. Areiopagus, in theirworship at Colonus, in that at Sicyon, where apregnant ewe was offered (Paus. ii. 11, 4), andstill more in the Erinys Thelpusa or Tilphossa,they appear as ancient deities of the powers ofthe earth, but especially as deities which in angerwithheld the fruits of the earth and must by allmeans be propitiated. This explains the identi-fication of Erinys Thelpusa with Demeter ( enraged Demeter: Paus. viii. 25, 4; Ant. 126). The offerings to them at Athenswere bloodless, cakes and milk and honey mix
. Areiopagus, in theirworship at Colonus, in that at Sicyon, where apregnant ewe was offered (Paus. ii. 11, 4), andstill more in the Erinys Thelpusa or Tilphossa,they appear as ancient deities of the powers ofthe earth, but especially as deities which in angerwithheld the fruits of the earth and must by allmeans be propitiated. This explains the identi-fication of Erinys Thelpusa with Demeter ( enraged Demeter: Paus. viii. 25, 4; Ant. 126). The offerings to them at Athenswere bloodless, cakes and milk and honey mixedwith water (vri<pahia), since the drink offeringhad no wine. This, too, belonged to them as god-desses of the earth, who might give kindly giftsas well as punish. It is true that they are oftendescribed by poets in words which belong tolightning and fire, and this may be derivedfrom the idea that Zeus punished often by thethunderbolt; but there is no sufficient groundfor saying that the myth of the Erinyes wasderived from a thunderstorm. So far from the. Erinyes (Furies). (From a painted vase.) snake necessaily implying lightning, as somemodern writers argue, it is, rather, a symbol ofthe underworld: the scourge (which is alsomade to signify lightning) is a natural emblemof the avenger. Their torches have beenpressed into the same theory; but may morereasonably be taken to show their power oflighting up the dark places of crime anddetecting the guilty. Still less reasonable is it toinsist that the obvious comparison of avengers tohounds ( Aesch. Clio. 904) shows them to be ERIPHUS EROS 325 cloud-deities. The idea of an avenging poweris natural enough to man, and onr evidencepoints rather to the original Erinyes beingdeities of the earth. In art they seem tohave been at first represented as mild andvenerable beings (Paus. i. 28, G); and it isremarked that the Furies are not figured on theoldest vases. The type described above asgiven by Aeschylus does not seem to be old
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidclassicaldic, bookyear1894
