#eirene deity

[eleosembrace]

Epithets of Eirene

☮︎ Εὐθηνία, Euthēnía — abundance, prosperity

☮︎ Ὁμονοία, Homonoía — concord, unity of heart and mind

☮︎ Γαληναία, Galēnaía — calm, serene

☮︎ Πραξίβουλος, Praxíboulos — counsellor of deeds

☮︎ Ἡσυχία, Hēsychía — tranquility, stillness, quiet

☮︎ Παιδοτρόφος, Paidotróphos — rearer of children

☮︎ Ἁγνή, Hagnḗ — pure, holy, unpolluted

☮︎ Βιόδωρος, Biódōros — life-giving

[thewhisperofzagreus]

Peace (Eirene), 1850~1888 - oil on canvas.

— Ludwig Knaus (Germany, 1829–1910)

Eirene is the personification and goddess of peace in Greek mythology.

[diana-thyme]

Greek Gods 101: Eirene

Eirene is a goddess of peace and spring. Excluding the universal offerings, some common offerings include:

Fruits

Flowers

Imagery of Doves

Imagery of Wreaths

Olives/Olive Oil

Olive, Pine, or Birch Wood, Sticks, Leaves, Etc.

Depictions of the Cornucopia

Imagery of Gates/Fences

Depictions of Rhytons

Veils or Other Head Coverings

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

Planting Seeds

Living More Peacefully

Deescalating Conflicts

Making Donations (especially to war relief funds)

Doing A Craft (sculpting, drawing, knitting, etc.)

Listening to Peaceful Music

Practice Mindfulness

Live Simply

She is celebrated in 2 Athenian holidays:

Synoikia

Demokratia

[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. 

[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

[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]

7 september 2021

thinking about Aphrodite and the Horae

[verticordial]

sacred to the horae

This will be my last post in this specific series about the Horae, the rest of which you can find HERE. I’ll introduce this post by saying there isn’t really much definitive information we have for them relating to things like holidays and offerings but I’ll do my best to share what I’ve found.

HOLY DAYS AND SACRED PLACES

The Horae were celebrated at an annual festival, the Horaea (or Horaia). Very, very little is known about it and information about the festival is usually summed up with “it was a festival.” The Encyclopaedia Britannica gives one definition which is commonly quoted - “In honour of the Horae a yearly festival (Horaea) was celebrated, at which protection was sought against the scorching heat and drought, and offerings were made of boiled meat as less insipid and more nutritious than roast.” - but the sources I’ve found for this suggestion are all in German which I cannot read (lol). It can be assumed then that the festival took place in the summer*, and that it was about protection for crops and seeking a bountiful harvest.

The Horaea as it was celebrated on Lemnos (and perhaps at other places) had more of a focus on transitions, manumission of slaves, and both the life-death cycle of crops and the metaphorical life-death cycle of a released slave. (I will admit to not being knowledgeable about manumission or Ancient Greek slavery, so if you’re looking for further information I suggest reading Kabeiroi, manumitted slaves and Xenoi: the manumission inscriptions from Lemnos by Rachel Zelnick-Abramovitz and the older authors in her sources. In this work Zelnick-Abramovitz also notes that it’s possible this Horaea was a completely different day than the festival to the Horae celebrated elsewhere.)

*It’s suggested that, at least in Lemnos, the Horaea was celebrated on the 7th day of Hekatombaion. 

Also, Eirene equivalized as Pax (Roman peace) had an annual festival on the third of January.

*** EDIT: in a previous version of this post I mentioned that Dike is associated with the 5th day of the month because perjury and false oaths are punished by the gods on this day (Hesiod). While this comparison can still be drawn, my original source of commentary of Works and Days that I used for this post to support this idea has since been criticized for lack of its own sourcework/historical evidence, so I will no longer include that statement. 

(Described as five Horae, or three Horae joined by two other goddesses) At Athens there was a temple to the duo of Horae Thallo and Karpo. I’m uncertain if this was the only temple to the Horae, but their likenesses could be found at temples in Argos, Olympia, Erythrae, Megara, and Mycenae, typically alongside Zeus, Hera, the Kharities, or their sisters the Moirae. Outside of temples, green pastures and general city-space are sacred to Eunomia by virtue of her name but are probably sacred to her sisters as well as Dike and Eirene have the same relationships with the city and rural growth.

THE CHORAL DANCE

The Horae are described as being in a constant choral ring-dance which represents zodiacal circling. In Ancient Greek festivals, choral dancing was extremely common and used as a way to extend the pleasure of the activity as an offering to the gods - the Horae take up this action (along with goddesses like Artemis and the Kharites) at the festivals and banquets held on Olympos. In this way their dance is both a celebration to the other gods, typically at weddings, and a metaphor for the revolving of stars and the consistent pattern of the changing seasons. 

So it can be said that dancing on it’s own is important to the Horae, but the act of ring-dancing with three or more people joined by music or singing is specifically sacred to them.

(The Dance of the Horae)

OFFERINGS

The Orphic Hymns call for aromatic herbs and frankincense to be used as incense for the Horae. Philochorus says that offerings of meat to them were boiled and not roasted (it would appear this applied generally, and not just to the Horaea). Flowers and garlands are also sacred to the Horae, and were probably given as offerings. 

Outside of that is mostly guesswork. Along with flowers we can presume that oils, perfumes, and cloth dyed with flowers would be given as offerings. Things which are typical to offer to other Ouranic gods were also likely given, such as wine, milk, honey, and fruit - probably also produce from a successful harvest was offered to them as goddesses of fruit and agriculture.