Keres (mythology)

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Keres (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....
, the Ceres (???e?; singular: Cer ???) were female death-spirits. The Keres were daughters of Nyx, and as such the sisters of Fate (Moirae

Moirae

The Moirae or Moerae , in Greek mythology, were the white-robed personifications of destiny . The Greek word moira literally means a part or portion, and by extension one's portion in life or destiny....
), Doom (Moros

Moros

In Greek mythology, Moros is the personification of impending doom, who drives every being, mortal or otherwise, to its fated doom. Very little is known about him, but he is thought to be omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent, and not even Zeus can defeat him....
), Death and Sleep (Thanatos

Thanatos

In Greek religion, Th?natos was the Daemon personification of Death and Mortality. He was a minor figure in Greek mythology, often referred to but rarely appearing in person....
and Hypnos

Hypnos

In Greek mythology, Hypnos was the personification of sleep; the Roman mythology equivalent was known as Somnus. His twin was Thanatos ; their mother was the goddess Nyx ....
), Strife (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 ....
), Old Age (Geras

Geras

In Greek mythology, Geras was the god of ageing. It was considered a virtue whereby the more geras a man acquired, the more kleos and arete he was considered to have....
), Divine Retribution (Nemesis

Nemesis (mythology)

Nemesis , also called Rhamnousia/Rhamnusia , at her sanctuary at Rhamnous, north of Marathon, Greece, in Greek mythology was the spirit of divine punitive justice against those who succumb to hubris, vengeful fate personified as a remorseless goddess....
), Charon

Charon (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon was the ferryman of Hades who carried souls of the newly deceased across the river that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead....
, and other personification

Personification

File:Wien Hofburg Constantia et Fortitudine.jpgPersonification is an ontological metaphor in which a thing or abstraction is represented as a person....
s. Some, such as Cicero who calls them by a Latin name, Tenebrae, or the Darknesses, name them daughters of Erebus

Erebus

In Greek mythology, Erebus or Erebos or Erebes was the son of a primordial god, Chaos , and represented the personification of darkness and shadow, which filled in all the corners and crannies of the world....
and Nyx.

Description

"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).

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Description

"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 (Envy) to afflict mortal men, and after her, Apate (Deceit) and Philotes (Friendship) and hateful Geras (Old Age) and hard-hearted Eris (Strife)." (Hesiod

Hesiod

Hesiod was a Greek language oral poet, his date is uncertain but leading scholars agree that Hesiod lived in the latter half of the Eighth-century BCE....
, Theogony
Theogony

The Theogony is a poem by Hesiod describing the origins and genealogy of the polytheism of the ancient Greeks, composed circa 700 BC....
211, translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White).

They were described as dark beings with gnashing teeth and claws and with a thirst for human blood. They would hover over the battlefield and search for dying and wounded men. A description of the Keres can be found in the Shield of Heracles (248-57):

"The black Dooms gnashing their white teeth, grim-eyed, fierce, bloody, terrifying fought over the men who were dying for they were all longing to drink dark blood. As soon as they caught a man who had fallen or one newly wounded, one of them clasped her great claws around him and his soul went down to Hades

Hades

Hades refers both to the ancient Greek underworld, the abode of Hades, and to the god of the underworld. Hades in Homer referred just to the god; the genitive case , Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades"....
, to chilly Tartarus

Tartarus

In classic Roman mythology, below Heaven, Earth, and Pontus is Tartarus, or Tartaros . It is a deep, gloomy place, a pit, or an abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides beneath the Hades....
. And when they had satisfied their hearts with human blood, they would throw that one behind them and rush back again into the battle and the tumult."

As death daimons, they were also associated with Cerberus

Cerberus

Cerberus is the name given to the entity which, in Greek mythology and Roman mythology, is a multi-headed dog which guards the gates of Hades, to prevent those who have crossed the river Styx from ever escaping....
, whose name can be read as the Ker of Erebus

Erebus

Shield of Achilles

The Shield of Achilles is the shield that Achilles uses to fight Hector, famously described in a passage in Book 18, lines 478-608 of Homer's Iliad....
(Iliad,ix.410ff), which is the model for the Shield of Heracles. These are works of art that are being described.

In the fifth century Keres were imaged as small winged sprites in vase-paintings adduced by J.E. Harrison (Harrison, 1903), who described apotropaic rites and rites of purification that were intended to keep the Keres at bay.

According to a statement of Stesichorus

Stesichorus

Stesichorus was a Ancient Greece lyric poetry from Himera in Sicily, one of the nine lyric poets esteemed by the scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria as worthy of study....
noted by Eustathius

Eustathius

Eustathius or Eustathios may refer to:* Eustathius of Antioch, Patriarch of Antioch * Eustathius of Sebaste * Eustathius of Cappadocia Neoplatonist, orator, and diplomat...
, Stesichorus "called the Keres by the name Telchines

Telchines

In Greek mythology, the Telchines were the original inhabitants of the island of Rhodes, and were known in Crete and Cyprus. They were regarded as excellent metallurgists....
", whom Eustathius identified with the Kuretes of Crete, who could call up squalls of wind and would brew potions from herbs (noted in Harrison, p 171).

The term Keres has also been cautiously used to describe a person’s fate. An example of this can be found in the Iliad
ILiad

The iLiad is an electronic handheld device, or e-book device, which can be used for document reading and editing. Like the Sony Reader or Amazon Kindle, the iLiad makes use of an electronic paper display....
where Achilles

Achilles

In Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greeks hero of the Trojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad, which takes for its theme ; the Wrath of Achilles....
was given the choice (or Keres) between either a long and obscure life and home, or death at Troy and everlasting glory. Also, when Achilles

Achilles

Hector

In Greek mythology, Hector , or Hektor, is a Troy prince and one of the greatest fighters in the Trojan War. He is the son of Priam and Hecuba, descendant of Dardanus, who lived under Mount Ida, and of Tros, the founder of Troy....
were about to engage in a fight to the death, the god 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....
weighed both warrior's keres to determine who shall die. As Hector

Hector

In Greek mythology, Hector , or Hektor, is a Troy prince and one of the greatest fighters in the Trojan War. He is the son of Priam and Hecuba, descendant of Dardanus, who lived under Mount Ida, and of Tros, the founder of Troy....
’s ker was deemed heavier, he was the one destined to die. During the festival known as Anthesteria

Anthesteria

Anthesteria, one of the four Athens festivals in honour of Dionysus , was held annually for three days, the eleventh to thirteenth of the month of Anthesterion ....
, the Keres were driven away. Their Roman equivalents were Letum (“death”) or the Tenebrae (“shadows”).

"Hunger, pestilence, madness,. nightmare have each a sprite behind them; are all sprites," J.E. Harrison observed (Harrison 1903, p 169), but two Keres might not be averted, and these, which emerged from the swarm of lesser ills, were Old Age and Death. Odysseus says, "Death and the Ker avoiding, we escape" (Odyssey xii.158), where the two are not quite identical: Harrison (p. 175) found the Christian parallel "death and the angel of death".

Among destructive personifications are (not all called Keres);

Anaplekte (Quick,Painful Death),

Akhlys (mist, that is, of death),
Nosos (disease),
Ker (destruction),
Stygere (hateful).

Keres and Valkyries
It is possible that a connection exists between Keres and the Valkyries of Norse myth. Both deities are war spirits that fly over battlefields during conflicts and choose those to be slain. The difference is that Valkyries are benevolent deities in contrast to the malevolence of the Keres, perhaps due to the different outlook of the two cultures towards war. Also the Greek word "keres" (choice) and the Old Norse word "kyrja" (to choose) from "valkyrja" seem to have a common root.

In Popular Culture

In the MMO computer game
Massively multiplayer online game

A massively multiplayer online game is a video game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously. By necessity, they are played on the Internet, and feature at least one persistent world....
EVE Online
EVE Online

Eve Online is a video game by CCP Games. It is player-driven persistent-world massively multiplayer online game set in a science fiction space setting....
there is a class of Electronic Attack Frigates
Spaceships of Eve Online

Eve Online, a science fiction-themed massively multiplayer online game, features a wide variety of spaceships. Ships are organized into different classes based on size, characteristics, and intended role, with each class containing several ships ....
named after Keres.

Ceres spelt as Keres appear as a type of female demons in the Hades Act in the game Titan Quest
Titan Quest

Titan Quest is a Action RPG developed by Iron Lore Entertainment. It was released worldwide by THQ on June 26 2006. The game was released on Steam , along with the expansion Titan Quest: Immortal Throne, on July 17, 2007....
(Expansion Immortal Throne).

Sources

March, J., Cassell's Dictionary Of Classical Mythology, London, 1999. ISBN 0-304-35161-X

Harrison, Jane Ellen
Jane Ellen Harrison

Jane Ellen Harrison was a ground-breaking United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland classics scholar, linguistics and feminist. Harrison is one of the founders, with Karl Kerenyi and Walter Burkert, of modern studies in Greek mythology....
, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion 1903. Chapter V: "The demonology of ghosts and spites and bogeys"
references in classical literature

Keres (mythology)

Description

Keres and Valkyries

In Popular Culture

Sources

See also