Erinni

Le Erinni (in greco: Ερινύες) sono, nella religione e nella mitologia greca, le personificazioni femminili della vendetta (Furie nella mitologia romana) soprattutto nei confronti di chi colpisce la propria famiglia e i parenti.

Mito

Secondo il mito esse nacquero dal sangue di Urano, fuoriuscito quando Crono lo evirò, mentre la successiva tradizione poetica le dice figlie della Notte.
Le Erinni sono tre sorelle: Aletto, Megera e Tisifone.
Al fine di placarle, vennero chiamate anche Eumenidi (ossia, le "benevole"), si porgevano loro varie offerte e ad esse si sacrificavano le pecore nere. Le Erinni erano anche indicate con altri epiteti, come Semnai o Potnie ("venerabili"), Manie ("folli") e Ablabie ("senza colpa").
Venivano rappresentate come geni alati, con la bocca spalancata nell'atto di cacciare urla terribili, con serpenti invece di capelli, recanti in mano torce o fruste o carboni e tizzoni ardenti. Il loro aspetto era quindi di tre donne alate con capelli di serpenti che recavano tra le mani delle armi che usavano per torturare il malcapitato.
Così le descrive Claudio Claudiano nel De Raptu Proserpinae:

(LA) « Coniurant Furiae crinitaque sontibus hydris Tesiphone quatiens infausto lumine pinum Armatos ad castra vocant pallentia Manes »	(IT) « Fanno lega le Furie, e Tisifone, avvolta di Maligni colubri, squassa con sinistri bagliori la torcia e chiama all'esangue raduno gli armati spettri »
(Claudio Claudiano, De Raptu Proserpinae (395-398), I, 39)

Il loro compito era quello di vendicare i delitti, soprattutto quelli compiuti contro la propria famiglia, torturando l'assassino con le armi che portavano con loro, fino a farlo impazzire.
Esse sono chiamate anche Dire da Virgilio.
Spesso presenti nella cultura classica - emblematico, in proposito, il ruolo che assumono nell'Orestea di Eschilo - ritornarono sovente, come riferimento colto, tanto nella cultura medievale - Dante le indica come le custodi della città infernale di Dite - quanto in quella moderna e contemporanea, pur se, in quest'ultima, in modo abbastanza sporadico. Le si trovano anche nel romanzo Le Benevole di Jonathan Littell e nel romanzo "Furia" di Salman Rushdie. Citate anche da Marcel Proust ne All'ombra delle fanciulle in fiore e nella trilogia Starcrossed di Josephine Angelini.
Le Erinni perseguitarono Alcmeone dopo l'assassinio di sua madre e straziarono Pentesilea che aveva involontariamente ucciso sua sorella in una battuta di caccia.
Nella Medea di Euripide il coro invoca il raggio divino affinché fermi, ad evitare l'incombente duplice infanticidio, la mano di Medea, posseduta dalla sanguinaria Erinni, che le infonde lo spirito di vendetta.

Oreste inseguito dalle Erinni ("Il rimorso di Oreste", opera di William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1862)

William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - The Remorse of Orestes (1862)

Erinyes

In Greek mythology the Erinyes (/ɪˈrɪniˌiːz/; sing. Erinys /ɪˈrɪnɪs/; Greek: Ἐρῑνύες [ῠ], pl. of Ἐρῑνύς [ῡ], Erinys), also known as the Furies, were female chthonic deities of vengeance; they were sometimes referred to as "infernal goddesses" (χθόνιαι θεαί). A formulaic oath in the Iliad invokes them as "the Erinyes, that under earth take vengeance on men, whosoever hath sworn a false oath". Walter Burkert suggests they are "an embodiment of the act of self-cursing contained in the oath". They correspond to the Dirae in Roman mythology. The Roman writer Maurus Servius Honoratus wrote that they are called "Eumenides" in hell, "Furiae" on earth, and "Dirae" in heaven.
According to Hesiod's Theogony, when the Titan Cronus castrated his father, Uranus, and threw his genitalia into the sea, the Erinyes (along with the Giants and the Meliae) emerged from the drops of blood which fell on the earth (Gaia), while Aphrodite was born from the crests of sea foam. According to variant accounts, they emerged from an even more primordial level—from Nyx ("Night"), or from a union between air and mother earth. Their number is usually left indeterminate. Virgil, probably working from an Alexandrian source, recognized three: Alecto or Alekto ("endless"), Megaera ("jealous rage"), and Tisiphone or Tilphousia ("vengeful destruction"), all of whom appear in the Aeneid. Dante Alighieri followed Virgil in depicting the same three-character triptych of Erinyes; in Canto IX of the Inferno they confront the poets at the gates of the city of Dis. Whilst the Erinyes were usually described as three maiden goddesses, the Erinys Telphousia was usually a by-name for the wrathful goddess Demeter, who was worshipped under the title of Erinys in the Arkadian town of Thelpousa.

Etymology

The word Erinyes is of uncertain etymology; connections with the verb ὀρίνειν orinein, "to raise, stir, excite", and the noun ἔρις eris, "strife" have been suggested; Beekes, pp. 458–459, has proposed a Pre-Greek origin. The word Erinys in the singular and as a theonym is first attested in Mycenaean Greek, written in Linear B, in the following forms: 𐀁𐀪𐀝, e-ri-nu, and 𐀁𐀪𐀝𐀸, e-ri-nu-we. These words are found on the KN Fp 1, KN V 52, and KN Fh 390 tablets.

Description

The Erinyes live in Erebus and are more ancient deities than any of the Olympians. Their task is to hear complaints brought by mortals against the insolence of the young to the aged, of children to parents, of hosts to guests, and of householders or city councils to suppliants—and to punish such crimes by hounding culprits relentlessly. The Erinyes are crones and, depending upon authors, described as having snakes for hair, dog's heads, coal black bodies, bat's wings, and blood-shot eyes. In their hands they carry brass-studded scourges, and their victims die in torment.

Three sisters

According to legend, the three classic Furies sprang forth from the spilled blood of Uranus when he was castrated by his son Cronus. The sisters are:

Alecto – Punisher of moral crimes (anger, etc.)
Megaera – Punisher of infidelity, oath breakers, and theft
Tisiphone – Punisher of murderers

In ancient Greek literature

Tantalizing myth fragments dealing with the Erinyes are found among the earliest extant records of ancient Greek culture. The Erinyes are featured prominently in the myth of Orestes, which recurs frequently throughout many works of ancient Greek literature.

Aeschylus

Featured in ancient Greek literature, from poems to plays, the Erinyes form the Chorus and play a major role in the conclusion of Aeschylus's dramatic trilogy the Oresteia. In the first play, Agamemnon, King Agamemnon returns home from the Trojan War, where he is slain by his wife, Clytemnestra, who wants vengeance for her daughter Iphigenia, who was sacrificed by Agamemnon in order to obtain favorable winds to sail to Troy. In the second play, The Libation Bearers, their son Orestes has reached manhood and has been commanded by Apollo's oracle to avenge his father's murder at his mother’s hand. Returning home and revealing himself to his sister Electra, Orestes pretends to be a messenger bringing the news of his own death to Clytemnestra. He then slays his mother and her lover Aegisthus. Although Orestes’ actions were what Apollo had commanded him to do, Orestes has still committed matricide, a grave sacrilege. Because of this, he is pursued and tormented by the terrible Erinyes, who demand yet further blood vengeance.

In The Eumenides, Orestes is told by Apollo at Delphi that he should go to Athens to seek the aid of the goddess Athena. In Athens, Athena arranges for Orestes to be tried by a jury of Athenian citizens, with her presiding. The Erinyes appear as Orestes' accusers, while Apollo speaks in his defense. The trial becomes a debate about the necessity of blood vengeance, the honor that is due to a mother compared to that due to a father, and the respect that must be paid to ancient deities such as the Erinyes compared to the newer generation of Apollo and Athena. The jury vote is evenly split. Athena participates in the vote and chooses for acquittal. Athena declares Orestes acquitted because of the rules she established for the trial. Despite the verdict, the Erinyes threaten to torment all inhabitants of Athens and to poison the surrounding countryside. Athena, however, offers the ancient goddesses a new role, as protectors of justice, rather than vengeance, and of the city. She persuades them to break the cycle of blood for blood (except in the case of war, which is fought for glory, not vengeance). While promising that the goddesses will receive due honor from the Athenians and Athena, she also reminds them that she possesses the key to the storehouse where Zeus keeps the thunderbolts that defeated the other older deities. This mixture of bribes and veiled threats satisfies the Erinyes, who are then led by Athena in a procession to their new abode. In the play, the "Furies" are thereafter addressed as "Semnai" (Venerable Ones), as they will now be honored by the citizens of Athens and ensure the city's prosperity.

Euripides

In Euripides' Orestes the Erinyes are for the first time "equated" with the Eumenides (Εὐμενίδες, pl. of Εὐμενίς; literally "the gracious ones", but also translated as "Kindly Ones"). This is because it was considered unwise to mention them by name (for fear of attracting their attention), the ironic name is similar to how Hades, god of the dead is styled Pluton, or Pluto, "the Rich One'. Using euphemisms for the names of deities served many purposes throughout ancient religions.

Sophocles

In Sophocles's play, Oedipus at Colonus, it is significant that he comes to his final resting place in the grove dedicated to the Erinyes. It shows that he has paid his penance for his blood crime, as well as come to integrate the balancing powers to his early over-reliance upon Apollo, the god of the individual, the sun, and reason. He is asked to make an offering to the Erinyes and complies, having made his peace.^{[original research?]}

Modern references and literature

The Erinyes persist as a theme that appears in modern literature as well as the subject of scholarly pursuits of mythology and ancient Greek culture. The Orestes theme becomes an important subject to scholars such as James George Frazer and Robert Graves. In The Greek Myths, Graves translates and interprets the legends and myth fragments about Clytemnestra, Agamemnon, and Orestes, as suggesting a ritual killing of a "king" (Agamemnon) in very early religious ceremonies that were suppressed when patriarchy replaced the matriarchies of very ancient Greece. Graves asserts that the sacrilege for which the Erinyes pursued Orestes was the killing of his mother, who represented matriarchy. He explains that worship of Athena was retained as a cult because it was too strong to be suppressed, but she was recast as a child of Zeus in new myths, even given the previously incomprehensible role of justifying what would have been a horrific crime against the old religious customs. Graves, and many other mythographers, were influenced by The Golden Bough of Frazer, and since it was published many myths have been reinterpreted to reveal clues to ancient religious practices that were kept as secret rituals. They are mentioned in the poem "To Brooklyn Bridge" by Hart Crane. The Eumenides are also featured in T. S. Eliot's play, The Family Reunion, Neil Gaiman's comic book series, The Sandman and Rick Riordan's novel, The Lightning Thief.

Clytemnestra tries to awaken the sleeping Erinyes. Detail from an Apulian red-figure bell-krater, 380–370 BC.

Eumenides Painter - User:Bibi Saint-Pol, own work, 2007-07-21

Clytemnestra tries to awake the sleeping Erinyes; Orestes, here unseen, is being purified by Apollo on the right. Detail of the side A from an Apulian red-figure bell-krater, 380–370 BC. From Armento?

Orestes at Delphi. Paestan red-figured bell-krater, ca. 330 BC.

Python (as painter) - Jastrow (2006)

Two Furies, from a nineteenth-century book reproducing an image from an ancient vase.

Böcklin Der Mörder und die Furien 1870

Arnold Böcklin - Die Gemälde-Galerie des Grafen A. F. von Schack in München. Mit begleitendem Text von Graf A. F. von Schack. Verlag Dr. E. Albert, München 1890; self scanned from own book

High resolution scan of engraving by Gustave Doré illustrating Canto IX of Divine Comedy, Inferno, by Dante Alighieri. Caption: Megaera, Tisipone, and Alecto

Aletto, Tisifore e Megera

Dette anche le "Erinni" o "Furie"

Homage to Jean-Paul Sartre (Les mouches 1943) The Erinys, deities born chtoniennes drops of blood fell on Gaia, the Earth, when Cronos mutilated Ouranos, are the female spirits of justice and revenge. They will be named Furies by the Romans. Virgil, inspired by an Alexandrian source, are three in which he called Alecto (implacable), Shrew(attacker) and Tisiphoné (the retribution of the murder)

Jeylina EVER - Opera propria

Henry Fuseli - The Erinyes Drive Alcmaeon from the Corpse of his Mother, Eriphyle, Whom He Has Killed. 1821 or Assassinated Woman and the Furies / Kunsthaus, Zurich, Switzerland

Erinyes, Apulian red-figure krater C4th B.C., Badische Landesmuseum

A 1610 depiction of a Fury from the Kunsthistorisches Museum

Furienmeister

Calabria – La costa di Rovaglioso (Porto Oreste), Palmi (Reggio Calabria) – Ph. Francesco Cucinotta – FdS: courtesy dell’Autore

Era poco più che un bambino Oreste quando assistette all’uccisione del padre Agamennone, re di Micene e capo dell’esercito acheo nella guerra di Troia, ad opera di Clitemnestra e del suo amante Egisto. La donna non aveva mai perdonato al marito il sacrificio della figlia Ifigenia compiuto sull’altare di Artemide per favorire la partenza delle navi achee. Per proteggerlo, la sorella Elettra portò Oreste dal re Strofio, in Focide, cognato ed amico di Agamennone che lo allevò insieme al figlio Pilade. I due cugini divennero così inseparabili. Ormai adulto, nove anni dopo, Oreste si recò a Delfi per avere indicazioni dal celebre oracolo su come vendicare il proprio padre. Il responso fu dei più agghiaccianti: avrebbe dovuto uccidere sua madre Clitennestra e l’amante di lei, Egisto.

Eseguito il duplice omicidio si narra che le Furie (o Erinni, dee della vendetta) fecero immediatamente impazzire Oreste e lo perseguitarono senza tregua. A questo punto, narra Eschilo, vi fu un processo contro di lui ad Atene dove Apollo (ispiratore, tramite l’oracolo, dell’assassinio dei due amanti) ebbe il ruolo di difensore di Oreste mentre le Furie quello di accusatrici. I voti della giuria furono pari e la dea Atena, quale presidente dell’Areopago (l’antico tribunale fondato dagli dei), diede il suo voto in favore di Oreste, giudicando la morte della madre meno importante di quella del padre. Ma nemmeno allora le Furie abbandonarono Oreste. Apollo gli disse allora che per trovare pace avrebbe dovuto recarsi nella terra dei Tauri, nel Chersoneso, rubare l’antica statua lignea di Artemide e poi recarsi in un luogo ove scorreva un fiume alimentato da sette sorgenti.

Oreste eseguì le indicazioni e giunto insieme a Pilade nel Chersoneso, venne catturato e, come tutti gli stranieri, preparato per il sacrificio ad Artemide. Ma ecco il colpo di scena: sacerdotessa del tempio era Ifigenia (a suo tempo sottratta al sacrificio dalla stessa Artemide), sorella di Oreste la quale, riconosciuto il fratello, ingannò Toante, re dei Tauri, dicendogli che i nuovi arrivati dovevano essere lavati nel mare poiché accusati di matricidio e chiese alla popolazione di non assistere al rito. Ciò consentì ai tre di fuggire con la statua di Artemide, prendendo il largo verso la Grecia. Toante lì inseguì ma rimase sconfitto. Dopo tante peregrinazioni giunsero in Sicilia e poi nell’Ausonia (la regione corrispondente alle attuali province di Catanzaro e di Reggio Calabria) e qui **Oreste approdò alla foce del fiume Metauros (oggi Petrace) a suo tempo indicato dall’oracolo di Delfi. Questo fiume è tutt’oggi alimentato da sette affluenti (Schiavo, Carasia, Doverso, Marro, Turbolo, Calabro, Razzà). Varrone** (II-I sec. a.C.) ne indica i nomi antichi in Lapadone, Micode, Engione, Statero, Polme, Melcissa, Argeade. Appena vi si immerse Oreste riacquistò il senno. Le Erinni che lo avevano posseduto si trasformarono così in Eumenidi, tutrici dell’ordine naturale delle cose. E a questo punto la leggenda narra che lì nei pressi – in un luogo vicino all’odierna Palmi – Oreste fondò una città che da lui prese il nome (Porto Oreste). Qui, si narra che sia rimasta a lungo la spada di Oreste e che egli vi abbia edificato un tempio ad Apollo, dal quale i Reggini, quando partivano per Delfi, celebrati i sacri riti, erano soliti staccare un ramo d’alloro che portavano in Grecia.

Calabria – Palmi (reggio Calabria) vista dal Monte Sant’Elia – Photo by Nikater

Fury (one of the Furies)

Illustrated by Engravings on Wood. - A Smaller Classical Mythology: With Translations from the Ancient Poets, and Questions Upon the Work by William Smith. London: John Murray, Albemarle Street. 1882.

The Erinyes

Inf. 09 Priamo della Quercia

Priamo della Quercia (XV sec. )

Furie

Tereus and Procne, surrounded by Furies. Engraving by Virgil Solis (1581) for Ovid's Metamorphoses Book VI, 412-432. Fol. 78r, image 4.

Awake, arise, rouse her as I rose thee. The Furies by John Flaxman

FURIES

Henry Fuseli - The Erinyes Drive Alcmaeon from the Corpse of his Mother, Eriphyle, Whom He Has Killed. 1821 // Louvre

Sisyphos, den Stein wälzend, und eine Erinnye (Vase aus Canosa, in München) 1885

sconosciuto

Placchetta dall'antico, erinni, xv sec.

ALECTO

Engraving: questa e megera dal sinistro canto from Divina Commedia by Dante - illustration designed by John Flaxman, engraved by Tommaso Piroli.

John Flaxman - Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library

1793

MEGAERA

Wenceslas Hollar - The three furies

Wenceslaus Hollar - Artwork from University of Toronto Wenceslaus Hollar Digital Collection

Creato: Data sconosciuta (author lived 1607-1677)

TISIPHONE

Wenceslas Hollar - Three Furies

Wenceslaus Hollar - Artwork from University of Toronto Wenceslaus Hollar Digital Collection

Furies_Erinyes_Mythical_Creature_Art_by_GenzoMan

Atamante preso dalle Furie
1801

Arcangelo Migliarini

Furies Erinyes (Mythical Creature) - Art Picture by ScottPurdy

Tisiphone maddens Athamas & Ino (from Greek mythology).

sconosciuto XVII sec.

Furies Erinyes (Mythical Creature) - Art Picture by vee209

Athamas tue le fils d'Ino Commentaire: Lieu: Collezione Molinari Pradelli, Marano di Castenaso Auteur: Gaetano Gandolfi Date: 1801 Nature: huile sur toile Dimension: 92x63cm

Athamas und Ino, Radierung; 17. Jh.XVII sec.

sconosciuto - Universitätsbibliothek Salzburg, G 732 II, aus einem Klebeband "Malerakademie"

Godfried Maes - Illustrations to the Metamorphoses of Ovid, Athamas tearing apart his Children

tra il 1664 e il 1700 date

The fury Tesiphone induces King Athamas to kill his children

Anonimo
XV sec. date

Tisiphone

Watchcase cover- Tisiphone Casting Snakes at Athamas and Ino

first quarter of the 17th century

Furies (Erinyes) The Deities of Vengeance - Mythology Dictionary #06 ...

YouTube

Furies (Erinyes) The Deities of Vengeance - Mythology Dictionary #06 See U in History

Orestes slaying Aegisthus and Clytemnestra 1654

Bernardino Mei

FURIES

Carl Rahl - Orestes Pursued by the Furies (1852).

A Fury, goddess of punishment, shown with a torch,
scourge and spears, the tools of her vengeance
(Illustration from Dr. Smith's Classical Dictionary, 1895)