Erinnyes

ERINNYES. - Minor Greek divinities, whose nature and the etymology of whose name are obscure and uncertain: they would be personifications of storm clouds, or the spirits of the dead killed unjustly and unavenged, or personified curses. In Homer they are fearsome beings: summoned by curses, they come from the Underworld wrapped in mist and drive men to evil deeds. Hesiod says they were born from the blood that gushed from the genitals of Uranus; they are fearsome, but they also promote fertility and fecundity. In Aeschylus they persecute Orestes after the killing of Clytemnestra: terrible and just avengers of the crime, they know neither pity nor extenuating circumstances. In the Hellenistic age they bear the names Alecto, Megaera and Tisiphone. Aeschylus, and others with him, identify the E. with the Eumenides (v.), benevolent powers of fertility. The E. appear in a good number of legends. In art they are depicted with a severe appearance; they hold torches and whips or snakes in their hands; other snakes are among their hair. The Greek spirit, averse to what is ugly and deformed, wished them represented as terrible but beautiful women.