The Mist-Walking
Originally called Erinys… later called, Erinyes. Referred to as, ‘the mist-walking… ’ and, with fear and respect, ‘the kindly one’. She would harass and injure her prey but not kill them. Homer refers to her in the singular (Odyssey, book 15, line 234) but, much later (circa 450 BCE), Euripides used the number ‘three’ and eventually ‘they’ assumed the names: Tisiphone, Megaera and Alekto (Alecto). Their brass wings made escape impossible, their ripping claws made their torment relentless and horrible.
We often confuse ‘them’ with the Roman goddesses, the Furiae (Furies).
Erinyes in The Iliad (listed by book and line)
- 09.571 …When Apollon kidnapped Kleopatra (Cleopatra), daughter of Euenos (Evenus) and Idas, Erinys, the mist walker, heard Euenos crying in the darkness
- 19.087 …Agamemnon says that Zeus, Moira (Destiny) and Erinys, the mist walker, caused his dishonorable treatment of Akhilleus (Achilles)
Erinyes in The Odyssey (listed by book and line)
- 15.234 …The prophet, Theoklymenos (Theoclymenus), relates his family’s history to Telemakhos (Telemachus) and tells of the captivity of Melampous (Melampus) and the infatuation Erinys, wrecker of houses, inflicted on him
Witch's Well 