Apate (deity)
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In Greek mythology, Apate (; Ancient Greek: Απάτη ''Apátē'') is the goddess and personification of deceit. Her mother is
Nyx Nyx (; , , "Night") is the Greek goddess and personification of night. A shadowy figure, Nyx stood at or near the beginning of creation and mothered other personified deities, such as Hypnos (Sleep) and Thanatos (Death), with Erebus (Darknes ...
, the personification of the night. In Roman mythology her equivalent is Fraus (i.e. "
fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...
"), while her male counterpart is Dolos, a minor god of trickery, and her opposite number Aletheia, the goddess of truth.


Family

Apate was the daughter of the primordial deities Erebus (Darkness) and
Nyx Nyx (; , , "Night") is the Greek goddess and personification of night. A shadowy figure, Nyx stood at or near the beginning of creation and mothered other personified deities, such as Hypnos (Sleep) and Thanatos (Death), with Erebus (Darknes ...
(Night).Cicero, ''De Natura Deorum'' 3.17


Hesiod's account

And Nyx (Night) bare hateful Moros (Doom) and black Ker (Violent Death) and Thanatos (Death), and she bare Hypnos (Sleep) and the tribe of Oneiroi (Dreams). And again the goddess murky Nyx, though she lay with none, bare Momos (Blame) and painful Oizys (Misery), and the Hesperides ... Also she bare the Moirai (Fates) and the ruthless avenging Keres (Death Fates) ... Also deadly Nyx bare
Nemesis In ancient Greek religion, Nemesis, also called Rhamnousia or Rhamnusia ( grc, Ῥαμνουσία, Rhamnousía, the goddess of Rhamnous), was the goddess who personifies retribution, a central concept in the Greek world view. Etymology The n ...
(Retribution) to afflict mortal men, and after her, Apate (Deceit) and Philotes (Friendship) and hateful Geras (Old Age) and hardhearted Eris (Strife).


Cicero's account

Their
ether and Hemera's In organic chemistry, ethers are a class of compounds that contain an ether group—an oxygen atom connected to two alkyl or aryl groups. They have the general formula , where R and R′ represent the alkyl or aryl groups. Ethers can again be ...
brothers and sisters, whom the ancient genealogists name
Amor Amor ("love" in Latin, Spanish and Portuguese) may refer to: Music Albums * ''Amor'' (Julio Iglesias album), 1982 * ''Amor'' (Andrea Bocelli album), 2006 Songs * "Amor" (Los Auténticos Decadentes song), 2000 * "Amor" (Cristian Castro song), 199 ...
/ Eros (Love), Dolus (Guile)
olos ''Olos'' (2000) is an album by the Finnish rock group Absoluuttinen Nollapiste. Track listing # "Valajas helkures" (Aake Otsala, Aki Lääkkölä) – 3:02 # "Kalkin sammutus" (Otsala, Tommi Liimatta) – 4:10 # "Kotiinpaluu, jotenkin" (Otsala, ...
Metus/
Deimos Deimos, a Greek word for ''dread'', may refer to: * Deimos (deity), one of the sons of Ares and Aphrodite in Greek mythology * Deimos (moon), the smaller and outermost of Mars' two natural satellites * Elecnor Deimos, a Spanish aerospace company * ...
(Fear), Labor/ Ponos (Toil), Invidentia/ Eris (Envy), Fatum/ Moros (Fate), Senectus/ Geras (Old Age),
Mors Mors may refer to: *Mors (mythology), the personification of death in Roman mythology *Mors, Latin for death *Mors (automobile), a French car manufacturer from 1895 to 1925 :* American Mors, Mors vehicles produced under licence in America by the S ...
/ Thanatos (Death),
Tenebrae Tenebrae (—Latin for "darkness") is a religious service of Western Christianity held during the three days preceding Easter Day, and characterized by gradual extinguishing of candles, and by a "strepitus" or "loud noise" taking place in total ...
/ Keres (Darkness), Miseria/ Oizys (Misery), Querella/ Momus (Complaint), Gratia/ Philotes (Favour), Fraus/ Apate (Fraud), Pertinacia (Obstinacy), the Parcae/ Moirai (Fates), the Hesperides, the Somnia/ Oneiroi (Dreams): all of these are fabled to be the children of Erebus (Darkness) and Nox/ Nyx (Night).


Mythology

The only myth in which Apate appeared was that of the affair between Zeus, the king of the gods, and Semele, a Theban princess who bore him the god of wine,
Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Romans ...
. After knowing this infidelity of her husband,
Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; grc-gre, Ἥρα, Hḗrā; grc, Ἥρη, Hḗrē, label=none in Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she ...
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 eraabate 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: 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 city of Knossos. I ...
, 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 southern France. Geography Localization Eus is located in the canton of Les Pyrénées catalanes and in the arrondissement of Prades. Population ...
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 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 (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet i ...
, ''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, ''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