Eleos
{{Short description|Greek deity of mercy and compassion}}
{{more citations needed|date=February 2018}}
{{Greek myth (personified)}}
In ancient Athens, Eleos (Ancient Greek {{lang|grc|Ἔλεος}} m.) or Elea{{cn|date=September 2024}} was the personification of compassion.Bloch, para. 1. Pausanias described her as "among all the gods the most useful to human life in all its vicissitudes."Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Cited in {{cite web |url=https://www.theoi.com/Daimon/Eleos.html |title=Eleos |work=Theoi Project |publisher=Aaron J. Atsma}}
Mythology
Pausanias states that there was an altar in Athens dedicated to Eleos,Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 1.17.1 at which children of Heracles sought refuge from Eurystheus' prosecution.Apollodorus, 2.8.1{{failed verification|date=February 2018}} Adrastus also came to this altar after the defeat of the Seven against Thebes, praying that those who died in the battle be buried.{{citation needed|date=February 2019}} Eleos was only recognized in Athens, where she was honored by the cutting of hair and the undressing of garments at the altar.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cj5OAwAAQBAJ&q=Eleos |title=Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines |author=Patricia Monaghan, PhD |year=2014 |access-date=2019-02-27 |page=238|isbn=9781608682188 }}Scholia to Sophocles's Oedipus at Colonus, 258
Statius in Thebaid (1st century) describes the altar to Clementia in Athens (treating Eleos as feminine based on the grammatical gender in Latin): "There was in the midst of the city [of Athens] an altar belonging to no god of power; gentle Clementia (Clemency) [Eleos] had there her seat, and the wretched made it sacred".{{cite book|url=https://topostext.org/work/149 |title=Thebaid, 12.481 |author=Statius |access-date=2024-03-07 }}
See also
{{Wiktionary|Ἔλεος}}
- (Goddesses of Justice): Astraea, Dike, Themis, Prudentia
- (Goddesses of Injustice): Adikia
- (Aspects of Justice): (see also: Triple deity/Triple Goddess (Neopaganism))
- (Justice) Themis/Dike/Justitia (Lady Justice), Raguel (the Angel of Justice)
- (Retribution) Nemesis/Rhamnousia/Rhamnusia/Adrasteia/Adrestia/Invidia
- (Redemption) Eleos/Soteria/Clementia, Zadkiel/Zachariel (the Angel of Mercy)
Notes
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References
- Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0021 Greek text available from the same website].
- Bloch, René, "Eleos", in Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Antiquity, Volume 4, Cyr – Epy, edited by Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider, Brill, 2004. {{ISBN|9004122672}}.
- Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. [https://topostext.org/work/206 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
- Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. {{ISBN|0-674-99328-4}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]
- Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0159 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
- Statius, Thebaid translated by John Henry Mozley. Loeb Classical Library. [https://topostext.org/work/149 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
{{Greek mythology (deities)|state=collapsed}}
Category:Personifications in Greek mythology