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Ananke
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Anteros. Love avenged or returned [see
Eros] [Ov.Fast.4.1;
Pau.1.30.1].
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Apatis is Deceit, offspring of
Nyx [Hes.The.224].
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Astraea is Dike.
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Ate is Delusion, ruinous conduct.
Zeus held her responsible
for the blindness with which he took a solemn oath,
and in his rage he seized Ate by her hair and
whirling her round his head cast her down to the
world swearing that she should never set foot in
Olympus again. Eldest Daughter of
Zeus, according to some, or
of Eris (Discord) according
to others. She blinds everybody and is said to have
delicate feet because she walks over the heads of
men bringing them harm. In the place where she fell
in Phrygia there was a hill called since then Ate,
and in that hill Ilus 2 founded Ilium
(Troy) [Hes.The.230;
Hom.Il.9.504, 19.90ff.; Pla.Sym.195d].
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Bia is Violence, Force. Together with
Cratos and
Hephaestus, Bia
chained Prometheus 1
to the rock. Offspring of Pallas 1 &
Styx [Aes.Pro.52ff.;
Apd.1.2.5; Hes.The.385].
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Caerus 2 is
"Opportunity", called "the youngest son of
Zeus " [Call.6; Pau.5.14.9
].
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Chaos is the
void which came into being before anything else.
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Chronos is
Time.
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Cratos is Dominion, Power. Together with
Bia and Hephaestus,
Cratos chained
Prometheus 1 to the
rock. Offspring of Pallas 1 &
Styx [Aes.Pro.52ff.;
Apd.1.2.5; Hes.The.385].
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Deimos is Fear, son of
Ares and
Aphrodite
[Hes.The.933; Nonn.2.415; Ov.Fast.5.29;
Ov.Met.12.61; QS.5.29, 10.57].
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Dike is Justice.
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Eirene 1 is
Peace.
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Envy is the most
stupid of vices.
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Erebus is the Darkness of the
Underworld, who
possibly existed from the beginning together with
Chaos,
Nyx and Tartarus. Erebus
consorted with Nyx, and from
this union the MOERAE,
the HESPERIDES,
Hypnos,
Geras,
Thanatos and Styx were
born [Ari.Birds.683ff.; Hes.The.116ff.; Hyg.Pre].
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Eris is Discord,
the nurse of war.
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Eros is Love.
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Eunomia is Good Order, Concord; she is
one of the HORAE
[Apd.1.3.1; Hes.The.902; Hyg.Fab.183; Pin.Oly.9.16,
13.6].
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Geras is Old
Age.
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Gymnastica is one of the
HORAE [Hyg.Fab.183].
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Harmonia 3. This is the All-mother
Harmonia, the Nurse of the world [Nonn.41.277,
41.314ff.].
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Himerus is Longing, Desire. It is said
that near the top of Mount Olympus there are the
dancing-places of the
MUSES, where beside them
the CHARITES and
Himerus live in delight. He follows always
Aphrodite since her
birth and also afterwards, when she joined the
company of the gods [see also Pothos] [Hes.The.64,
201; Nonn.1.68, 8.404; QS.5.71]. Plato explains the
difference between Himerus (Longing) and Pothos
(Yearning), saying that Himerus pertains to that
which is present, and Pothos to that which is
absent
(Cratylus
420a-b)
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Homonia is Concord [Ov.Fast.3.639, 3.881,
6.90, 6.637; Pau.5.14.9].
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Hybris is Insolence, mother of
Pan by
Zeus [Apd.1.4.1;
Pin.Oly.13.10].
Hybris is translated as wantonness or insolence,
and also as outrage or serious damage. Hybris is
not seldom related to the arrogance that usually
derives from success. This temporary and apparently
happy condition is believed to lead to boasts,
disregard, and forms of self-adoration, which are
considered to offend the gods. Therefore Hybris,
traditionally speaking, invites the arrival of
Nemesis, who punishes
excessive pride and reestablishes balance:
"If one
neglects the laws of proportion and gives something
too big to something too small to carry it—too
big sails to too small a ship, too big meals to too
small a body, too big powers to too small a
soul—the result is bound to be a complete
upset. In an outburst of hybris the over-fed body will rush into
sickness, while the jack-in-office will rush into
the unrighteousness which hybris always breeds." [Plato,
Laws 691c]
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Hygia is Health.
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Hypnos is
Sleep.
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Ker and Keres. These children of
Nyx are the Fates of Death,
who bring upon men hard toil and sicknesses. They
are Death-spirits, devourers of life, the swift
hounds of Hades who,
hovering throughout the air, swoop down on the
living. When Hector 1
and Achilles met for
the fourth time, Zeus
lifted on high his golden scales and set therein
two Keres, one for
Achilles and one for
Hector 1 [Aes.Sev.1061;
Arg.4.1485, 4.1665; Eur.Ele.1300; Eur.Phoe.950;
Hom.Il.2.302, 3.454, 8.70ff., 9.410, 11.332,
18.114ff., 18.535ff., 22.209ff., 23.78;
Hes.The.211, 217; Hes.WD.92; QS.5.34; Soph.OT.469].
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LITAE. The LITAE are Prayers, daughters
of Zeus. They are described
as wrinkled creatures, with a halting gait and
downcast eyes. Their business is to follow Delusion
(Ate, see above) about. But Delusion, being
strong and quick, leaves them behind and, roaming
the whole world, brings grief to mankind. However
the LITAE come after and put all troubles right.
This is why it is said that if a man receives the
LITAE with humility when they approach, he will
have his own petitions granted. But if he, with
hardened heart and pride, rejects them, they go to
their father Zeus and pray
to him that the proud man may himself be overtaken
by Delusion and fall.
For these reasons there were those who thought
that Achilles had gone
too far when he refused to listen to his friends
who bade him to leave his wrath aside:
"Conquer your
pride
Achilles" [Phoenix 2 to
Achilles. Homer,
Iliad 9.495]
Similarly Paris was
confronted with the pride of his former wife Oenone
1, a seeress and healer. Towards the end of the
Trojan War
Paris was wounded by the
poisoned arrow that
Philoctetes, with
the bow of Heracles 1,
shot at him. Paris went
back to Oenone 1 on Mount Ida and bade her to heal
him, but she, who had warned
Paris no to sail to fetch
Helen, nursing her
grievance, refused to heal him.
"Heal me,
while life yet lingers in my limbs! Remember not
those pangs of jealousy, nor leave me by a cruel
doom to die at your feet. This should offend the
Prayers, whose anger follow unrelenting pride with
vengeance." [Paris
to Oenone 1. Quintus Smyrnaeus,
The
Fall of Troy 10.300]
Concerning the manner of praying, it has been
said that a person who has a good conscience cannot
but pray thus:
"O ye gods,
grant unto me that which I deserve."
[Flavius Philostratus, Life of Apollonius
of Tyana 1.11]
For they think that those who are good deserve
blessings, and the wicked the opposite. And they
believe that the gods, in some way or another,
crown the healthy and unscarred by vice, while
inflicting their wrath upon those who dared to
invade their temples though they were utterly
corrupt.
[AO.108; Hom.Il.9.502, Parth.4.1-7, 34;
QS.10.300ff.].
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Lyssa is
Raging Madness, offspring of
Uranus &
Nyx. She drove
Heracles 1 out of his
mind, and he killed his wife and children [Eur.Her.
844 and passim; Ov.Met.4.484].
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Maniae. Madnesses [Pau.8.34.1; QS.5.452;
see Madness]
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Mnemosyne is
Memory.
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MOERAE. These
are The Fates.
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Momos, offspring of
Nyx, is Blame, Mockery,
Gaiety [Hes.The.214].
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|
Moros is Doom, offspring of
Nyx [Hes.The.211].
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Musica is one of the
HORAE [Hyg.Fab.183].
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Nemesis is
Retribution, Divine vengeance.
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|
Nike is Victory.
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Oizys is Misery, offspring of
Nyx
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Oniros. Dreams, offspring of
Nyx [see
Hypnos] [Hes.The.213].
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Panacea 1 is Universal healing
[Pau.1.34.3].
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Peitho 1 is Persuasion, consort of
Hermes [Aes.Sup.1039;
Hes.WD.73; Nonn.3.84, 4.69, 4.140, 5.574, 8.221,
10.280, 11.280, 16.139; Pau.1.22.3].
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Pheme is Fame.
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Philotes is Pleasure of love, Friendship.
Nyx gave birth to Philotes
[Hes.The.224].
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Phobus 1 is Terror, son of
Ares and
Aphrodite
[Hes.The.933; Nonn.2.415; Pau.9.36.3; Plu.The.27.1;
QS.5.29, 10.57].
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Plutus is
Wealth.
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|
Poine is Vengeance, whom
Apollo sent to punish the
Argives after the death of his son Linus 3
[Pau.1.43.7-8; Stat.Theb.1.605ff., 8.25].
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Pothos is Yearning, a being of inconstant
mood. Pothos is an attendant of
Aphrodite [see also
Himerus above]. He is son of Zephyrus 1 (one of the
WINDS) and
Iris 1 [Nonn.33.112,
47.342]. Plato explains the difference between
Himerus (Longing) and Pothos (Yearning), saying
that Himerus pertains to that which is present, and
Pothos to that which is absent
(Cratylus
420a-b)
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Psyche is Soul.
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|
Thanatos is
Death, brother of Hypnos.
|
|
Tyche is
Fortune.
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|
Volupta, daughter of
Eros and
Psyche, is Pleasure
[Apu.Tra.6.20].
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|
Zelos, offspring of Pallas 1 and
Styx, is Emulation,
Jealousy [Apd.1.2.5; Hes.The.384].
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