Erinyes

Clitemnestra tried to awaken the Eriniah while his son is purified by Apollo. Crátera apulia de figuras Rojos, 480–470 a. C., Museo del Louvre (Cp. 710).

In Greek mythology, the Erinyes (in ancient Greek Έρινύες Erinýes, of unknown etymology) are female personifications of revenge that persecuted those guilty of certain crimes. They were also called Euménides (in ancient Greek Εύμενίδες, 'benevolent'), an antiphrase used to avoid their anger when their real name was pronounced. According to tradition, this name would have been used for the first time after the acquittal of Orestes by the Areopagus (described below), and later it was used to allude to the benign side of the Erinyes.

In Athens the periphrasis σεμναί θεαί semnaí theaí, 'venerable goddesses', was also used euphemistically. They were also referred to as χθόνιαι θεαί chthóniai theaí, 'chthonic goddesses', and the epithet Praxidiceas (Πραξιδίκαι), 'executors of the laws' was applied to them. In Roman mythology they are known as Furies (in Latin, Furiæ; or Diræ: 'terrible').

It is possible that they were already documented in Mycenaean Linear B tablets under the theonym E-ri-nu.

Ancestry

According to Hesiod, the Erinyes are daughters of the blood shed by the member of Uranus on Gaea when his son Cronus castrated him, thus being chthonic divinities.

Their number is usually indeterminate, although Virgil, probably taking inspiration from an Alexandrian source, names three:

• Alecto (.ληκε, ‘la implacable’), which punishes moral crimes.
• Megera (Missorγαιρα, ‘the jealousy’), which punishes crimes of infidelity.
• Tisifone (Τισιφόνη, ‘the avenger of murder’), which punishes blood crimes.

These hideous avenging deities are depicted as female genii with snakes coiled in their hair, carrying whips and torches, and with blood flowing from their eyes instead of tears. It was also said that they had large bat or bird wings, or even the body of a dog.

For Epimenides, they were sisters of the Fates, daughters of Cronus and Eurynome. For Aeschylus, daughters of Nix, the Night. And for Sophocles, daughters of Gaea and Skotos, Darkness. In the Aeneid of the Roman poet Virgil, the Erinyes are the daughters of Pluto (Hades) and Nox (Nix). In the Orphic tradition, they were the daughters of Hades and Persephone (this relationship with the infernal world also appears very clearly in Iliad).

It is probable that when talking about the Eumenides we are also referring to the Fates in the same Greek mythology which personified the destiny of people. The similarities in their characteristics are not few and it is taken into account that the folklore and the abundance of peoples which were influenced by the Greek culture, could have introduced variations in legends already told before.

Features

The Erinyes are primitive forces that predate the Olympian gods, so they do not submit to the authority of Zeus. They lived in Erebus (or in Tartarus according to other traditions), from which they only returned to Earth to punish living criminals; During their stay in the underworld, they subjected the eternally condemned to endless torture. Despite their divine ancestry, the gods of Olympus show a deep revulsion mixed with awe towards these beings, and do not tolerate them. For their part, mortals fear them terribly and flee from them. It is this marginalization and the consequent need for recognition that, in the work of Aeschylus, will lead the Erinyes to accept Athena's verdict despite their inexhaustible thirst for revenge.

In the Iliad, when a ritual curse invokes "ye who in the deep punish the dead who were perjured", "the Erinyes are simply an incarnation of the act of self-cursing that entails the oath". They are in charge of punishing crimes during the life of their perpetrators, and not later. However, since their field of action is unlimited, if the perpetrator of the crime dies, they will chase him to the underworld. Fair but merciless, no prayer or sacrifice can move them or prevent them from carrying out their task. They reject extenuating circumstances and punish all offenses against society and nature, such as perjury, violation of hospitality rites and, above all, crimes or murders against the family. In ancient times it was believed that human beings could not and should not punish such horrible crimes, corresponding to the Erinyes to pursue the banished murderer of the deceased in revenge, harassing him until he went mad (hence its Latin name, derived from "furor" as a synonym for "craziness"). The torture only stopped if the criminal found someone to purify him of his crimes.

The goddess Nemesis represents a similar concept, and her function overlaps with that of the Erinyes, with the difference that she punished the offenses committed against the gods. On her part, the goddess Nike originally had a similar role, as the bearer of a just victory. She punished the hubris or excess. They forbade fortune-tellers from faithfully revealing the future so that this knowledge would not bring man closer to the gods.

Erinyes were often compared to Gorgons, Graias, and Harpies due to their hideous, dark appearance and little contact with the Olympian gods. They torment those who do evil, tirelessly persecuting them until they are driven mad. In a broader sense, the Erinyes represent the rectitude of things within the established order, protectors of the cosmos against chaos. In the Iliad Xanthus, Achilles' horse, is deprived of speech for blaming the gods for the death of Patroclus and deprives Phoenix of offspring. The philosopher Heraclitus said that if Helios decided to change the course of the Sun through the sky, they would stop him.

A myth tells that Tisiphone fell in love with Cithaeron. Furious at her contempt, she threw a snake from her head, which, after squeezing his chest, killed him.

Tragedy of Aeschylus

Orestes persecuted by the Furiaspainting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1862; Chrysler Museum of Norfolk, United States).

In The Eumenides, a tragedy by Aeschylus, the third part of the Orestiade, the Erinyes pursue Orestes. He had killed his mother, Clytemnestra, in revenge for the murder of his father, Agamemnon. In its first performance, this tragedy caused true terror among the spectators, with the Erinyes being the members of the choir.

The only thing the Erinyes are interested in is the act of murder committed by Orestes, without considering the circumstances that might explain it. Apollo himself must oppose his relentless revenge by granting protection to Orestes, whom he had incited to take revenge on the murderer of his father, who turned out to be Clytemnestra. The Erinyes, Aeschylus tells us, chase Orestes to Delphi, the most important sanctuary of Apollo. They do not release him until the gods convince them to accept the verdict of the court of Athens, the Areopagus.

There, Athena intervenes as patron of the city and balances the ruling. Orestes is acquitted, but must bring from the Tauride a statue consecrated to Artemis. Since then, the Erinyes have been referred to in Athens under the more clement forms mentioned above: Euménides ('benevolent') or Semnaí Theaí ('venerable goddesses').

Despite the previous precedent, the Erinyes still persecuted Alcmaeon, who had killed their mother. Like Orestes, Apollo had incited him to avenge his father. Alcmaeon is pursued by the Erinyes through Greece, until he finds refuge in a land that did not yet exist at the time of his father's murder, thus escaping the power of his persecutors.

Worship

Black sheep and libations of νηφάλια nêphália, a mixture of honey and water, were sacrificed to the Erinyes.

There is a place in Arcadia that has two sanctuaries dedicated to the Erinyes. In one of them, they bear the name of Μανίαι (Maniai, 'those who drive mad'). It was in this place where, dressed in black, they besieged Orestes for the first time. Not far from there, says Pausanias, there is another sanctuary where his cult is associated with that of the Carites ('goddesses of forgiveness'). In this place, dressed in white, they purified Orestes and after his healing he offered an expiatory sacrifice to the Maniai .

In contemporary culture

• In The divine comedy from Dante, it is shown to the Erinias at the gates of the city of Dite, which is the point of entry to the sixth lower circle of hell.
• They also appear in the tragedy of Leconte de Lisle, The Erinias (Les Érinnyes, 1872), with music accompanied by Massenet.
• In the Electra by Jean Giraudoux are represented by three young cynical and malevolent girls who grow very quickly (bringing to adults in a few days), called the Three Euménides. They sing satirical children's songs about the characters of the play and persecute Orestes to make him lose reason.
• In Fausto de Goethe, the furies visit Fausto but only one of them gets in.
• The work of Jean-Paul Sartre, The flies (Les Mouches, 1943), uses a re-elaboration Orestíada (with title flies being the Furies) in a modern perspective against religion.
• They title the benevolas, by Jonathan Littel, one of the novels most recent years^{[chuckles]required]}.
• In the history entitled The Benevolesbelonging to the Neil Gaiman comic The SandmanMorpheus is persecuted by the Eriniahs and their desolate kingdom as punishment for the death of his son Orpheus.
• In the Charmed series, Piper was attacked by the modern version of the Furias in episode 3 of the fourth season, becoming a Furia.
• They are also mentioned in the book Predestinados and Malditos by Josephine Angelini, where they cause the four castes to confront each other, and they cannot get rid of them until they pay a blood debt among them. Throughout history Helena (the Descendant) tries to end them, giving them the water of the river of Olvido, causing them not to remember what their mission was on Earth.
• They are also mentioned in the saga of Percy Jackson and the Gods of the Olympics being these the helpers of Hades and their protectors
• They also make appearance in Jennifer L's saga Covenant. Armentrout
• They are also mentioned in the Guardian of the dreams of author Sherrilyn Kenyon.
• They also appear in the Playstation 3 game "God of war: Ascension" chasing Kratos throughout the game.
• In the series "Xena, Princess Guerrera", Las Furias appears in the first episode of the third season, punishing Xena with madness and persecution for not avenging her father's death at the hands of her mother. A simile of the history of Orestes, who is also mentioned in that episode.
• They appear on the webtoon Lore Olympus (Olympus Tales), as employees of Hades, allowing the king of the Underworld to locate an infringer of the laws of hospitality within their domains. In a later appearance, Tisifone and Megaera confront Mente for the mistreatment he subjected to his partner (Hades).
• They appear in the video game Hades (videogame) as the first final head of the Tartarus, preventing the protagonist from escaping from the underworld.
• Ramón Sampedro gives them a letter in his book Letters from Hell.
• They appear in the videogame God of War: Ascension They are the main antagonists in the prequel story of the events Kratos has in God of War