321) they are the daughters of See also:

NIGHT

Night, in See also:

SOPHOCLES (495-406 B.c.)

Sophocles (O.C. 40) of Darkness and Earth. Sometimes one Erinys is mentioned, sometimes several; See also:

EURIPIDES (48o–4o6 B.C.)

Euripides first spoke of them as three in number, to whom later Alexandrian writers gave the names Alecto (unceasing in anger), Tisiphone (avenger of See also:

MURDER

murder), Megaera (jealous). Their See also:

home is the See also:

WORLD

world below, whence they ascend to earth to pursue the wicked. They punish all offences against the See also:

LAWS

laws of human society, such as See also:

PERJURY (through the Anglo-Fr. perjurie, modern parjure, Lat. perjurium, a false oath, perjurare, to swear falsely)

perjury, violation of the See also:

RITES

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 See also:

CRIME (Lat. crimen, accusation)

crime they are ready to forgive. Thus, their persecution of See also:

ORESTES

Orestes ceases after his acquittal by the See also:

AREOPAGUS ("Apews Ilayos)

Areopagus.

It is said that on this occasion they were first called See also:

EUMENIDES (from Gr. evµevtits, kindly; di, well, and jAvos, disposition)

Eumenides (" the kindly "), a euphemistic variant of their real name. At See also:

Athens, however, where they had a See also:

SANCTUARY (from the late Lat. sanctuarium, a sacred place)

sanctuary at the See also:

FOOT

foot of the Areopagus See also:

hill and a sacred See also:

grove at Colonus, their See also:

REGULAR

regular name was Semnae (See also:

VENERABLE (Lat. venerabilis, worthy of reverence, venerari, to reverence, to worship, allied to Venus, love; the Indo-Germ. root is wen-, to desire, whence Eng. " win, properly to struggle for, hence to gain)

venerable). See also:

Black See also:

sheep were sacrificed to them during the night by the See also:

LIGHT

light of torches. A festival was held in their See also:

HONOUR (Lat. honos or lwnor, honoris; in English the word was spelled with or without the u indifferently until the 17th century, but during the 18th century it became fashion-able to spell the word " honor "; Johnson's and Webster's Dictionaries stereoty

honour every See also:

YEAR

year, superintended by a See also:

SPECIAL

special priesthood, at which the offerings consisted of See also:

MILK (0. Eng. meoluc; from a common Indo-European root, cf. Lat. mulgere, Gr. ?t dXyetv)

milk and See also:

HONEY (Chin. me ; Sansk. madhu, mead, honey; cf. A.S. medo, medu, mead; Gr. p Xt, in which 0 or b is changed into X; Lat. mel ; Fr. miel ; A.S. hung ; Ger. Honig)

honey mixed with See also:

WATER

water, but no See also:

WINE (Lat. vinum, Gr. oivos)

wine. In Aeschylus, the Erinyes are represented as awful, See also:

GORGON, GORGONS (Gr. Popyc'o, Fopyoves, the "terrible," or, according to some, the " loud-roaring ")

Gorgon-like See also:

WOMEN

women, wearing See also:

long black See also:

ROBES (Fr. robe, Late Lat. roba, raupa, meaning (1)

robes, with snaky locks, bloodshot eyes and claw-like nails. Later, they are winged maidens of serious aspect, in the garb of huntresses, with See also:

SNAKES

snakes or torches in their See also:

HAIR (a word common to Teutonic languages)

hair, carrying scourges, torches or See also:

SICKLES, DANIEL EDGAR (1825– )

sickles. The See also:

IDENTIFICATION (Lat. idem, the same)

identification of Erinyes with See also:

SANSKRIT

Sanskrit Saranyu, the See also:

swift-speeding See also:

storm See also:

CLOUD (from the same root, if not the same word, as " clod," a word common in various forms to Teutonic languages for a mass or lump; it is first applied in the usual sense in the late 13th century; the Anglo-Saxon chid is only used in the sense of " a ma

cloud, is rejected by See also:

MODERN

modern etymologists; according to M. See also:

BREAL, MICHEL JULES ALFRED (1832— )

Breal, the Erinyes are the personification of the See also:

formula of imprecation (apa), while E. Rohde See also:

SEES

sees in them the See also:

SPIRITS

spirits of the dead, the angry souls of murdered men. See C. 0. See also:

Muller, See also:

DISSERTATIONS

Dissertations on the Eumenides of Aeschylus, (Eng. tr., 1835) ; A.

Rosenberg, See also:

Die Erinyen (1874) ; J. E. See also:

Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek See also:

Religion (1903); and See also:

Journal of Hellenic Studies, six. p. 205, according to whom the Erinyes were primarily See also:

LOCAL

local ancestral ghosts, potent for See also:

GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good or evil after See also:

DEATH

death, earth genii, originally conceived as embodied in the See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form of snakes, whose See also:

PRIMITIVE

primitive haunt and sanctuary was the omphalos at See also:

DELPHI (the Pytho of Homer and Herodotus; in Boeotian inscriptions BeA4oi, on coins Aa)tg5oi)

Delphi; E. Rohde, See also:

PSYCHE (//vxi7)

Psyche (1903); A. Rapp in See also:

ROSCHER, WILHELM GEORG FRIEDRICH (1817–1894)

Roscher's Lexikon der Mythologie, and J. A. Hild in Daremberg and Saglin's Dictionnaire See also:

des antiquites, s. v. FURIAE.

End of Article: ERINYES (Lat. Furiae)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.

» Add information or comments to this article.

Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.

Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
ERINNA

[next]
ERIPHYLE