Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

, the Arae (;

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

: Αραι) were female spirits of curses, particularly of the curses placed by the dead upon those guilty of their death; they were associated with the underworld. Also they can curse men such that the cattle of the sun god

Helios In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Helios (; grc, , , Sun; Homeric Greek: ) is the deity, god and personification of the Sun (Solar deity). His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyper ...

would have done if they were harmed by any man, as in Homer's ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major Ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek Epic poetry, epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by moder ...

.''

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek ...

, '' Libation Bearers'' 406

Mythology

The Arae are sometimes identified with the

Erinyes The Erinyes ( ; sing. Erinys ; grc, Ἐρινύες, pl. of ), also known as the Furies, and the Eumenides, were female chthonic deities of vengeance in ancient Greek religion and mythology. A formulaic oath in the ''Iliad'' invokes ...

Bacchylides' account

Aeschylus's accounts

Suda

Notes

References

, translated in two volumes. 1. ''Seven Against Thebes'' by Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph.D. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1926
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website
* Aeschylus, translated in two volumes. 2. ''Eumenides'' by Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph.D. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1926
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website
* Aeschylus, translated in two volumes. 2. ''Libation Bearers'' by Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph.D. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1926
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website
*

Suida The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; grc-x-medieval, Σοῦδα, Soûda; la, Suidae Lexicon) is a large 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas (Σούδας) or Souidas ...

, ''Suda Encyclopedia'' translated by Ross Scaife, David Whitehead, William Hutton, Catharine Roth, Jennifer Benedict, Gregory Hays, Malcolm Heath Sean M. Redmond, Nicholas Fincher, Patrick Rourke, Elizabeth Vandiver, Raphael Finkel, Frederick Williams, Carl Widstrand, Robert Dyer, Joseph L. Rife, Oliver Phillips and many others
Online version at the Topos Text Project.

External links

{{Greek mythology (deities), state=collapsed Underworld goddesses Greek goddesses Personifications in Greek mythology Characters in Greek mythology Greek underworld Chthonic beings Women in Greek mythology Vengeance goddesses