In Light of the Stars

Now of course, these two are born out of love, Aphrodite. Love for your people, who you might lose, by your death or theirs. Love for what you're fighting for, whatever that may be. Love for yourself, the most dangerous thing you can lose when you're blinded by emotion. And even love for your opponents, because maybe you truly don't want to hurt them.

Love makes you afraid for what you might lose in life, a constant battle with your surroundings and yourself.

Almost nothing is more terrifying than love. What if you lose everyone? What if you don't lose your people, but your love itself? What if you never get to have it? Or even scarier, what if you do?

The constant battle of living and the inevitable need for love we have is the most terrifying thing in the world. But is that not what we are?

(and the collective empowerment of formal lexicon)

Collectively online I really need people to stop rejecting the use of “academic language”, or highly specific wording and phrasing in general. It doesn’t benefit anything, or anyone. No, it does not make you class conscious.

In order to make progress we need to be able to have serious, productive discussions. In order to have serious, productive discussions, people need to have the language tools to have those discussions. Which means words need to mean things that everyone can, with some scattered debate, agree on. It also means that the use of precise word choice should be heavily encouraged.

It runs quite deeply, too. I feel like using "formal" and precise language is nowadays often regarded as something fundamentally unlikeable or indicative of a character flaw. People who use precise language or language that is regarded as "formal" by people who, objectively, are just less literate (which is morally neutral, until you start doing harm with that through wilful ignorance or rejection of those who do engage with complex language) are often perceived as and spoken of as pretentious, callous, self-absorbed, holier-than-thou, etc - irregardless of their intentions of the content of what they're saying.

And it works the other way, too. A lot of people who speak in ways perceived like that do so for a reason. Some people are just really dedicated to being able to communicate effectively, which is commendable and important especially in the pursuit of social and intellectual goals - but other people use language to overcome social barriers. Something I don't talk about much on my blog but that does affect me significantly is that I have a number of psychological and intellectual disabilities that affect my ability to communicate and relate with other people immensely. I would love to be able to explain to people that, "I have [conditions], they affect my ability to communicate and express myself, so I use 'formal' language to bridge that gap," but that never works, because not only do people view formal language as having an inherently aggressive tone because they're intimidated by it, the words I need to use to describe my lived experience (e.g. symptoms, diagnostic language, etc) have also been co-opted and severely watered down. It's a whole new ableism, a kind of silent eugenics that erases the experience of people who are severely disabled and in need of specialized care and language so that those words can be appropriated and watered down by those whose experience it only partially fits.

mushroom: can you feel your heart burning? can you feel the struggle within? the fear within me is beyond anything your soul can make. you cannot kill me in a way that matters

I wouldn't use an adblocker if ads were just banners on the side funding a website I enjoy using and want to support. Ads pop up invasively and fill my whole screen, I misclick and get warped away to another page just for trying to read an article or get a recipe.

Every app shouldn't be like every other app. Instagram didn't need reels and a shop. TikTok doesn't need a store. Instagram doesn't need to be connected to Facebook. I don't want my apps to do everything, I want a hub for a specific thing, and I'll go to that place accordingly.

I love discord, but so much information gets lost to it. I don't want to join to view things. I want to lurk on forums. I want to be a user who can log in and join a conversation by replying to a thread, even if that conversation was two days ago. I know discord has threads, it's not the same. I don't want to have to verify my account with a phone number. I understand safety and digital concerns, but I'm concerned about information like that with leaks everywhere, even with password managers.

I shouldn't have to pay subscriptions to use services and get locked out of old versions. My old disk copy of photoshop should work. I should want to upgrade eventually because I like photoshop and supporting the business. Adobe is a whole other can of worms here.

Streaming is so splintered across everything. Shows release so fast. Things don't get physical releases. I can't stream a movie I own digitally to friends because the share-screen blocks it, even though I own two digital copies, even though I own a physical copy.

I have an iPod, and I had to install a third party OS to easily put my music on it without having to tangle with iTunes. Spotify bricked hardware I purchased because they were unwillingly to upkeep it. They don't pay their artists. iTunes isn't even iTunes anymore and Apple struggles to upkeep it.

My TV shows me ads on the home screen. My dad lost access to eBook he purchased because they were digital and got revoked by the company distributing them. Hitman 1-3 only runs online most of the time. Flash died and is staying alive because people love it and made efforts to keep it up.

I have to click "not now" and can't click "no". I don't just get emails, they want to text me to purchase things online too. My windows start search bar searches online, not just my computer. Everything is blindly called an app now. Everything wants me to upload to the cloud. These are good tools! But why am I forced to use them! Why am I not allowed to own or control them?

First, let’s establish the myth in question:

“[Hera]: When thy son shall come to the Elysian plain, he whom now in the home of Cheiron the Centaur water-nymphs are tending, though he still craves thy mother milk, it is fated that he be the husband of Medea, Aeetes' daughter; do thou aid thy daughter-in-law as a mother-in-law should, and aid Peleus himself.”- Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica (Greek epic C3rd B.C.)

Achilles’ afterlife

1) Marrying Helen of Troy

“[...] White Island, where, he used to declare, he saw Achilles, as well as Ajax the son of Oileus and Ajax the son of Telamon. With them, he said, were Patroclus and Antilochus; Helen was wedded to Achilles [...]”- Pausanias, Description of Greece (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.)

2) Spending eternity with Patroclus

“[...] whereas Achilles, son of Thetis, they honored and sent to his place in the Isles of the Blest, because having learnt from his mother that he would die as surely as he slew Hector, but if he slew him not, would return home and end his days an aged man, he bravely chose to go and rescue his lover Patroclus, avenged him, and sought death not merely in his behalf but in haste to be joined with him whom death had taken. For this the gods so highly admired him that they gave him distinguished honor, since he set so great a value on his lover.”- Plato, Symposium (Greek philosopher C4th B.C.)

Medea’s afterlife (or lack thereof)

This one is more difficult because there is no extant myth where Medea dies. However, we have some sources where she seems to be immortal:

1)

“Goddesses and Heroes

And now farewell, all you Olympians, You islands and mainlands and salt sea between.

Now sing of the goddesses, Olympian Muses, Word-sweet daughters of Zeus Aegisholder— The goddesses who slept with mortal men,

And immortal themselves bore children like gods.

[…]

And Jason son of Aison led off from Aietes,

A king fostered by Zeus, Aietes daughter,

By the eternal gods' will, after he completed

The many hard labors the outrageously arrogant, / Presumptuous bully, King Pelias, set for him.

The son of Aison suffered through the labors

And sailed to lolcos with the dancing-eyed girl / And made her his wife, and in her bloom

She was mastered by Jason, shepherd of his people,

And bore a child, Medeios, whom the centaur Cheiron

Phillyrides raised in the hills. And Zeus' will was done.”- Hesiod, Theogony (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.)

2)

“[…] the word spoken at Thera by Medea, which once the inspired daughter of Aeetes, the queen of the Colchians, breathed forth from her immortal mouth.”- Pindar, Pythian Odes (Greek poetry C5th B.C)

To conclude, here’s a scholar talking about Medea’s mortality in Euripides’ play:

“Medea appears in the chariot of the sun god, placed high on the mechane, the stage crane which was used to bring gods on stage in fifth-century tragedy. This spatial alignment makes it clear that Medea is no longer a mortal, and raises the question of whether she ever truly was. The audience is left to contemplate two unpalatable conclusions as Medea escapes unpunished after committing the most terrible of crimes. Either Medea is divine, and the gods can come among us and exact revenge for our crimes with savage force; or Medea is mortal, and sometimes mortal crimes go unpunished.”- Griffiths, Emma. Medea. Routledge, 12 Nov. 2012.

1) Primary sources

“[26] Some identify the goddess [i.e., the deity after whom the month of May was named] with Medea, because herbs of all kinds are brought into her temple, from which the priestesses commonly make medicaments, and also because no man may enter the temple on account of the wrong suffered by Medea at the hands of her thankless husband Jason.”- Macrobius, Saturnalia (C5th A.D)

“But it was the Dictator Caesar who gave outstanding public importance to pictures by dedicating paintings of Ajax and Medea in front of the temple of Venus Genetrix […]”- Pliny the Elder, Natural History (C1st A.D)

“In Titane there is also a sanctuary of Athena, into which they bring up the image of Coronis. In it is an old wooden figure of Athena, and I was told that it, too, was struck by lightning. The sanctuary is built upon a hill, at the bottom of which is an Altar of the Winds, and on it the priest sacrifices to the winds one night in every year. He also performs other secret rites at four pits, taming the fierceness of the blasts, and he is said to chant as well charms of Medea.”- Pausanias, Descriptions of Greece (C2nd A.D) [Emphasis mine]

“[…] a well called the Well of Glauce. Into this they say she threw herself in the belief that the water would be a cure for the drugs of Medea. Above this well has been built what is called the Odeum (Music Hall), beside which is the tomb of Medea's children. […] after Corinth was laid waste by the Romans and the old Corinthians were wiped out, the new settlers broke the custom of offering those sacrifices to the sons of Medea, nor do their children cut their hair for them or wear black clothes.”- Pausanias, Descriptions of Greece (C2nd A.D)

2) Research

“Images of Medea in Etruscan art confirmed from the Orientalist era to the Hellenization period represent an original, local interpretation of Medea's image. Etruscan culture, in turning out to be a mediator between the Greek and Italic worlds, performed a great role in popularizing Medea and the myths connected to her on the Appenine Peninsula. Medea's magical art turned out to be familiar to the Etruscans, who were well known all throughout the Mediterranean for divination and being experts of magic. In contrast to the Greeks, they turned Medea into an object of cult worship, identifying her with the Etruscan sun god Cavatha. She penetrated into the mythology, religion, and art of the ancient Italian people through the Etruscans. It can be said that the Etruscan reception of Medea influenced even ancient Rome, and later on, European art and culture Via Roma.”- Kobakhidze, E. (2018). Medea in Etruscan Art

Further reading: Ekaterine Kobakhidze (2007). Medea in the Religion and Mythology of Ancient Italic Peoples. Journal Phasis - Greek and Roman Studies.

Note that while the two articles above provide great information, the author’s theory about Medea being syncretized with Catha is dubious at best. An Italic goddess that Medea was demonstrably syncretized with, though, was Bona Dea. The Macrobius quote from point 1) is about her; this is discussed in ‘Bona Dea and the Cults of Roman Women’ by Attilio Mastrocinque.

3) Inscriptions

Left: The extant inscriptions featuring Medea Right: Drawing of a vase depicting Medea and her brother Apsyrthus, from a private collection

It just occurred to me to use a website for inscriptions and, lo and behold, Medea has 7 to her name. It’s worth noting that 5 of them are reconstructions, so it’s still debatable if they’re about her - only 2 are intact.

The first 2 are women named Medea. The third one goes:

“… shall pay the penalty if anyone commits outrage or compulsion against this; may Artemis or Medeia or the Ephesian [Artemis], and all the gods, punish him.”

Medea and Artemis (both in her Ephesian aspect and her common one) are being summoned to punish lawbreakers. (Correction: This isn’t the case! Medea here is the Iranian goddess Anahita)

The fourth one reads:

“A woman standing, who holds in her right hand a mirror or a tympanum:

M(?)ēd[e]a.

A woman standing.”

Perhaps a description of a statue, thought it’s highly fragmented.

The last 3 are very straight-forward:

“Iasōn. Medeia.”

“Narkissos, Narkissos, spring-born, spring-born. Iasōn, Iasōn. Medeia.”

“Melanippos. Medeia. Meleagros”

Disclaimer: I’m not doing this to delegitimize Euripides’ play, only to bring attention to alternative tellings of the story

Scholia to Euripides’ Medea 9.1-11 (C1st A.D)

“There’s a story from the philosophers that is much repeated—one Parmeniskos also offers—that Euripides changed the murder of the children to Medea because he accepted five talents from the Korinthians. [He claims] that the children of Medea were killed by the Korinthians because they were angry over her ruling the city and they wanted there to be an end of her ruling in Korinth, because it was her paternal [right]. For this reason he changed the [responsibility] to Medea. Hippus presents [accounts] about her residency in Korinth, as does Hellanikos. Eumelos and Simonides report that Medeia ruled Korinth. In his work called On Isthmian Affairs, Mousaios reports that Medeia was immortal, and he explains this also in his work on The Festivals of Hera Akraia.”

“Another topic consists in making use of errors committed, for purposes of accusation or defence. For instance, in the Medea of Carcinus,⁴⁷ some accuse Medea of having killed her children,—at any rate, they had disappeared; for she had made the mistake of sending them out of the way. Medea herself pleads that she would have slain, not her children, but her husband Jason; for it would have been a mistake on her part not to have done this, if she had done the other. This topic and kind of enthymeme is the subject of the whole of the first “Art” of Theodorus.” [Emphasis mine]

⁴⁷ Tragic poet, contemporary of Aristophanes

Aelian, Various Histories (Roman, C2nd-3rd A.D.):

“One story alleges that the account about Medeia is false. For it says that she didn’t kill her children but that the Korinthians did. They report that the tale about the woman from Kolkhis and the drama were created by Euripides at the behest of the Korinthians and that the falsehood supplanted the truth thanks to the poet’s skill. They also claim that even to this day the Korinthians perform rites for the children because of their crime just as if they were fulfilling a debt owed to them.”

Philostratus, Heroica (C3rd A.D.):

A while ago, I made a post saying that I don’t like Hera’s prophecy about Medea’s afterlife in Apollonius’ Argonautica because I prefer to perceive Medea as an immortal. That post was half-joking, but since I’m fussy, I decided to compile the ancient texts that describe Medea as a goddess.

Hesiod, Theogony (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.)

"Goddesses and Heroes

And now farewell, all you Olympians, You islands and mainlands and salt sea between.

Now sing of the goddesses, Olympian Muses, Word-sweet daughters of Zeus Aegisholder— The goddesses who slept with mortal men,

And immortal themselves bore children like gods.

[...]

And Jason son of Aison led off from Aietes, A king fostered by Zeus, Aietes daughter, By the eternal gods' will, after he completed

The many hard labors the outrageously arrogant, Presumptuous bully, King Pelias, set for him.

The son of Aison suffered through the labors

And sailed to lolcos with the dancing-eyed girl And made her his wife, and in her bloom

She was mastered by Jason, shepherd of his people,

And bore a child, Medeios, whom the centaur Cheiron

Phillyrides raised in the hills. And Zeus' will was done." [Empashis mine]

This is an excerpt from a list of goddesses who had romances with mortal men. Hesiod also mentions Demeter and Iasion, Harmonia and Cadmus, Callirhoe and Chrysaor, Eos and Tithonius, Thetis and Peleus, Aphrodite and Anchises, Circe and Odysseus, and Calypso and Odysseus.

2. Alcman, Fragments (Greek poetry C7th B.C) [Preserved in Athenagoras’ Embassy for the Christians]

“The Athenians have established Celeus and Metanira as gods, ... the Samians Lysander despite all his murders and crimes, Alcman and Hesiod' Medea, the Cilicians Niobe, ... the Carthaginians Hamilcar.”

3. Musaeus, Fragments (Greek poetry, C5th or early 6th B.C) [Preserved in Schol. Eur. Med. 10]

"The fact that Medea was immortal is told by Musaeus in his book About Isthmion. He also narrated that Medea established the festival of Hera Akraia"

4. Pindar, Pythian Odes (Greek poetry C5th B.C)

Yet, as I said at the outset, Medea is also typical of all women, including Greek women, and exceptional only in the degree to which she represents female traits and dangerous potentialities. All of her “otherness”—the geographical, racial, and cultural difference she represents—serves to accentuate the most problematic and radical difference of all: gender. For the Greeks all women were no less than a race apart.⁵⁵ Medea most fully exemplifies the potential disloyalty present in all wives, living as necessary but suspect aliens in their husbands’ houses. She is the ultimate risky import, defining Jason’s exceptional heroic courage. At the same time, the act—biologically necessary, politically astute, or both—of “taking the outsider in” and adapting her (or him) to one’s own purposes defines all Hellenic males: Jason, Arcesilas, and Pindar himself.”

“Despite the concerted efforts of Juno and Venus to make Medea fall in love with Jason in Book 6, the Colchian maiden wavers (7.153–54).⁶ In fact, Medea has decided that she is going to resist her feelings for Jason and that therefore she is not going to help him (7.205–9). In order to overcome Medea’s remarkable obstinacy, the goddesses now hatch a new plan: Venus herself will visit Medea in order to fan the flames of passion anew (7.156–92). However, Venus comes to Colchis not in propria persona, but rather disguised as Medea’s aunt Circe (7.210–12). She does this largely in order to use Circe’s life as a paradigm for Medea to follow, although she offers other exempla as well (Hippodamia and Ariadne). Valerius’s narrative at this point thus largely dispenses with overtly mythological means of inducing passion, such as arrows of love (Apollonius 3.275–98) and magic girdles (Valerius 6.455–76).⁷ Rather, Venus relies primarily on the rhetorical power of exemplarity and precedent in order to persuade Medea to become like her aunt. Venus’s goal is to have Medea follow in Circe’s footsteps and thereby to become something of a new Circe (7.290–91).⁸ Indeed, following in the elder Circe’s footsteps is quite literally what the younger Medea ultimately will do as a result of Venus’s persuasive rhetoric (7.347–49):

testor, cara, tuas, Circe Titania, voces: / te ducente sequor, tua me, grandaeva, fatigant /consilia et monitis cedo minor.

Dear Circe, daughter of the Sun, I call your words to witness and I follow where you lead; your counsels, aged one, wear me down and I, being younger, yield to your advice.

To get to this point, Valerius expends a great deal of energy establishing the exemplarity of Circe’s career—or a particular version of it—for Medea at this juncture in her life. As we shall see, the image of Circe offered as an exemplum by Venus bears striking resemblances to the image of Medea herself as it emerges from the literary tradition. Following in Circe’s footsteps is thus tantamount to following in the footsteps of previous Medeas.

[…]

However, I do not wish to suggest that there are no ways in which Valerius's Medea is made to resemble previous Circes, even if these are far outnumbered by the ways in which Circe is made to resemble previous Medeas. Although this process is not operative in Book 7, where Circe's exemplarity for Medea receives sustained treatment, it is nevertheless discernible elsewhere. For example, the very first time we see Medea in Valerius's epic she has been startled by a dream on the previous night, the content of which compels her to go to the river in the morning to cleanse her mind of its awful visions (5.329–42). This scenario recalls the moment when Circe first appears in Apollonius's poem (4.662–71). There, Jason and Medea find Circe on the seashore at dawn cleansing her mind of the frightening visions she saw in a dream the night before. Valerius even acknowledges the Apollonian model for Medea's Circe-like entrance into the narrative: he refers to the famed "Circean plain" in Colchis (Circaei ... campi, 5.327) just two lines before Medea is brought on stage, thus obliquely raising the specter of Circe immediately prior to our first encounter with Medea. Indeed, introducing Medea in a way that brings Circe to mind is a thoroughly Apollonian gesture: when Medea enters Apollonius's narrative she is dubbed πολυφάρμακος [of many poisons] (3.27), an epithet applied to Circe by Homer (Od. 10.276).”

Circe is a major topic of discussion now, largely because of her recent media appearances. Sadly, she’s also a major subject of misinformation, with her children often at the center of these discourses. I aim to create a sort of guide to Circe’s offspring and the ancient texts in which they appear.

1) Telegonus

Fragmentary vase depicting Telegonus and Circe (~400 B.C) (LIMC Telegonos)

Telegonus, name meaning ‘born from afar’, is the most well-attested child of Circe by a wide margin. His earliest appearance comes in Hesiod’s Theogony, roughly dated to 730-700 B.C.

“Circe, the daughter of Helius son of Hyperion, through the love of stout-hearted Odysseus bore Agrius and Latinus, excellent and strong. And because of golden Aphrodite she bore Telegonus. Very far away in the innermost part of holy islands these sons were ruling over the famous Tyrrhenians.” (trans. Jessica Lightfoot, Cambridge University)

[There’s an entire debate about this passage. I’m not including it here because it’s not relevant to this topic, go to the end of the post if you care]*

Since this poem is mostly concerned with genealogy, we don’t get details about Telegonus’ personality or story — just his family tree and position, i.e., King of the Tyrrhenians (that is, the Etruscans).

Telegonus was also an important part of the Epic Cycle. He was mentioned in the Nostoi, a chapter set between the Iliad and the Odyssey that narrated the heroes’ return home. We can presume that this mention would have been an allusion to the future. He also had his own epic poem, the Telegony. This poem is attributed to Eugammon of Cyrene, though that claim is controversial, and some scholars speculate that the poet Musaeus might have written it instead. This led to Telegonus maintaining a relatively popular role in antiquity: Sophocles wrote a play about the unintentional patricide, Odysseus Wounded; Aristotle, Ovid, Statius, Plutarch, Apollodorus, and Hyginus all mention him. If you’re curious about the specific excerpts, I’ve made a post about this.

Telegonus was also regarded as a real historical figure. The Mamilii dynasty claimed to be descended from him through his daughter Mamilia. Since he was considered the founder of Tusculum and Palestrina, his heroic status lent credence to his supposed existence.

2) Agrius

In contrast to Telegonus, Agrius is the least documented of Circe’s children. He has exactly one mention in extant texts—the aforementioned Theogony passage. We know his parentage and that he ruled Etruria with his mother and siblings, yet he fades into obscurity after the stanza ends.

In Hesiod: Theogony. Edited with Prolegomena and Commentary, M. L. West cites a theory that Agrius was “an eponym of the Thracian Agrianes, assuming a considerable geographical ignorance on the part of the poet.” He argues that “such an assumption is indeed not altogether arbitrary; the poet seems to have no conception of the distance separating Epirus and Latium (see on 1015).”

West also claims that the most attractive theory is “that of K. Müllenhoff, Deutsche Altertumskunde (1870), i. 54, and F. Altheim, Röm. Religionsgesch. ii. 84–87, according to which Agrios is Faunus (agrestis, Ov. F. 2. 193, etc.), whom Nonnus makes a son of Poseidon and Circe (D. 13. 328–32; cf. 37. 57 f. Φᾶνος ἐρημονόμος Τρηχίνιος αὐτὸς ἀρούρης | ὡς πᾶς ἀγροτέρης δεδομημένος ἔργα τεκούσης).” I do not want to question a scholar, but this feels like nonsense to me. Agrius and Faunus have nothing in common besides being sons of Circe who appear in only one text. If I had to guess Hesiod’s intentions, I would put my money on the theory of Agrius as a poorly mapped eponym, much like his brother Latinus.

3) Latinus

Latinus, the last of Circe’s Theogony sons, is a curious figure. He appears frequently in ancient literature, yet authors never seemed able to agree on who his parents were. Chronologically, his earliest parentage is Circe and Odysseus, but he was also presented as the son of Zeus and Pandora, daughter of Deucalion (Pseudo-Hesiod’s Catalogue of Women); Odysseus and Calypso (Apollodorus’ Bibliotheca); Faunus and Marica (Virgil’s Aeneid—this Faunus is a different figure); Heracles (Dionysius of Halicarnassus); and probably others.

For the sake of completeness, I will quote here texts in which he is portrayed as Circe’s child, though he appears scattered throughout this post (excluding the passage from the Theogony, so as not to repeat myself):

“Beyond lie the sea islands Kyrnos (Corsica) and Sardo (Sardinia), which is said to be the largest island after Sicily. They used to be called the Siren islands and isle of Circe. The Umbrians are above the Pelasgians [...] whom Latinus settled, who was born of Circe and Odysseus, and the Ausonians have the interior.”- Pseudo-Scymnus, Circuit of the Earth (roughly C2nd B.C)

“[…] Telemachus married Circe. From Circe and Telemachus Latinus was born, who gave his name to the Latin language […]”- Hyginus, Fabulae (C2nd A.D)¹

“The Italic city of Praeneste was named after Praenestos, the son of Latinus, who was the son of Circe and Odysseus”- Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnika (C6th A.D)

“And they say that the famous Latinus, Telegonus’ brother, Circe’s son, and Aeneas’ father-in-law, when he was founding the “acropolis” of Rome before the coming of Aeneas, found a laurel tree [daphnê] by chance at the spot, and thus allowed it to remain there. For this reason, here too they designate the Palatium as “Daphne””- John The Lydian, De mensibus (C6th A.D)

“Palatium was named daphne (a laurel) after the name of the laurel tree in Rome. Some say that Latinus, Telegonos’s brother, Circe’s son, Aeneas’s father-in-law, founding the acropolis before the coming of Aeneas, found a laurel there.”- Cassianus Bassus, Geoponica (C6th A.D) [Here he’s elaborating on the paragraph quoted above]

“Rome is a region in Latium, and the Latins took their names after Latinus, son of Circe and Odysseus.”- Eustathius of Thessalonica, Commentary on Dionysius Periegetes (C12th A.D)

Even the Aeneid, which presents Latinus as the son of Faunus and Marica, connects him genealogically to Circe:

"Meanwhile the kings drove out: Latinus in a four-horsed chariot of massive size (twelve golden rays circling his shining brow, emblems of his ancestor, the Sun) […]" - Virgil, Aeneid 12.162–164 (C1st B.C)

¹ As far as I know, this is the only text that gives Circe a child with Telemachus

4, 5, & 6) Rhomos, Antias, and Ardias

More eponyms connected to Italy! You may start to sense a pattern here

“Xenagoras, the historian, writes that Odysseus and Circe had three sons, Romus, Anteias and Ardeias, who built three cities and called them after their own names”- Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates Romanae (~7 B.C)

The writer being quoted, Xenagoras, is very obscure but we can tentatively date him to mid 4th century B.C. The cities meant here are Rome, Antium, and Ardea, respectively; they are all located in Latium, very close to each other. Roughly contemporary to Dionysius, we have this account:

“Some tell us that it was Romanus, a son of Odysseus and Circe, who colonized the city.” - Plutarch, Life of Romulus (C1st-2nd A.D)

The name is slightly different, but the story and geography are clearly the same. Notice how Romus/Romanus starts emerging as the most important of the triad. To my knowledge, the following mention of them comes from the medieval period:

“Antea, Italic city under the rule of the Romans, took its name from the son of Circe. There were three sons of Odysseus and Circe: Romus, Anteias and Ardeias.”- Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnika (C6th A.D)

Nothing to add there. Georgius Syncellus’ Ecloga chronographica page 227 has a slightly different version of this trinity: [This text isn’t available translated online, so I had to use an app. You can search the pdf to read the original if you want]

“To these matters also Callias in his deeds of Agathocles writes that a woman named Romē, of Trojan race, came with the Trojans into Italy. When the Latins reigned in Italy, she bore three sons: Romos, Romylos, and Telegonos. But others say otherwise: that Romos and Romylos were sons of Latinus, and that Romē was the mother who gave her name to the city Rome, and that Romylos and Telegonos together founded it. Still others say that Latinus was the son of Odysseus and Circe, and that he, with his brothers, built the city and called it Rome.” (8th century)

This author describes Latinus, Telegonos and Romylus (eponym of Rome, the variation doesn’t matter) as the sons of Circe. The three of them are credited with building the city.

My view, after researching this section, is that this legend seems to have originated in the classical period, with Romus proving the most enduring of the children in the trio. Anteis and Ardeias largely faded into obscurity, likely because the cities they represented were less relevant.

7) Auson

The Greeks used the exonym ‘Ausones’ for the inhabitants of central and southern Italy. The earliest explicit reference linking Circe to this region that I could find appears in Apollonius’ Argonautica:

“[…] it [Zeus through the Oracle of Dodona] bade Polydeukes and Kastor pray the immortal gods to grant them a safe passage through to Ausonian waters, where they would reach Kirke, daughter of Perse and the Sun.” (C3rd B.C)

A considerable time later, we get the first extant mention of Auson as a son of Circe

“There was in Italy a certain Circe, notable for her birth and remarkable for her beauty, who fell in love with Odysseus when he was wandering in Italy with Diomedes; after being united with him, she bore him Auson, who later took power over the entire territory, and from who[se name] the western [land] was called Ausonia. At any rate, this Circe boasted that she was the daughter of Helios on account of her exceedingly great beauty, and in honour of her own father, I suppose, she was the first in Italy to celebrate a chariot race, which indeed was named circus after her.”-John The Lydian, De mensibus (C6th A.D)

It’s worth noting that Auson is also recorded as the son of Odysseus and Calypso (Ps.-Scymn., Orbis Descr.; Suda, s.v. ‘Ausonians’). This isn’t uncommon, Circe and Calypso were often confused, to the point of being given one another’s characteristics. Regardless, all of the texts I could find that connect Auson to Circe are medieval. Whether one considers medieval Greek mythology to be ‘valid’ is a matter of personal opinion.

“The Italians are Ausones, the Italian is Ausonitis from Auson, the child of Odysseus and Circe.”- Tzetzes, Ad Lycophronem (C12th)

“Ausonia takes its name from the Ausonians, who in turn take theirs from Ausonus, son of Odysseus, according to some. For Odysseus had Telegonus and Ausonus and Casiphone with the legendary Circe, as every truth-respecting historian writes.”- Tzetzes, Chiliades

“This is also clearly different among many others, that both the Latinus of history and Ausôn are sons from Odysseus and Kirkê according to some. They each held power over their eponymous lands; and the tribes there were named from them.”- Eustathius, Comment. Ad Od. 1.1. (C12th)

8) Phaunos

This one is easy. Phaunos only appears in one document: Nonnus’ Dionysiaca. He’s the immortal son of Circe and Poseidon, and later an ally of Dionysus. He’s also the only child of Circe who has his own Theoi page, where you can read all of the relevant quotes.

9) Cassiphone

Cassiphone, name meaning ‘brother killer’, is the only daughter fathered by Odysseus (or is she? let’s put a pin on that); the first extant reference to her comes from Lycophron’s Alexandra:

“Perge, the Tyrrhenian mountain in Gortynaian territory, will receive him when dead and cremated, as he breathes out his life, lamenting the fate of his son, and of his wife, whom her husband kills and then follows her on the path to Hades, his throat slit by a sister's slaughter, the cousin of Glaukos and of Apsyrtos. And he, seeing such a heap of ills, will enter Hades for the second time, with no return, never having beheld a peaceful day in his life. Wretch! It would have been better for you to stay in your fatherland driving the oxen, and to join the lustful working donkey to the oxen under the yoke, goaded by a pretended device of madness, than to endure the test of such great ills.” (C3rd B.C)

Lycophron’s work is very puzzling and vague. This excerpt comes at the end of the section where he narrates Odysseus’ life; just before this quote, he describes Odysseus’ death at the hands of Telegonus. Essentially, the passage says that Odysseus was brought back to life by Circe after being taken to her land (“[he] will enter Hades for the second time, with no return”). Telemachus then kills Circe, his wife (“lamenting the fate of his son, and of his wife, whom her husband kills”), and is in turn killed by his sister Cassiphone (“his throat slit by a sister’s slaughter, the cousin of Glaukos and of Apsyrtos”). The passage ends with a reference to Odysseus feigning madness to escape the Trojan War—essentially, the beginning of his story.

Thankfully, the 12th century scholar John Tzetzes wrote a scholia clearing up this mess

“Aietes, Circe, and Pasiphae are the children of Helios and Perse, the daughter of Oceanus. Medea and Absyrtus are the children of Aietes and Eidyia. Telegonus and Cassiphone are the children of Circe and Odysseus. Ariadne, Phaedra, and Glaucos, are the children of Pasiphae and Minos.”

“[…] a myth is told that after Telegonus killed him, Circe raised him with potions and married Cassiphone to Telemachus and Penelope to Telegonus in the islands of the Blessed.”

“Telemachus married Cassiphone, the daughter of Circe. Telemachus kills Circe, not wanting to bear her commands, and he himself is killed by Cassiphone, his wife, avenging her mother. What he says is this: Odysseus will die seeing the sufferings of Circe being killed by Telemachus, and him by Cassiphone, his own daughter.”

Though there is a discrepancy, Tzetzes presents Cassiphone as the wife of Telemachus, whereas Lycophron was referring to Circe. In Lykophron Alexandra: Greek Text, Translation, Commentary, and Introduction, the author explains it as follows: ‘808. The son (of Odysseus) is Telemachos, and the wife (first of Odysseus, then of Telemachos, see FGrHist 382 Lysimachos F 15) is Kirke, whom Telemachos killed. Telemachos was in turn killed by Kassiphone, who was the daughter of Kirke and Odysseus, and thus Telemachos’ own (half-)sister.’

10) Rome

Doing research for this post, I found something curious. A quote by Servius the grammarian:

"Clinias reports that the daughter of Telemachus, Rome by name, was married to Aeneas, from which word Rome got its name. *** says that Latinus, the child of Ulysses and Circe, called the state Rome after the name of his deceased sister." (C4th A.D)

[translation courtesy of ＠lionofchaeronea]

Though not laid out as clearly as Hesiod’s genealogies, it’s clear that Rome is the daughter of Circe and Odysseus. The obscurity of this work explains why many scholars claim that Cassiphone is the only daughter attributed to the couple.

Rome serves the same function as Romus, being an eponym for the city and giving it a heroic connection. Not sure what the narrative purpose of killing her off was, though.

Reflections and oddities

There are still more threads to pull on this topic. For example, I didn’t include Nausithous in the list because the idea of Circe as his mother is attested only in Hyginus, Fabulae 125, while the more common tradition makes him the son of Calypso (as in Hesiod’s Theogony—a text, needless to say, far better known in antiquity than Hyginus’ work). I also don’t take into account the Sibyl’s statement, “[…] men shalt say […] that I’m a Sibyl, born of mother Circe and father Gnostos, […]” since, despite a semi-popular Reddit post presenting it as fact, any claim introduced with “men shalt say” is clearly framed as commentary. Nevertheless, the repetition I lampshaded in the list is precisely why I believe Circe’s posterity is important. To truly understand her as more than just the dangerous seductress she is often reduced to, it’s essential to consider her connections to ancient Italy, her image being used to establish the heroic lineage of cities, and, yes, her worship. For these reasons, I argue that Circe’s children not only deserve to be remembered, but perhaps also recognized as heroes.

Bibliography

- Zalewska-Jura, H. (2018). Circe and Rome. The origin of the legend. Studia Ceranea Journal of the Waldemar Ceran Research Centre for the History and Culture of the Mediterranean Area and South-East Europe, 8, 77–87. https://doi.org/10.18778/2084-140x.08.04

- Hésiode. (1966). Theogony: Edited with Prolegomena and Commentary by M.L. West.

- Hornblower, S. (2017). LYKOPHRON : alexandra. Oxford University Press.

- CIRCE (Kirke) - Greek Goddess of sorcery, Sorceress of AEAEA. (n.d.). https://www.theoi.com/Titan/Kirke.html [For the Telegonus section]

- Sententiaeantiquae. (2016, February 3). Circe – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE. SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE. https://sententiaeantiquae.com/tag/circe/

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✱ M. L. West, in his Theogony commentary cited above, argues that Telegonus’ inclusion in this line is a Byzantine interpolation. He cites as proof the work of Eustathius, who wrote: “ἐκ Κίρκης υἱοὶ καὶ Ἡλιόδου Ὀδυσσεῖ Ἄγριος καὶ Λατῖνος,” which translates as “From Circe’s sons, [herself] of Helios, to Odysseus [were] Agrios and Latinus.” Notably, Telegonus is missing there. However, West fails to consider that Eustathius does in fact discuss Telegonus elsewhere in his writings:

Eustathius (Comm. ad Od. 1.142.35): “Concerning being born far off, it is sufficiently clear in the Iliad. And now it will be addressed to an extent. Among the ancients, that someone is far-born is not only about where he was born, as the only son of Menelaos was Megapenthes, but that he was born when his father was far away, or grew up in this way after he was born. A first example of this is Telegonos, who was born from Kirkê when Odysseus was far away.”

The teacher/s at Sententiae Antiquae remark that “it is important to note that Telegonos’ name (‘born far away’; ‘begotten far away’) may be echoed in the line after the supposed interpolation (μάλα τῆλε).”

West’s view is still frequently brought up in scholarship, but to the best of my knowledge, no other academic has accepted his proposal.

Edit: West’s Byzantine interpolation theory has, indeed, been rejected by published scholars

I’m starting a series compiling evidence for the veneration of figures from ancient Greek religion and culture who lacked organized, well-documented cults like Zeus or Athena. I’ve already made a post like this for Medea, which I update whenever I find new material; this entry focuses on her aunt.

1) Attestations of sacred places

∘ “[…] the authority of the pontifices in particular, but that of other colleges, too, was expanding in geographic extent (see e.g. ILS 1792 from ad 130, which records a grant of permission by the pontifices to transfer a corpse into Italy from without; or ILS 4037 from ad 213, which records the restoration of an altar to Circe at Circeii, southwest of Rome, in accordance with a decree of the quindecimviri sacris faciundis).”- Jörg Rüpke. A Companion to Roman Religion. Malden, Ma, Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.

“Kirke shares several epithets with Kalypso. She too is queenly, a goddess, and lovely haired. The appellation "dread goddess with human speech" (deinê theos audêessa), while it is used once of Kalypso, seems to belong more properly to Kirke. She is more obviously sinister, a sorceress (polupharmakos). Kirke is called a nymph only once, in a formulaic dressing passage that is duplicated at a similar point in the account of Kalypso (both dress in order to see Odysseus off). […] Kirke's parentage, however, is divine: she is the child of Helios and an Okeanid, Perse. Her rank seems to be confirmed by the handmaidens (amphipoloi) who serve in her house: "they are born of the springs and groves, and the sacred rivers that flow forth to the sea." In other words, Kirke is served by local nymphs. (Kalypso also has female servants, but their identity is not specified.)”

- Larson, Jennifer. Greek Nymphs : Myth, Cult, Lore. Oxford ; New York, Oxford University Press, 2001.

The one and only mention of Circe being a nymph in the Odyssey:

“Round about me then she cast a cloak and tunic as raiment, and the nymph clothed herself in a long white robe, finely-woven and beautiful, and about her waist she cast a fair girdle of gold, and upon her head she put a veil.”- Book 10

But it’s not as simple as that. Ovid considers Circe to be a titan:

“[…] let the Sun, who looks on all things, be your father-in-law; do not despise Circe, the Titaness.”

And here’s a fun one, Philostratus thought of Circe as a daemon:

“Circe, a daimon who was clever with magic spells, and other goddesses were made to fall in love with Odysseus, even though he had already advanced to untimely old age […]” (ageism much?)

Circe, the terrible goddess who speaks in the tongues of men. 

Olá philoi!

Continuamos nossa série de posts dedicados a falar um pouco sobre os epítetos, culto e aspectos relevantes sobre várias deidades com, dessa vez, um grupo de Deusas bastante relevantes para a tradição cultural helênica: As Musas!

Descritas como as inspiradoras dos poetas, pensadores, historiadores e escritores em geral, as Musas são as patronas de toda sorte de arte antiga. É dito que Pitágoras fazia oferendas de bois quando fazia alguma descoberta na geometria e que poetas antigos faziam oferendas a ela antes de iniciarem suas canções. Vemos invocações às Musas dos mais variados autores e poetas, até a atualidade.

Mais comumente as vemos agrupadas em nove, sendo estas referidas na mitologia como as filhas de Zeus, Rei dos Deuses, e de Mnemósine, a Deusa-titã das memórias e inventora das palavras.

Menos comumente, vemos outros agrupamento de Musas, algumas descritas como filhas de Apolo, outras sendo ainda mais antigas que as filhas de Zeus, sendo filhas de Urano, os Céus, e Gaia, a Terra.

Por fim, seguimos detalhando seus epítetos, nomes e descritores mais comuns em seguida.

Os locais mais comuns de culto às Musas que temos em registro concerne o Monte Hélicon na Beócia e a Piéria, na Macedônia. Ambas regiões icônicas associadas a mitos de seu nascimento que continham templos para as Musas no passado.

Antes de focarmos em seus epítetos, visto que se trata de um coletivo de deidades, focaremos em seus nomes.

As Nove Musas da Piéria (Filhas de Zeus e Mnemósine)

Chamadas de Piéridas (Em grego Πιεριδες, Pierides), estas Musas são as mais conhecidas e representadas em arte. Filhas da união de Zeus e Mnemósine, seus nomes, significado de cada nome e domínios são: Calíope, (Bela Voz) musa da eloquência e poesia épica Euterpe, (Agradável) musa da poesia lírica Tália, (Festividade, Florescer) musa da comédia Melpomene, (Celebrar com música e dança) musa da tragédia Erato, (Amável) musa da poesia erótica e amorosa Polímnia, (Muitos hinos) musa da literatura sacra e hinos religiosos Urânia, (Celestial) musa da astronomia e astrologia Clio, (Glória) musa da história Terpsícore, (Que se deleita em dançar) musa da dança e dos corais.

Dentre todas as variações deste grupo de deidades, as Nove Musas da Piéria são tidas como as mais conhecidas e têm domínios individuais assinalados a cada uma. Até a atualidade são representadas em obras artísticas ladeando Apolo, deus da luz e das artes em geral, como suas companheiras, amantes (em diversos mitos) e parceiras de domínio.

Em epíteto também são chamadas de Castálides (da fonte da Castália), Helikonides (do Monte Hélicon) ou Parthenoi Helikoniai (Donzelas do Hélicon).

Os epítetos das Musas são bastante relativos a seu local de culto, percebe-se, sendo também chamadas de Olímpiades (do monte Olimpo), Ilisíades (do rio Ilísio) ou Pegasides (do Pégaso, o cavalo alado dito ter criado as fontes do Hipocrene no Hélicon com seus cascos, onde as Musas residiam).

As Musas Titânides (Filhas de Urano e Gaia)

Um agrupamento de Musas descrito pelo antigo poeta espartano Álcman e tardiamente por outros escritores como os romanos Pausânias e Cícero. Seu número entretanto varia entre 3 - 4 Deusas, mas não há consenso geral. Segue abaixo os nomes destas Deusas das artes.

Meletê (Prática) / Mneme (Memória) / Aoide (Canção) / Arkhê (Começo) / Thelxinoe (Encantadora de Mentes)

Autores diferentes agrupavam as filhas de Urano e Gaia entre os nomes acima, sendo válido ressaltar que os fragmentos que relatam os nomes destas Musas Titânides são tão antigos quanto o século 7 AEC (Antes da Era Comum), em torno de um século ou dois após a morte de Hesíodo e Homero.

As Musas Apolônidas (Filhas de Apolo)

Um terceiro agrupamento de Musas também era cultuado na antiguidade, particularmente em Delfos. Estas Deusas das artes seriam filhas do Deus olimpiano da luz, sem mãe atestada nos relatos antigos. Seus nomes vêm em duas variações, seguindo abaixo.

Cêfiso (Do rio Cêfiso) / Apolônis (de Apolo) / Borístenis ([?] + Força)

As três eram chamadas por nomes referentes às notas da lira:

Nete (Nota mais baixa da lira) / Mêse (Nota média da lira) / Hípate (Nota alta da lira)

Independendo de qual grupo de Musas, a todas elas são atreladas o domínio sobre as artes, conhecimento e inspiração para diversos processos onde a mente e a criatividade se enlaçam. Para nossa espiritualidade helênica, sua presença é indispensável, visto que o culto e celebração se fazem usufruindo das artes das Musas - cantando, alegrando-se em hinos e louvores que invocam os Theoi.

É interessante analisar, de um ponto de vista moderno, que as Nove Musas em especial sejam filhas da Memória (Mnemósine) e sejam diretamente atreladas a razão pelas quais muito da cultura helênica antiga chegou a nós. As artes, histórias, poesia e hinos nos informam e educam sobre muito das divindades, sendo um componente essencial na espiritualidade e no ethos helênico.

No mais, as Musas são deidades imprescindíveis e com um domínio vasto. Que Elas continuem a nos inspirar e insuflar as belas artes no âmago de nossos corações. Encerremos o post com seu hino homérico, traduzido por Rafael Brunhara.

We continue our series of posts dedicated to talking a little about the epithets, worship and relevant aspects of various deities with this time a group of Goddesses very relevant to the hellenic cultural tradition: The Muses!

Described as the ones behind the inspiration to poets, thinkers, historians and writers in general, the Muses are the patrons of all sorts of ancient art. It is said that Pythagoras made offerings of oxen when he made some discovery in geometry, and that ancient poets made offerings to Them before beginning their songs. We see invocations to the Muses by the most varied authors and poets, up to the present day.

More commonly we see them grouped into nine, these being referred to in mythology as the daughters of Zeus, King of the Gods, and of Mnemosyne, the Titan Goddess of memories and inventress of words.

Less commonly, we see other groupings of Muses, some described as daughters of Apollo, others being even older than the daughters of Zeus, being daughters of Uranus, the Heavens, and Gaia, the Earth.

Finally, we continue detailing their most common epithets, names and descriptors below.

The most common places of cult to the Muses that we have on record concern Mount Helicon in Boeotia and Pieria in Macedonia. Both iconic regions associated with myths of their birth that contained temples to the Muses in the past.

Before we focus on their epithets, as this is a collective of deities, we'll focus on their names.

The Nine Muses of Pieria (Daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne)

Called Pierides (in Greek Πιεριδες), these Muses are the best known and represented in art. Daughters of the union of Zeus and Mnemosyne, their names, meaning of each name and domains are:

Calliope, (Beautiful Voice) muse of eloquence and epic poetry Euterpe, (Giving Delight) muse of lyric poetry Thalia, (Festivity, Blooming) muse of comedy Melpomene, (To celebrate with song and dance) muse of tragedy Erato, (Lovely) muse of erotic and love poetry Polyhymnia, (Many hymns) muse of sacred literature and religious hymns Urania, (Celestial) muse of astronomy and astrology Clio, (Make famous) muse of history Terpsichore, (Who delights in dancing) muse of dance and choirs.

Of all the variations of this group of deities, the Nine Muses of Pieria are said to be the best known and have individual domains assigned to each. Until today, they are represented in artistic works alongside Apollo, god of light and the arts in general, as His companions, lovers (in several myths) and domain partners.

In epithets they are also called Castalides (from the fountain of Castalia), Helikonides (from Mount Helicon) or Parthenoi Helikoniai (Maidens of Helicon).

The epithets of the Muses are quite relative to their place of worship as it can be seen, being also called Olympiades (of Mount Olympus), Ilysiades (of the Ilysian River) or Pegasides (of Pegasus, the winged horse said to have created the fountains of Hippocrene on Helicon with its hooves, where the Muses resided).

The Titanid Muses (Daughters of Uranus and Gaia)

A grouping of Muses described by the ancient Spartan poet Alcman and later by other writers such as the romans Pausanias and Cicero. Their number however varies between 3 - 4 Goddesses, there is no general consensus. Below are the names of these Goddesses of the arts.

Meletê (Practice) / Mneme (Memory) / Aoide (Song) / Arkhê (Beginning) / Thelxinoe (Enchanter of Minds)

Different authors grouped the daughters of Uranus and Gaia among the names above, and it is worth mentioning that the fragments that report the names of these Titanid Muses are as old as the 7th century BCE (Before the Common Era), around a century or two after the death of Hesiod and Homer.

The Apollonian Muses (Daughters of Apollo)

A third grouping of Muses was also worshiped in antiquity, particularly at Delphi. These Goddesses of the arts would be daughters of the Olympian God of light, without a mother attested in ancient accounts. Their names come in two variations, following below.

Cephysus (From the river Cephysus) / Apollonis (of Apollo) / Borysthenis ([?] + Strength)

The three were also called by names referring to the notes of the lyre:

Nete (low note of the lyre) / Mese (middle note of the lyre) / Hipate (high note of the lyre)

Regardless of which group of Muses, all of them are linked to mastery over the arts, knowledge and inspiration for different processes where the mind and creativity are linked. For our hellenic spirituality, Their presence is indispensable, since worship and celebration are made by utilizing the arts of the Muses - singing, rejoicing in hymns and praises that invoke the Theoi.

It is interesting to analyze, from a modern point of view, that the Nine Muses in particular are children of Memory (Mnemosyne) and are directly linked to the reason why so much ancient hellenic culture has come down to us. The arts, stories, poetry and hymns inform and educate us about many of the deities, being an essential component in hellenic spirituality and ethos.

Furthermore, the Muses are essential deities with a vast domain. May They continue to inspire us and instill the fine arts in the depths of our hearts. Let's close the post with Their homeric hymn:

Khairete philloi!

Damos continuidade neste post da série sobre os Deuses e seus epítetos mais conhecidos. Desta vez focaremos em um outro grupo de deidades importantíssimas para a manutenção do ciclo natural - as Horas.

As Horas, do grego Horai (Porção de Tempo), são as Deusas do fluxo natural do tempo, a passagem das estações e das mudanças nas constelações. Elas também são descritas como guardiãs da entrada para o Olimpo e organizadoras das estrelas nos céus.

Representadas em maior parte como um agrupamento de três jovens bem-vestidas, as Horas dançam em círculo e cumprem suas funções, dando o dinamismo e movimento ao Cosmo. Em grande maioria das vezes, elas são descritas como filhas de Zeus e titã Têmis, a Deusa das leis sagradas e dos costumes divinos. Já os autores Quinto de Esmirna e Nono atribuem a parentagem delas a Hélio e Selene, ou somente Hélio, visto que os titãs do sol e da lua também estão atrelados à passagem de tempo.

Concernindo o culto às Horai, vemos que elas não possuem relatos abundantes de templos dedicados ao coletivo de deidades em si, salvo um templo dedicado a uma dupla de horai em Atenas -- a Talô e Karpô, descritas como horai da primavera e do outono, respectivamente, que compartilhavam um altar com Dionísio no mesmo templo.

Entretanto, há vários santuários e representações delas nos templos de outras divindades: No templo de Zeus em Mégara, no templo de Hera em Argos, no de Apolo em Amyklae (perto de Esparta) entre outros.

Interessantemente, elas são representadas junto às Cárites (as Graças) nestes espaços supracitados também.

Quanto aos nomes das divindades descritas como membros das Horas, segue uma descrição breve de cada agrupamento mais comum.

Nomes das Horai

Diké, Eunomia e Irene - Respectivamente, "Justiça" (Δικη), "Boa Ordem" (Ευνομια) e "Paz" (Ειρηνη), são Deusas filhas de Zeus e Têmis. Estas horas são as divindades associadas às virtudes encarnadas por seu nome. São descritas por inúmeros autores, como Hesíodo, Píndaro e Hígino.

Karpô, Talô e Auxo - Respectivamente, "Fruto" (Καρπω), "Talo/Crescimento" (Θαλλω), "Aumento" (Αυξω). Descritas essencialmente por Pausânias e Hígino como divindades associadas ao fluxo da natureza, cada uma aqui representa o ciclo natural de crescimento das plantas.

Talô é descrita em Atenas como a hora da primavera e Karpô como a hora do outono, com cultos bastante antigos atribuídos a ambas. Nos ritos de passagem para a maioridade, os jovens atenienses mencionavam Talô como parte de seu juramento ao se tornarem efebos, ou seja, adolescentes em treino para serem considerados adultos. Na Teogonia de Hesíodo, Talô é um epíteto de Irene, a hora da paz.

O poeta romano Hígino eleva o número de Horai à dez, descrevendo as seguintes e somando-as como parte deste coletivo.

Auxêsia, Damia, Ortôsia e Ferusa - Do grego, respectivamente, "Crescimento (Αυξησια)", "Terra-nutriz (Δαμια)", "Prosperidade (Ορθωσια)" e "Traz-substância" (Φερουσα).

As seguintes são um quarteto de horai descritas na qualidade de Deusas das estações do ano.

Eiar (Ειαρ), Theros (Θερος), Ftinóforon (Φθινοφωρον) e Químon (Χειμων) - Respectivamente, "Primavera", "Verão", "Outono" e "Inverno".

Importantes divindades descritas como benevolentes e nutrizes da natureza, dos mortais e ministras dos Deuses celestes, as horai são companheiras frequentes das deidades que tanto nos cobrem com benesses.

Honremos estas grandiosas Deusas e busquemos invocá-las junto aos Imortais por suas graças tão benévolas à humanidade. Encerramos o post junto ao hino órfico às Horas, tradução de Rafael Brunhara do blog "Primeiros Escritos" (recomendamos para quem curte hinos e literatura antiga!).

Das Horas; fumigação: Ervas Aromáticas

We continue the series about the Gods and their best-known epithets. This time we will focus on another group of deities that are very important for maintaining the natural cycle - the Horai.

The Horai, from the Greek "Portion of Time", are the Goddesses of the natural flow of time, the passage of the seasons and changes in the constellations. They are also described as guardians of the entrance to Olympus and organizers of the stars in the heavens.

Mostly represented as a group of three well-dressed young women, the Horai dance in a circle and fulfill their functions, giving dynamism and movement to the Cosmos. Most of the time, they are described as daughters of Zeus and the titan Themis, the Goddess of sacred laws and divine customs. The authors Quintus of Smyrna and Nonnus attribute their parentage to Helios and Selene, or just Helios, since the titans of the sun and moon are also linked to the passage of time.

Concerning the cult of the Horai, we see that they do not have abundant reports of temples dedicated to the collective of deities themselves, except for a temple dedicated to a pair of horai in Athens -- to Thallo and Karpo, described as horai of spring and autumn, respectively, who shared an altar with Dionysus in the same temple.

However, there are several sanctuaries and representations of them in the temples of other deities: In the temple of Zeus in Megara, in the temple of Hera in Argos, in the temple of Apollon in Amyklae (near Sparta), among others.

Interestingly, they are represented alongside the Kharites (the Graces) in these aforementioned spaces as well.

As for the names of the deities described as members of the Hours, below is a brief description of each most common grouping.

Names of the Horai

Diké, Eunomia and Irene - Respectively, "Justice" (Δικη), "Good Order" (Ευνομια) and "Peace" (Ειρηνη), are Goddesses daughters of Zeus and Themis. These horai are the deities associated with the virtues embodied by their name. They are described by numerous authors, such as Hesiod, Pindar and Hyginus.

Karpo, Thallo and Auxo - Respectively, "Fruit" (Καρπω), "Growth" (Θαλλω), "Increase" (Αυξω). Essentially described by Pausanias and Hyginus as deities associated with the flow of nature, each one here represents the natural growth cycle of plants.

Thallo is described in Athens as the hora of spring and Karpo as the hora of autumn, with very old cults attributed to both. In the rites of passage for adulthood, young athenians mentioned Thallo as part of their oath when they became ephebes, that is, teenagers in training to be considered adults. In Hesiod's Theogony, Thallo is an epithet for Irene, the hora of peace.

The Roman poet Hyginus raises the number of Horai to ten, describing the following and adding them as part of this collective.

Auxêsia, Damia, Ortôsia and Ferusa - From the Greek, respectively, "Growth (Αυξησια)", "Nursing Earth (Δαμια)", "Prosperity (Ορθωσια)" and "Bring-substance" (Φερουσα).

The following are a quartet of horai described as Goddesses of the seasons.

Eiar (Ειαρ), Theros (Θερος), Phtynophoron (Φθινοφωρον) and Cheimon (Χειμων) - Respectively, "Spring", "Summer", "Autumn" and "Winter".

Important deities described as benevolent and nurturing of nature, mortals and ministers of the celestial Gods, the horai are frequent companions of the deities that shower us with blessings.

Let us honor these great Goddesses and seek to invoke them with the Immortals for their benevolent graces to humanity. We close the post with the Orphic hymn to the horai: