Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, Apate (;

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

: Ἀπάτη ''Apátē'') is the goddess and personification of

deceit Deception is the act of convincing of one or many recipients of untrue information. The person creating the deception knows it to be false while the receiver of the information does not. It is often done for personal gain or advantage. Deceit ...

. Her mother is Nyx, the personification of the

night Night, or nighttime, is the period of darkness when the Sun is below the horizon. Sunlight illuminates one side of the Earth, leaving the other in darkness. The opposite of nighttime is daytime. Earth's rotation causes the appearance of ...

. In

Roman mythology Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans, and is a form of Roman folklore. "Roman mythology" may also refer to the modern study of these representations, and to th ...

her equivalent is Fraus (Fraud), while her male counterpart is

Dolus In Classical mythology, Dolus () is a figure who appears in an Aesopic fable by the Roman fabulist Gaius Julius Phaedrus, where he is an apprentice of the Titan Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning "forethought ...

(Deception), and her opposite number

Aletheia ''Aletheia'' or Alethia (; ) is truth or disclosure in philosophy. Originating in Ancient Greek philosophy, the term was explicitly used for the first time in the history of philosophy by Parmenides in his poem ''Parmenides#On Nature, On Nature ...

, the goddess of truth.

Family

Apate was the daughter of the primordial deities

Erebus In Greek mythology, Erebus (; ), or Erebos, is the personification of darkness. In Hesiod's ''Theogony'', he is the offspring of Chaos, and the father of Aether and Hemera (Day) by Nyx (Night); in other Greek cosmogonies, he is the father of A ...

(Darkness) and Nyx (Night).Cicero, ''De Natura Deorum'' 3.17

Mythology

The only myth in which Apate appeared was that of the affair between

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

, king of the gods, and

Semele Semele (; ), or Thyone (; ) in Greek mythology, was the youngest daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia (Greek goddess), Harmonia, and the mother of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths. Certain elements of the cult of Dionysus and Semele ...

, a Theban princess who bore him the god of wine,

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ...

. After knowing this infidelity of her husband,

Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; ; in Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Oly ...

sought the help of Apate in her scheme of punishing the mortal paramour of Zeus. Apate then willingly gave her a magical girdle which Hera then used to trick Semele into asking Zeus to appear before in his true form which resulted in her death (i.e. Semele) because no mortal being can directly gaze the presence of a god. The story as recounted in Nonnus' DionysiacaNonnus, Dionysiaca 8. 110 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic 5th century A.D.) were as follows:

era learns Semele is pregnant with a child of Zeus:Nor did the consort of Zeus
era An era is a span of time. Era or ERA may also refer to: * Era (geology), a subdivision of geologic time * Calendar era Education * Academy of European Law (German: '), an international law school * ERA School, in Melbourne, Australia * E ...
abate her heavy anger. She stormed with flying shoe through the heaven bespangled with tis pattern of shining stars, she coursed through innumerable cities with travelling foot, seeking if anywhere she could find Apate (Deceit) the crafty one. But when high above Korybantian Dikte (Corybantian Dicte) she beheld the child bed water of neighbouring
Amnisos Amnisos, also Amnissos and Amnisus (Greek language, Greek: or ; Linear B: 𐀀𐀖𐀛𐀰 ''A-mi-ni-so''), is the current but unattested name given to a Bronze Age settlement on the north shore of Crete that was used as a port to the palace ci ...
, the fickle deity met her there on the hills; for she was fond of the Kretans (Cretans) for they are always liars, and she used to stay by the false tomb of Zeus. About her hips was a Kydonian (Cydonian) cincture, which contains all the cunning bewitchment of mankind : trickery with its many shifts, cajoling seduction, all the shapes of guile, perjury itself which flies on the winds of heaven.

Then subtle minded Hera began to coax wily Apate (Deceit) with wily words, hoping to have revenge on her husband: "Good greeting, lady of wily mind and wily snares! Not Hermes Hoaxthewits himself can outdo you with his plausible prittleprattle! Lend me also that girdle or many colours, which Rheia once bound about her flanks when she deceived her husband ronos (Cronus) I bring no prettified shape for my Kronion (Cronion)
eus Eus ( in both French and Catalan) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in the Occitania region in Southern France. Located just northeast of Prades, it had a population of 380 in 2021. It is a member of Les Plus Beaux Villages d ...
I do not trick my husband with a wily stone. No! a woman of the earth compels me whose bed makes furious Ares declare that he will house in heaven no more! What do I profit by being a goddess immortal? ... I am afraid Kronides (Cronides), who is called my husband and brother, will banish me from heaven for a woman's bed, afraid he may make Semele queen of his Olympos! If you favour Zeus Kronion more than Hera, if you will not give me your all-bewitching girdle to bring back again to Olympos my wandering son, I will leave heaven because of their earthly marriage, I will go to the uttermost bounds of Okeanos (Oceanus) and share the hearth of primeval Tethys; thence I will pass to the house of and abide with Ophion. Come then, honour the mother of all
era An era is a span of time. Era or ERA may also refer to: * Era (geology), a subdivision of geologic time * Calendar era Education * Academy of European Law (German: '), an international law school * ERA School, in Melbourne, Australia * E ...
the bride of Zeus, and lend me the help of your girdle, that I may charm my runaway son furious Ares, to make heaven once more his home.

When she had finished, the goddess replied with obedient words: "Mother of Enyalios (i.e. Ares), bride first enthroned of Zeus! I will give my girdle and anything else you ask me; I obey, since you reign over the gods with Kronion. Receive this sash; bind it about your bosom, and you may bring back Ares to heaven. If you like, charm the mind of Zeus, and if it is necessary, charm Okeanos also from his anger. Zeus sovereign in the heights will leave his earthly loves and return self-bidden to heaven he will change his mind by my guileful girdle. This one puts to shame the heart bewitching girdle of the Paphian phrodite" This said, the wilyminded deity was off under the wind, cleaving the air with flying shoe.

Notes

References

Hesiod Hesiod ( or ; ''Hēsíodos''; ) was an ancient Greece, Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer.M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press (1966), p. 40.Jasper Gr ...

, ''Theogony'' from ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica'' with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website
*

Marcus Tullius Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

, ''Nature of the Gods from the Treatises of M.T. Cicero'' translated by Charles Duke Yonge (1812–1891), Bohn edition of 1878
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* Marcus Tullius Cicero, ''De Natura Deorum.'' O. Plasberg. Leipzig. Teubner. 1917
Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library
{{Authority control Trickster goddesses Greek trickster deities Greek goddesses Personifications in Greek mythology Children of Nyx