Harmonia (mythology)

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Harmonia (mythology)

In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
, Harmonia is the immortal goddess

Goddess

A goddess is a female deity. Often deities are part of a polytheism system that includes several deities in a pantheon .Common associations of goddesses are the Earth goddess, the Mother Goddess, Love goddess, and the hearth goddess, reflecting historical gender roles....
of harmony and concord. Her Roman

Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
counterpart is Concordia, and her Greek opposite is Eris

Eris (mythology)

Eris is the Greek mythology goddess of strife, her name being translated into Latin as Discordia. Her Greek opposite is Harmonia , whose Latin counterpart is Concordia ....
, whose Roman counterpart is Discordia.

rding to one account, she is the daughter of Ares

Ares

In Greek mythology, Ares is the son of Zeus and Hera. Though often referred to as the Twelve Olympians God of warfare, he is more accurately the god of bloodlust, or slaughter personified: "Ares is apparently an ancient abstract noun meaning throng of battle, war."...
and Aphrodite

Aphrodite

Aphrodite is the classical Greek mythology goddess of love, sex, and beauty. According to Greek oral poet Hesiod, she was born when Uranus was castrated by his son Cronus....
; by another, the daughter of Aphrodite

Aphrodite

Aphrodite is the classical Greek mythology goddess of love, sex, and beauty. According to Greek oral poet Hesiod, she was born when Uranus was castrated by his son Cronus....
and Hephaestus

Hephaestus

Hephaestus was a Greek god whose Roman equivalent was Vulcan . He was the god of technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculpture, metals, metallurgy, Fire and volcanoes....
. By yet another account, Harmonia was from Samothrace

Samothrace

Samothrace is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. It is a self-governing deme in the prefecture of Evros, Greece. The island is long and is in size and has a population of 2,723 ....
and was the daughter of Zeus and Electra

Electra

In Greek mythology, Electra was an Argosian princess and daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra, and was a sibling to sisters Iphigeneia, Chrysothemis, and brother Orestes....
, her brother Iasion

Iasion

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In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Goddess

Rome

Eris (mythology)

Origins

According to one account, she is the daughter of Ares

Ares

Aphrodite

Aphrodite is the classical Greek mythology goddess of love, sex, and beauty. According to Greek oral poet Hesiod, she was born when Uranus was castrated by his son Cronus....
and Hephaestus

Hephaestus

Samothrace

Electra

Iasion

In Greek mythology, Iasion or Iasus was usually the son of Electra and Zeus and brother of Dardanus. Iasion founded the mystic rites on the island of Samothrace....
being the founder of the mystic rites celebrated on the island. Finally, Harmonia is rationalized as closely allied to Aphrodite Pandemos, the love that unites all people, the personification of order and civic unity, corresponding to the Roman goddess Concordia

Concordia

Concordia is the Latin word for "harmony," literally "with heart." It may refer to:*Concordia , the Roman goddess of harmony*Concordia , compilation of Lutheran doctrinal statements published in 1580...
.

Almost always, though, Harmonia is the wife of Cadmus

Cadmus

Cadmus or Kadmos , in Greek mythology mythology, was a Phoenician prince, the son of Agenor and the brother of Phoenix , Cilix and Europa ....
. With Cadmus, she was the mother of Ino

Ino (Greek mythology)

In Greek mythology Ino was a mortal queen of Thebes , the second wife of Athamas, the mother of Learches and Melicertes, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia and stepmother of Phrixus and Helle ....
, Polydorus

Polydorus (son of Cadmus)

Polydorus was the only son of Cadmus and Harmonia_ and king of Thebes, Greece. Upon his father's death, Pentheus, the son of his sister Agave and Echion, one of the Spartoi, ruled Thebes....
, Autonoe

Autonoe

In Greek mythology, Autono? was a daughter of Cadmus, founder of Thebes, Greece, and the goddess Harmonia . She was the wife of Aristaeus and mother of Actaeon and possibly Macris....
, Agave

Agave (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Agave was the daughter of Cadmus, the king and founder of the city of Thebes, Greece, and of the goddess Harmonia . Her sisters were Autono?, Ino and Semele....
and Semele

Semele

File:Gustave Moreau 004.jpgIn Greek mythology, Semele, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia , was the mortal mother of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths....
.

Those who described Harmonia as a Samothracian related that Cadmus, on his voyage to Samothrace, after being initiated in the mysteries, perceived Harmonia, and carried her off with the assistance of Athena. When Cadmus was obliged to quit Thebes

Thebes

Thebes may refer to one of the following places:* Thebes, Egypt – Thebes of the Hundred Gates; one-time capital of the New Kingdom of Egypt...
, Harmonia accompanied him. When they came to the Encheleans, they assisted them in their war against the Illyrians

Illyrians

Illyrians has come to refer to a broad, ill-defined "Indo-European languages" group of peoples who inhabited the western Balkans and even possibly Messapia in Southern Italy ....
, and conquered the enemy. Cadmus then became king of the Illyrians, but afterwards he and Harmonia were metamorphosed into dragons and transferred to Elysium

Elysium

In Greek mythology, Elysium was a section of the Greek Underworld . The Elysian Fields, or the Elysian Plains, were the final resting place of the souls of the heroic and the virtuous....
; or, according to others, they were carried thither in a chariot drawn by dragons.

Necklace

Harmonia is renowned in ancient story chiefly on account of the fatal necklace she received on her wedding day. When the government of Thebes was bestowed upon Cadmus by Athena

Athena

In Greek mythology, Athena is the shrewd companion of Hero and the goddess of Hero endeavour. She is the virgin patron of Athens, which built the Parthenon to worship her....
, Zeus

Zeus

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....
gave him Harmonia. All the gods honoured the wedding with their presence. Cadmus presented the bride with a robe and necklace, which he had received either from Hephaestus or from Europa

Europa

Europa is a beautiful Phoenician princess in Greek mythology. Her name is the name for Europe in Latin and other languages.Europa may also refer to:...
. This necklace, commonly referred to as the Necklace of Harmonia

Necklace of Harmonia

The Necklace of Harmonia was a fabled object in Greek mythology that, according to legend, brought great misfortune to all of its wearers or owners, who were primarily queens and princesses of the ill-fated Thebes%2C_Greece....
, brought misfortune to all who possessed it. Other traditions stated that Harmonia received this necklace (op/uos) from some of the gods, either from Aphrodite or Athena.

Polyneices, who inherited the necklace, gave it to Eriphyle

Eriphyle

In Greek mythology, Eriphyle, daughter of Talaus, was the mother of Alcmaeon and the wife of Amphiaraus. Eriphyle persuaded Amphiaraus to take part in the raid that initiated the mythic tale of the Seven Against Thebes, though she knew he would die....
, that she might persuade her husband, Amphiaraus

Amphiaraus

In Greek mythology, Amphiaraus was the son of Oicles and Hypermnestra, and husband of Eriphyle. Amphiaraus was the King of Argos along with Adrastus? the brother of Amphiaraus' wife, Eriphyle? and Iphis ....
, to undertake the expedition against Thebes. Through Alcmaeon

Alcmaeon

In Greek mythology, Alcmaeon, or Alkm?on, was the son of Amphiaraus and Eriphyle. As one of the Epigoni, he was a leader of the Argives who attacked Thebes , taking the city in retaliation for the deaths of their fathers, the Seven Against Thebes, who died while attempting the same thing....
, the son of Eriphyle, the necklace came into the hands of Arsinoe

Arsinoe

Arsinoe , sometimes spelled Arsino?, may refer to:...
, next into those of the sons of Phegeus

Phegeus

Phegeus was a Greek mythology king who offered succor and his daughter, Arsinoe , to Alcmaeon , who was fleeing from the Erinyes. Alcmaeon left his mother's, Eriphyle's, jewelry and clothing with him and then returned for it later in order to please the river god Achelous and have his daughter, Callirhoe, in marriage....
, Pronous and Agenor

Agenor, son of Phegeus

Agenor was a son of Phegeus, king of Psophis, in Arcadia. He was brother of Pronous and Arsinoe , who was married to, and later abandoned by, the Argive Alcmaeon ....
, and lastly into those of the sons of Alcmaeon, Amphoterus

Amphoterus

Amphoterus or Amphoteros may refer to:*Amphoterus son of Alcmaeon by Callirrhoe, and brother of Acarnan*Amphoterus a Trojan of this name occurs Homer Il....
and Acarnan

Acarnan

In Greek mythology, Acarnan , one of the Epigones, was a son of Alcmaeon and Calirrhoe, and brother of Amphoterus. Their father was murdered by Phegeus , when they were yet very young, and Calirrhoe prayed to Zeus to make her sons grow quickly, that they might be able to avenge the death of their father....
, who dedicated it in the temple of Athena Pronoea at Delphi

Delphi

Delphi is an archaeology site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis. Delphi was the site of the Pythia, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, when it was a major site for the worship of the god Apollo after he slew the Python , a deity who lived there and protecte...
. The necklace had wrought mischief to all who had been in possession of it, and it continued to do so even after it was dedicated at Delphi. Phayllus, the tyrant, stole it from the temple to gratify his mistress, the wife of Ariston

Ariston

Ariston was a king of Sparta, 14th of the Eurypontids, son of Agesicles, contemporary of Anaxandridas II.He ascended the Spartan throne before 560 BC, and died somewhat before , or at any rate not long after, 510 BC....
. She wore it for a time, but at last her youngest son was seized with madness, and set fire to the house, in which she perished with all her treasures.

Harmonia (mythology)

Origins

Necklace

See also

Footnotes