EUMENIDES, ii-nOn'i-dz (Lat., from Gk. EiiaevISEs, the gracious ones. from et), eu, well + IlePOS, mcnos, mind). The euphemistic name of the Erinyes. Their Latin name was furia• or direr. by the earliest poets, they play a prominent part in the writings of the tragedians. They are representatives of the mighty powers who punish those who offend against. the unwritten laws of eon. duct. Their home is in the lower world, but their power extends into this life, and they bunt the sinner to his ruin. In the epic they punish perjury, homieide, and such sins in the household as neglect of parents and ill-treat.
mein of guests. In the tragedies there are indi cations of a more general conception of them as guardians of the universal laws. They either take vengeance on the living, or carry elf the sinner to the lower world, where others can punish him. They are also the torturers of sinners in the other world. As pursuers of criminals they are represented in ,the short tunic and boots of the huntress or accompanied by hounds; as avengers they bear whips or burning torches; while the snake of chthonic divinities appears in their hair or carried in their hands. At first
their number is not mentioned ; Homer once uses the singular, and a Demeter Erinys was wor shiped at Thelpusa in Arcadia. iiEschylus brought fifteen on the stage in the Eumenides, hut in Euripides the number is three, and later learning gave them the names Alecto, Megacra, Tisiphone. Their genealogy also was uncertain. Ilesiod calls them daughters of Gata, and .:Eschy Ins of Night. Such dread deities, however, are terrible only to the sinner; to the devout wor shiper they are bringers of blessing and protec tion, and hence are called Eumenides, or at Athens = revered. They were honored at Sicyon, Argos, and elsewhere, but we are best informed about Athens, where they had a sanc tuary near a cave on the east side of the Are opag,us, and a sacred inelosure at Colonus. Con sult: ilisehvlus, Eumenides; and Sophocles, (Edipus at Colon us.