Erinyes

### Summary

Goddesses of vengeance who torment humans who commit unforgivable sins and crimes.

The **Erinyes**, also known as the **Furies** and the **Dirae**, are Goddesses of Vengeance from Greco-Roman mythology. They are Hades' private torturers and are sent out by him to torment humans who have committed horrid crimes.

## Overview

The **Erinyes** (sing. **Erinys**), also known as the **Furies**, were female chthonic deities 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".

They correspond to the **Dirae** in Roman mythology. The Roman writer Maurus Servius Honoratus wrote (ca. 600 AD) that they are called "Eumenides" in hell, "Furiae" on earth, and "Dirae" in heaven.

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 which fell on the earth (Gaia), while Aphrodite was born from the crests of sea foam.

According to variant accounts, they emerged from an even more primordial level - from Nyx ("Night"), or from a union between air and mother earth, in Virgil's *Aeneid*, they are daughters of Pluto and Nox.

Their number is usually left indeterminate. Virgil, probably working from an Alexandrian source, recognized three: Alecto ("endless anger"), Megaera ("jealous rage"), and Tisiphone ("vengeful destruction"), all of whom appear in the *Aeneid*. Dante Alighieri followed Virgil in depicting the same three-character triptych of Erinyes.

Whilst the Erinyes were usually described as three maiden goddesses, the Erinys Telphousia was usually a by-name for the wrathful goddess Demeter, who was worshipped under the title of Erinys in the Arkadian town of Thelpousa.

## Summary

Millions of years ago, in the beginning of the Titan dynasty, the Erinyes were created by Ouranos to be guardians of honor and to enforce the authority of the Titan gods. However, after Ouranos was overthrown by Kronos and Rhea, they were banished to the underworld to live among the shades and chthonic gods.

While they were in the underworld, they were taken in the Mansion of Night and became the foster daughters of Nyx and Erebus. They also took up the duty of tormenting the shades who came there after death for the crimes they had committed in their past life.

During the Titanomachy, the Erinyes and other chthonic gods swore an oath of servitude to Hades and the new Olympian dynasty, and from then on, they became Hades' new bodyguards and personal torturers, in charge with collecting information from captured prisoners as well as hunting down defects and traitors among their followers.

After the Olympians achieved victory, they returned to the underworld, having grown to love the underworldly realm as their new home. As part of their agreement upon swearing servitude, they got their positions as castigators back and are now in-charge of enforcing the rules settled down by the Olympians among humanity.

## Trivia

* The name, Erinyes, have uncertained etymology, though it's believed to be connected to *orinein* ("to raise, stir, excite", and *eris* ("strife").
* Due to a curse, they can be killed and reform similar to monsters.
* Despite Alecto being the official leader due to her age, Megaera is the wisest, most mature, and most experienced of the three even though she's the youngest.
	+ According to Megaera, Alecto was chosen as leader only because she's the only Erinys who actually bother to do their courtly duties and paperwork.
* Serving as their retinue are the Poenae (Retaliations), Arae (Curses), Praxidice (Exacters of Justice), and the Maniae (Madnesses).
* In Greek mythology, they are born from Ouranos' blood, making them half-sisters Aphrodite.
	+ In some myths, Nyx is said to be their only parent.
	+ In Orphic hymns, they are said to be daughters of Hades and Persephone.
* In the story of Canto VIII of Dante's *Inferno* they confront the poets Dante and Virgil at the gates of the city of Dis. The heads of the Erinyes, whom the two poets met in Canto IV, were wreathed with serpents and their eyes dripped with blood, rendering their appearance rather horrific.