#dike deity

[eleosembrace]

Khaire

Welcome home, good hunter.

This quiet place, this House of Heart, is dedicated to Most Holy Sister Eleos, our Lady of Mercy and Compassion. And also to Eirene, Dike, Elpis, Aletheia, Aidos, Pistis, Sophrosyne, Eusebia, Arete, Mithras, All-Father Prometheus and Basileus Zagreus Mēn.

May this place be a refuge for wounded and weary hearts, a sanctuary where compassion and love reign, where repentance and understanding become our primary virtue.

Be at peace, fair traveler. For no harm can come under Her gentle gaze. You are safe.

"We do pray for mercy; And that same prayer doth teach us all to render the deeds of mercy." — William Shakespeare

Innocence — William-Adolphe Bouguereau

[piristephes]

Prayer to the Justice-Makers

Justice, born of the mind of Zeus Lady with the blindfold, mistress of swords May your unwavering spirit come forth and protect What needs thy hand, guiding your blade To shift the Eumenides dark gaze Bringing swift punishment and Fairness to mortals of all sorts

português:

Justiça, nascida da mente de Zeus Donzela com a venda, senhora das espadas Que teu espírito infalível venha e proteja O que necessita de tua mão, guiando a lâmina Volteando o olhar pavoroso das Eumênides Trazendo veloz punição e Equidade para mortais de toda sorte.

[diana-thyme]

Greek Gods 101: Dike

Dike is a Goddess of justice, fair judgements, and rights. Excluding the universal offerings, some common offerings include:

Scales Imagery or Figurines

Court Documents

Sword Imagery or Figurines

Blindfolds

Courthouse Imagery or Figurines

Gavel

Laurel Leaves

Laurel Wreaths

For devotional acts, some activities that can be done for her include:

Watching or Reading Court Proceedings

Reading Through Court Records

Judging People Fairly

Learning About the Justice System

Learning About the Law

Learning About the Law-Making Process

Researching Your Local Laws

She is celebrated in 1 Athenian holiday.

Demokratia

[ringo-ichigo]

Prayer for Ukraine

Ares Laossous,

God of the warrior,

Stand now with Ukraine.

Ares Teichespipletes,

Help them retake their cities

From the invaders.

Side with their cause

And fight with them.

Aphrodite Areia,

Forgotten warrior,

I ask You take up Your arms.

Remind all of us that You were a fighter

When You first appeared.

Remind us how love inspires the warrior

And fight with the Ukranians.

Help us also remember that

The Russian people need love as well.

That they are trapped into this war

By a man blinded by his own lust for power.

Athena Eryma,

Be with the Ukranians

Who are trapped within their cities

By the shelling.

May You guide their defenders

To break this siege

As You guided the Athenians so long ago.

Athena Ambulia,

As You listen to their strategies

Help them choose the wisest one

To Keep their people safe as they push back.

Nike,

We ask You pick the Ukrainians

In this horrific war.

Grant them Your blessing.

Zeus Soter,

Side with those in need in Ukraine.

Keep them safe and intercede as needed.

Zeus Poleius,

Keep their government strong in this crisis.

Continue to keep them autonomous

From Putin’s control.

Zeus Phyxius,

Open the hearts of others

To accept those fleeing the country,

To grant them a temporary haven.

Zeus Xenius,

Help us all to be good hosts

To the refugees and show them xenia

When they need it most.

Dike,

You know best the cause of the righteous.

May You bring justice down upon those

Who have avoided it for too long.

May You find them at last.

Themis Orthobolus,

Be there with the Ukrainian officials.

Let Your silver tongue

Guide them in their words.

Let them persuade those they must.

Apollon Alexicacus,

Keep the children safe please.

My lord Paean,

Be there on the battlefield

Tending to those wounded.

Touch them and ease their pain.

Guide the doctors in their work

With Your son Asklepios.

Apollon Hecatus,

May Your arrows fly true and strike the unjust

As You loose them Your golden bow.

Artemis Paidotrophos,

Artemis Philomeirax,

Be there for the children too.

Keep them safe in this time of danger.

Artemis Iocheaira,

Strike down those who endanger them

And remind them of Your wrath.

Artemis Hecate,

May Your arrows punish those

Who would harm the helpless children

When You shoot them from Your silver bow.

Asklepios Epius,

Be with the medics

To save the lives they can

And make the passing of those they can’t

Less painful.

Show them the mercy

You are known for in their hours of need.

Asklepios Iatrus,

Be there for the innocent caught

In the crossfire.

Asklepios Philolaus,

Be with those in need of medical help

In this dark time.

Hermes Diactorus,

Keep the communications

Of the Ukrainian army secret

So they may be safe.

Guard their messages

Against those with ill intent.

God of messengers,

Be with them now.

Hermes Pompaeus,

Be there to guide the lost

To the Underworld on their final journey.

Be a comfort to them

As they leave this mortal realm

And guide them to Haides’ care.

Haides Necrodegmon,

Be kind to the new arrivals.

Treat them as is just

In Your realm

And as they deserve.

Haides Polyxenus,

Grant peace to the mourners

In the knowledge

That You are the Host of all

And most gracious.

[verticordial]

introduction to the horae

Who are the Horae?

I’ll give a broader introduction first: all of the Horae or Horai (singular Hora) are goddesses of the seasons and the natural passage of time. The time of the year in Ancient Greece was typically deduced by the placement of constellations in the sky and their revolutions. This means that in addition to the general passing of the seasons they were also starry goddesses because the stars were used to measure time. 

There are typically two triads of Horae depicted: Dike, Eunomia, and Eirene; and Karpo, Auxo and Thallo. Sometimes three triads of Horae are mentioned, sometimes only a pair of two Horae, and in different climates there were four instead of three (the greeks typically recognized only three actual seasons of the year). There is also a different classification of Horae which are literal personified hours, who amount usually up to nine different goddesses. 

These next few posts I make in particular will be about the first triad I mentioned. Dike, Eunomia, and Eirene. There will be some mention of the second triad, probably less or none of the others, but for the most part my focus is on the ones I’ve listed. 

Now, to get a little more specific.

WHO ARE THE HORAE?

“ [...]the gates of the sky that the Horai guarded, those Horai to whose charge the huge sky and Olympos, to open up the dense darkness or again to close it.” - Homer’s Iliad.

The Horae never cease from their choral dance. They are maiden goddesses of the seasons, of spring growth, of constellations and other stars, of the gates of Olympos, of order and its applications to both agriculture and people, and singularly of justice, lawfulness, and peace. They are attendants of Aphrodite, Hera and Persephone as well as to their father Zeus. They are said to have been the nurses of multiple gods including Dionysos and Hermes. In addition to all of that, they are also linked to the yearly harvest, feasts, and celebrations. 

The Horae are three daughters of Zeus and Themis, full-blooded sisters to the Moirae/Moirai and the Themeides (also possibly identified with the Horae) and half-sisters to very many a child of Zeus having important art and text-accredited relationships with Aphrodite, Hermes, Dionysos, Persephone, and Apollo amongst many others. 

Their mother Themis is council to Zeus and the titan goddess of divine law, heavenly order, assemblies, and also a goddess of prophecy. She held the oracle of Delphi before giving it to Apollo (or to Phoebe who then gave it to Apollo). Zeus is also a god of council, order and agricultural law. The Horae inherited their mother and father’s lawful attributes, and have extended that reign from divine to mortal influence. 

On their own Dike is the goddess of justice and judgement, Eunomia is the goddess of lawful behavior and the good order of the city, and Eirene is the goddess of peace. 

As goddesses of both order and springtime growth, the Horae are cited as being attendants to Aphrodite, Hera, Persephone, and also to Zeus who extended the responsibility of keeping the gates of heaven to them. Eunomia is named more specifically in relation to Aphrodite, and Dike is named more specifically in relation to Zeus. It is said that the Horae greeted Aphrodite at her birth and brought her to Olympos and have been a part of her retinue ever since.

“[...]there the gold-filleted Horai welcomed her joyously. They clothed her with heavenly garments: on her head they put a fine, well-wrought crown of gold, and in her pierced ears they hung ornaments of orichale and precious gold, and adorned her with golden necklaces over her soft neck and snow-white breasts, jewels the gold-filleted Horai wear themselves whenever they go to their father's house to join the lovely dances of the gods. And when they had fully decked her, they brought her to the gods, who welcomed her when they saw her." - Homeric Hymn 6 to Aphrodite

They were also named as midwives to her daughter Harmonia, and as the nurses to Aristaeus, Hermes, and Dionysos.

Of their own children Eunomia is said in the Orphic hymns to be the mother of the Kharites (something I will mention later), Eirene is presented as the nurse of or very rarely said by modern worshippers to be the mother of Ploutos (something else I will cover later), and Dike is said to be the mother of Hesykhia, the goddess of quiet and stillness. They are usually mentioned as maiden goddesses with Dike having a specifically strong association with virginity, so it can be assumed Hesykhia was born with no father. (Though we can keep in mind Hesykhia is mentioned as a daughter of justice only a single time in any surviving Greek literature, and thus not much at all is known about her or her relation to Dike.)

Overall, these goddesses were important to rural farmers as well as the people who lived in the city. They encompass many territories, both as a unit and individually. They play important roles alongside their father Zeus and his wife Hera, as well as in Aphrodite’s retinue and as friends and servants to Persephone. 

There is a lot more to be said. And it will be said! This is going to be the first post of a handful talking about the Horae at further length, a collection of which you’ll be able to find HERE when I post them. 

[verticordial]

epithets of the horae

Below is a list of epithets I’ve found relating to the Horae. The first part of this post will deal with epithets of the Horae as a whole, and the second with the epithets of the individual goddesses. You can find the masterpost for all of my Horae posts HERE.

It’s important to note that some of the writers using these epithets refer to the Horae as an appellative or as the “lowercase” seasons and not the “uppercase” Seasons. So in that way, they may not be talking about the Horae themselves and rather just the idea of the seasons, but I’m going to note them anyway. (This similarly applies to them with their individual epithets, especially Eirene).

THE HORAE

POLYGETHES - joyous, joy-giving, delightful; shared with Dionysos (Homer, Iliad 21; 450)

POLYANTHES - blossoming with flowers, rich in flowers, blooming ; possibly also ANTHEIA which is shared with Hera and Aphrodite (Pindar, Olympian 13; 17)

AEITHALES - evergreen, ever-blooming ; shared with the Kharites (Orphic Hymn 43 to The Horae)

PERIKYKLAS - revolving, encircling ; this deals with the idea of their never ceasing choral dance, which is a metaphor for the revolution of the constellations (Orphic Hymn 43 to The Horae)

EUTHRONOS - beautifully throned, with beautiful seat ; shared with Aphrodite (Pindar, Pythian 9; 60)

GLYKYPARTHENOS - sweet virgin, sweet maiden ; the use of parthenos here is more specific than the following epithet, pretty much describing all of the Horae as virgins (Meleager, Anth. Gr. 9.16)

HAGNOS - pure, chaste ; though sometimes associated with virginity (Artemis, Persephone in the way that she is Orphiclly described as a virgin) it is also describing divine purity and is shared in that way with Demeter, Apollo and Zeus (Orphic Hymn 43 to The Horae)

Also quoting directly from Theoi: “Men in different circumstances regard the course of time (or the seasons) either as rapid or as slow, and both epithets are accordingly applied to the Horae. (Theocr. xv. 104; Pind. Nem. iv. 34; Horat. (Carm. iv. 7. 8; Ov. Met. ii. 118.)” so it is appropriate to refer to them as both swift or relaxed as described in that list of sources. There are possibly more specific poetic-epithets that refer to them such as “swift-footed” is used for Achilles, but I have yet to find them if they are used.

DIKE

PARTHENOS - maiden, virgin ; shared with Artemis and Athena. though as above all the Horae are described as virgins/maidens, Dike is of her sisters specifically referred to as Parthenos (Aesch. Seven 659)

PANDERKES - all-seeing ; (Orphic Hymn 62 to Dike)

EUTHYS - unswerving, straight-minded, direct ; (Bacc. Ode 15; 54)

ALGAOMORPHOS - comely, of lovely form ; similar epithet shared with Aphrodite (Orphic Hymn 62 to Dike)

ASTRAEA - starry, of the stars ; this is the name of the goddess of the constellation Virgo who is commonly associated with Dike (Aratus, Phaenomena 96)

EUNOMIA

BATHYKOLPOS - deep-bosomed, also “with dress falling in deep folds” ; pretty much large-breasted (Orphic Hymn 60 to The Kharites)

RHODOKOLPOS - rosy-bosomed ; (Lyr. Adesp.140.)

SOTEIRA - savior, protector ; shared with her mother Themis (Pindar, Olympian 9; 15)

APOLEMOS - unwarlike, without war (peaceful) ; shared with Hesykhia who may also be Eirene [below] (Pindar, Pythian 5; 66)

EIRENE

THALLO - blooming, thriving, also “of green shoots” ; this is also the name of one of the Horae of a different triad (Hesiod, Theogony 902)

POLYOLBOS - rich (in blessings), most-abundant, wealthy ; shared with Aphrodite, the description of Peace as wealthy further connects her to the god Ploutos (Orphic Hymn 43 to The Horae)

BATHYKARPOS - rich in fruit, with many fruits ; (IG 3. ; 170)

HESYKHIA - of rest, quiet, stillness ; this is the name of the goddess of similar attributes who is described by Pindar to be Dike’s daughter (Dem. 5; 25)

[verticordial]

fruit of oracular Themis; sketching Dike in blue

[verticordial]

originally written 1 september 2021, edited for posting 18 may 2022