Erinyes

"Furies" redirects here. For other uses, see Furies (disambiguation).

Two Furies, from a 19th-century book reproducing an image from an ancient vase.

In Greek mythology the Erinyes (/ɪˈrɪniˌiz/; Ἐρῑνύες [ῠ], pl. of Ἐρῑνύς [ῡ], Erinys; literally "the avengers" from Greek ἐρίνειν "pursue, persecute" [sometimes referred to as "infernal goddesses" (Greek χθόνιαι θεαί)]) were female chthonic deities of vengeance. A formulaic oath in the Iliad invokes them as "those who beneath the earth punish whosoever has sworn a false oath". Burkert suggests they are "an embodiment of the act of self-cursing contained in the oath". They correspond to the Furies or Dirae in Roman mythology.

According to Hesiod's Theogony, when the Titan Cronus castrated his father Uranus and threw his genitalia into the sea, the Erinyes emerged from the drops of blood, while Aphrodite was born from the crests of seafoam. According to variant accounts, they emerged from an even more primordial level—from Nyx, "Night". Their number is usually left indeterminate. Virgil, probably working from an Alexandrian source, recognized three: Alecto ("unnameable" who appeared in Virgil's Aeneid), Megaera ("grudging"), and Tisiphone ("vengeful destruction"). Dante followed Virgil in depicting the same three-charactered triptych of Erinyes; in Canto IX of the Inferno they confront the poets at the gates of the city of Dis. The waists of the Erinyes were entwined with serpents (compare Gorgon) and their eyes dripped with blood, rendering their appearance rather horrific. Other depictions show them with the wings of a bat or bird and the body of a dog.

In literature

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, who was sacrificed by Agamemnon in order 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 a messenger bringing the news of his own death to Clytemnestra. He then slays her and her lover Aegisthus. Although Orestes’ actions were what the god Apollo had commanded him to do, Orestes has still committed matricide. Because of this, he is pursued and tormented by the terrible Erinyes, who demand yet further blood vengeance. At Delphi, Orestes has been told by Apollo 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 herself 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 gods like 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 because, having been born of no woman, she always sides with the man. Athena declares Orestes acquitted. Despite the verdict, the Erinyes threaten to torment all of Athens' inhabitants 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 herself, she also reminds them that she possesses the key to the storehouse where Zeus keeps the thunderbolts that defeated the other older gods. This mixture of bribes and veiled threats satisfies the Erinyes, who are then led by Athena in a procession to their new abode. The "Furies" are now 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 they are for the first time "equated" with the Eumenides (Εὐμενίδες, pl. of Εὐμενίς; literally "the gracious ones" but also translated as "Kindly Ones").

In Sophocles's play, Oedipus at Colonus, it is significant that he comes to his final resting place in the grove dedicated to the Erinyes. It shows that he has paid his penance for his blood crimes, as well as come to integrate the balancing powers to his early over-reliance upon Apollo, the god of the individual, the sun, and reason. He is asked to make an offering to the Erinyes and complies, having made his peace.

References

• Aeschylus, "Oresteia" Trans. Lloyd-Jones. Lines 788–1047.
• Hesiod, Theogony Trans. Hugh G. Evelyn-White. 1914. Lines 176-206. Online Text: Perseus Project. Tufts University.
• Homer, Iliad xiv.274–9; xix.259f.
• Virgil, Aeneid vii, 324, 341, 415, 476.
• Burkert, Walter, 1977 (tr. 1985). Greek Religion (Harvard University Press).
• Scull, S A. Greek Mythology Systematized. Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1880. Print.
• Wilk, Stephen R. Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Google Book Search. Web. 24 October 2011.
• Littleton, Scott. Gods, Goddesses, and Mythology, Volume 4. Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2005. Google Book Search. Web. 24 October 2011.