Eurynome
Encyclopedia
Eurynomê was the Titan
goddess of water-meadows and pasturelands, and one of the elder Oceanides, that is, a daughter of Oceanus
and Tethys
. Eurynome was the third bride of Zeus
and mother of the Charites
, goddesses of grace and beauty.
When Hephaestus
was cast from Olympus
by the goddess Hera
, who was disgusted at having borne a crippled child, he was caught by Eurynome and Thetis
(possibly a doubling for Tethys
, her mother). Eurynome and Thetis nursed the god Hephaestus on the banks of the earth-encircling river Oceanus, after his fall from heaven. Charis, Eurynome's daughter, later became Hephaestus' bride.
Eurynome is closely identified with another Eurynome, Queen of the Titans. A second derivation of her name, "wide-ruling" can be taken from the Greek words eurys "wide" + nomos "law" or "ruling". This Eurynome was an early Titan queen who ruled Olympus beside her husband Ophion
. The pair were wrestled for their thrones by Cronus
and Rhea
who cast them down into the earth-encircling river Oceanus. She may have been the same as the Titan Tethys
whose river-god sons nurtured the pastures and whose daughter Eurynome was goddess of pasturelands. Eurynome's husband Ophion "the Serpent" was similar to Tethys' husband Oceanus, who in classical art was represented with a serpentine-fish tail in place of legs and holding a snake (ophis). It is also possible that Ophion and Eurynome (daughter of Oceanus) were equated with Uranus
(Heaven) and Gaia
(Earth). In the Orphic Theogonies Gaia was the daughter of Hydrus (Water), a primordial being similar to Oceanus. It was Uranus who Cronus wrestles for the throne of Olympus in Hesiod's Theogony
.
Eurynome was worshipped at the confluence of the rivers Neda and Lymax in Arcadia. Her xoanon
, which could only be viewed when her sanctuary was opened once a year, was a wooden statue bound in golden chains depicting a woman's upper body and the lower body of a fish. Her son Asopus
was the god of a nearby stream in the adjacent region of Sikyonia
. The fish-tailed goddess, Eurynome, worshipped in Arcadia, may have been Eurynome wife of Ophion, Tethys the wife of Oceanus, Eurynome mother of the Charites
, the goddess of the river Neda, or a watery Artemis
.
Titan (mythology)
In Greek mythology, the Titans were a race of powerful deities, descendants of Gaia and Uranus, that ruled during the legendary Golden Age....
goddess of water-meadows and pasturelands, and one of the elder Oceanides, that is, a daughter of Oceanus
Oceanus
Oceanus ; , Ōkeanós) was a pseudo-geographical feature in classical antiquity, believed by the ancient Greeks and Romans to be the world-ocean, an enormous river encircling the world....
and Tethys
Tethys (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Tethys , daughter of Uranus and Gaia was an archaic Titaness and aquatic sea goddess, invoked in classical Greek poetry but not venerated in cult. Tethys was both sister and wife of Oceanus...
. Eurynome was the third bride of Zeus
Zeus
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
and mother of the Charites
Charites
In Greek mythology, a Charis is one of several Charites , goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility. They ordinarily numbered three, from youngest to oldest: Aglaea , Euphrosyne , and Thalia . In Roman mythology they were known as the Gratiae, the "Graces"...
, goddesses of grace and beauty.
When Hephaestus
Hephaestus
Hephaestus was a Greek god whose Roman equivalent was Vulcan. He is the son of Zeus and Hera, the King and Queen of the Gods - or else, according to some accounts, of Hera alone. He was the god of technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metals, metallurgy, fire and volcanoes...
was cast from Olympus
Mount Olympus
Mount Olympus is the highest mountain in Greece, located on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, about 100 kilometres away from Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city. Mount Olympus has 52 peaks. The highest peak Mytikas, meaning "nose", rises to 2,917 metres...
by the goddess Hera
Hera
Hera was the wife and one of three sisters of Zeus in the Olympian pantheon of Greek mythology and religion. Her chief function was as the goddess of women and marriage. Her counterpart in the religion of ancient Rome was Juno. The cow and the peacock were sacred to her...
, who was disgusted at having borne a crippled child, he was caught by Eurynome and Thetis
Thetis
Silver-footed Thetis , disposer or "placer" , is encountered in Greek mythology mostly as a sea nymph or known as the goddess of water, one of the fifty Nereids, daughters of the ancient one of the seas with shape-shifting abilities who survives in the historical vestiges of most later Greek myths...
(possibly a doubling for Tethys
Tethys (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Tethys , daughter of Uranus and Gaia was an archaic Titaness and aquatic sea goddess, invoked in classical Greek poetry but not venerated in cult. Tethys was both sister and wife of Oceanus...
, her mother). Eurynome and Thetis nursed the god Hephaestus on the banks of the earth-encircling river Oceanus, after his fall from heaven. Charis, Eurynome's daughter, later became Hephaestus' bride.
Eurynome is closely identified with another Eurynome, Queen of the Titans. A second derivation of her name, "wide-ruling" can be taken from the Greek words eurys "wide" + nomos "law" or "ruling". This Eurynome was an early Titan queen who ruled Olympus beside her husband Ophion
Ophion
In some versions of Greek mythology, Ophion , also called Ophioneus ruled the world with Eurynome before the two of them were cast down by Cronus and Rhea.-Sources:...
. The pair were wrestled for their thrones by Cronus
Cronus
In Greek mythology, Cronus or Kronos was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titans, divine descendants of Gaia, the earth, and Uranus, the sky...
and Rhea
Rhea (mythology)
Rhea was the Titaness daughter of Uranus, the sky, and Gaia, the earth, in Greek mythology. She was known as "the mother of gods". In earlier traditions, she was strongly associated with Gaia and Cybele, the Great Goddess, and was later seen by the classical Greeks as the mother of the Olympian...
who cast them down into the earth-encircling river Oceanus. She may have been the same as the Titan Tethys
Tethys (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Tethys , daughter of Uranus and Gaia was an archaic Titaness and aquatic sea goddess, invoked in classical Greek poetry but not venerated in cult. Tethys was both sister and wife of Oceanus...
whose river-god sons nurtured the pastures and whose daughter Eurynome was goddess of pasturelands. Eurynome's husband Ophion "the Serpent" was similar to Tethys' husband Oceanus, who in classical art was represented with a serpentine-fish tail in place of legs and holding a snake (ophis). It is also possible that Ophion and Eurynome (daughter of Oceanus) were equated with Uranus
Uranus (mythology)
Uranus , was the primal Greek god personifying the sky. His equivalent in Roman mythology was Caelus. In Ancient Greek literature, according to Hesiod in his Theogony, Uranus or Father Sky was the son and husband of Gaia, Mother Earth...
(Heaven) and Gaia
Gaia (mythology)
Gaia was the primordial Earth-goddess in ancient Greek religion. Gaia was the great mother of all: the heavenly gods and Titans were descended from her union with Uranus , the sea-gods from her union with Pontus , the Giants from her mating with Tartarus and mortal creatures were sprung or born...
(Earth). In the Orphic Theogonies Gaia was the daughter of Hydrus (Water), a primordial being similar to Oceanus. It was Uranus who Cronus wrestles for the throne of Olympus in Hesiod's Theogony
Theogony
The Theogony is a poem by Hesiod describing the origins and genealogies of the gods of the ancient Greeks, composed circa 700 BC...
.
Eurynome was worshipped at the confluence of the rivers Neda and Lymax in Arcadia. Her xoanon
Xoanon
A xoanon was an Archaic wooden cult image of Ancient Greece. Classical Greeks associated such cult objects, whether aniconic or effigy, with the legendary Daedalus. Many such cult images were preserved into historical times, though none have survived to the modern day, except where their image...
, which could only be viewed when her sanctuary was opened once a year, was a wooden statue bound in golden chains depicting a woman's upper body and the lower body of a fish. Her son Asopus
Asopus
Asopus or Asôpos is the name of four different rivers in Greece and one in Turkey. In Greek mythology, it was the name of the gods of those rivers.-The rivers in Greece:...
was the god of a nearby stream in the adjacent region of Sikyonia
Sicyon
Sikyon was an ancient Greek city situated in the northern Peloponnesus between Corinth and Achaea on the territory of the present-day prefecture of Corinthia...
. The fish-tailed goddess, Eurynome, worshipped in Arcadia, may have been Eurynome wife of Ophion, Tethys the wife of Oceanus, Eurynome mother of the Charites
Charites
In Greek mythology, a Charis is one of several Charites , goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility. They ordinarily numbered three, from youngest to oldest: Aglaea , Euphrosyne , and Thalia . In Roman mythology they were known as the Gratiae, the "Graces"...
, the goddess of the river Neda, or a watery Artemis
Artemis
Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...
.
Other figures in Greek mythology named Eurynome
- Daughter of King NisusNisosIn Greek mythology, Nisos was the King of Megara, and one of the four sons of Pandion II, King of Athens.He was married to Abrota, sister of Megareus, and when she died, Nisos commanded that the Megarian women wear clothes like she had. His daughter Eurynome, with Poseidon, had the famous son...
of MegaraMegaraMegara is an ancient city in Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens. Megara was one of the four districts of Attica, embodied in the four mythic sons of King...
and mother of BellerophonBellerophonBellerophon or Bellerophontes is a hero of Greek mythology. He was "the greatest hero and slayer of monsters, alongside of Cadmus and Perseus, before the days of Heracles", and his greatest feat was killing the Chimera, a monster that Homer depicted with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a...
by PoseidonPoseidonPoseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...
according to HesiodHesiodHesiod was a Greek oral poet generally thought by scholars to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. His is the first European poetry in which the poet regards himself as a topic, an individual with a distinctive role to play. Ancient authors credited him and...
's Catalogue 7 and HyginusGaius Julius HyginusGaius Julius Hyginus was a Latin author, a pupil of the famous Cornelius Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Caesar Augustus. He was by Augustus elected superintendent of the Palatine library according to Suetonius' De Grammaticis, 20...
157. - Mother of LeucotheaLeucotheaIn Greek mythology, Leucothea , "white goddess") was one of the aspects under which an ancient sea goddess was recognized, in this case as a transformed nymph....
whom HeliosHeliosHelios was the personification of the Sun in Greek mythology. Homer often calls him simply Titan or Hyperion, while Hesiod and the Homeric Hymn separate him as a son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia or Euryphaessa and brother of the goddesses Selene, the moon, and Eos, the dawn...
loved, whose father was the Persian OrchamusOrchamusOrchamus was a king in Greek mythology. He had two daughters: Leucothea and Clytia. Leucothea loved Apollo, the sun god. Apollo disguised himself as Leucothea's mother to gain entrance to her chambers. Clytia, jealous of her sister because she wanted Apollo for herself, told Orchamus the truth,...
, as given by OvidOvidPublius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...
in Metamorphoses 4.208ff. - Wife of Lycurgus of Arcadia and mother of Amphidamas, Epochus, Ancaeus, and Iasus; from ApollodorusApollodorusApollodorus of Athens son of Asclepiades, was a Greek scholar and grammarian. He was a pupil of Diogenes of Babylon, Panaetius the Stoic, and the grammarian Aristarchus of Samothrace...
3.9.2. - Daughter of Iphitus and mother of AdrastusAdrastusAdrastus or Adrestus , traditionally translated as "nonparticipant" or "uncooperative", was a legendary king of Argos during the war of the Seven Against Thebes.-Mythological tradition:...
of Argos by TalausTalausIn Greek mythology, Talaus was the king of Argos and one of the Argonauts. He was the son of Bias and Pero. His wife was Lysimache, daughter of Abas . He was the father of Adrastus, Aristomachus, Astynome, Eriphyle, Mecisteus, Metidice, and Pronax.-Sources:**Barthall, Edward E...
, as given by Hyginus 70. - Waiting woman of PenelopePenelopeIn Homer's Odyssey, Penelope is the faithful wife of Odysseus, who keeps her suitors at bay in his long absence and is eventually reunited with him....
in the OdysseyOdysseyThe Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature...
.
Other uses
- Eurynome is a genus of crab in the family Pisidae.
- 79 Eurynome79 Eurynome79 Eurynome is a quite large and bright main-belt asteroid composed of silicate rock. Eurynome was discovered by J. C. Watson on September 14, 1863. It was his first asteroid discovery. It is named after one of the many Eurynomes in Greek mythology....
is an asteroidAsteroidAsteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
. - An alternate name for EurynomosEurynomosIn Greek mythology, Eurynomos Latin spelling is a legendary creature was the netherworld Daemon of rotting corpses dwelling in the Underworld. He is sometimes identified with Hades and sometimes said to be a servitor of Hecate...