| Furies | |
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 Two Furies, from a nineteenth-century book reproducing an image from an ancient vase. | |
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Other Names |
Erinyes, Eumenides, Furies, Dirae |
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First Appearance |
Greek Myth |
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Created by |
Greek Myth |
Origin[]
The Erinyes, also known as the Eumenides (commonly known in English as the Furies), are chthonic goddesses 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". Walter Burkert suggests that they are "an embodiment of the act of self-cursing contained in the oath". They correspond to the Dirae in Roman mythology. The Roman writer Maurus Servius Honoratus wrote (ca. AD 400) that they are called "Eumenides" in hell, "Furiae" on Earth, and "Dirae" in heaven. Erinyes are akin to some other Greek deities, called Poenai.
According to Hesiod's Theogony, when the Titan Cronus castrated his father, Uranus, and threw his genitalia into the sea, the Erinyes (along with the Giants and the Meliae) emerged from the drops of blood which fell on the Earth (Gaia), while Aphrodite was born from the crests of sea foam. Pseudo-Apollodorus also reports this lineage. According to variant accounts they are the daughters of Nyx ("Night"), while in Virgil's Aeneid, they are daughters of Pluto (Hades) and Nox (Nyx). In some accounts, they were the daughters of Eurynome (a name for Earth) and Cronus, or of Earth and Phorcys (i.e. the sea). In Orphic literature, they are the daughters of Hades and Persephone.
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 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. Aesychlus' Eumenides the Priestess of Pythian Apollo compares their monstrosity to that of the gorgon and harpies, but adds that they are wingless, with hatred dripping from their eyes. Euripides, on the other hand, gives them wings, as does Virgil. They are often envisaged as having snakes in their hair.
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.
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of the Furies from before Januray 1, 1929 are public domain in the US.
Some notable appearances are listed below:
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- Orestes
- Oedipus at Colonus
- The Eumenides
- The Libation Bearers
- The Orphic Hymns
- Aeneid
Public Domain Comic Appearances[]
- Chamber of Chills #18: Furies are featured in the story Monsters of History which also included Polyphemus the Cyclops, Medusa, the Chimaera, the Hydra, and Hecate.