General Notes

[FAMILY.FTW]

ACRAEA (2) was an attribute given to several goddesses whose temple were situated upon hills, including Hera, Aphrodite, Athena, and Artemis. The male counterpart was Acraeus. Acraea was a designation used for Athena as protectress of towns, fortresses, and harbors, particularly during wartime. When abandoned by Jason, Medea killed her children by him and fled to Athens in a chariot drawn by winged dragons. Previous to her flight, she placed her younger children on the alter of Hera Acraea as suppliants, but the Corinthians took them away and put them to death. [Apollodorus 1.9.16.]

AETHYIA was a surname of Athena, under which she was worshipped in Megaris. The word aethyia signifies a diver and figuratively a ship, so the name must have reference to the goddess teaching the art of shipbuilding or navigation. The tomb of Pandion was shown in the territory of Megara near the rock of Athena Aethyia on the seacoast. [Pausanias 1.5.3; Lycophron 359; Tzetzes on Lycophron 359.]

ELECTRA was a daughter of Atlas and Pleione, and one of the seven Pleiades. Her story is a confusing one. Zeus fell in love with her and carried her to Olympus, a rather daring thing to do, considering the perennial jealousy of Hera. He succeeded in raping her, but she managed to escape in midrape and as a suppliant embraced the sacred Palladium, which Athena had establishe. Since she had been sullied, the divinity of her attacker notwithsanding, she was considered a defiler of the sacred object, and it was hurled from Olympus to land in Ilium (Troy), where it was revered as the city's principal security. Through her unwelcome encouter with the father of the gods, she became the mother of Iasion and Dardanus. They must have been twins, although this fact was never particularly emphasized. (According to an Italian version of her story, she was the wife of Corythus, king of Tuscia, and had Iasion by him and Dardanus later by Zeus.) When Dardanus and Iasion migrated to Samothrace from Arcadia (or Italy or Crete), they carried the Palladium with them. This is contrary to the story of its celestial origin, but there might have been two such images. Electra appears to have followed or accompanied her sons, for we find her on Samothrace. She was even said to have been the mother of Harmonia by Zeus in Samothrace, although Harmonia is nearly always called the daughter of Aphrodite and Ares. In keeping, though, with the accounts of the origin of the Samothracian mysteries, the presence of Harmonia appeared to be called for in establishing a connection between the Samothracian and Theban Cabeiri. It seems hardly likely that Electra voluntarily would have submitted Zeus after her first unfortunate experience with him. Thoroughly instructed in the mysteries by Demeter, his lover, Iasion passed on their knowledge to numerous heroes. He later married Cybele, according to some. Dardanus went to the Troad and was hospitably received by Teucer, the king of the region, who gave him part of the kingdom and his daughter Bateia. He built the city of Dardania (later Troy) and initiated the inhabitants into the mysteries of the gods of Samothrace. He introduce3d the cult of Cybele into Phrygia. Electra went with him to the Troad, and she brought the Palladium along from Samothrace. Again we have a conflicting account. Here is the very person who allegedly contaminated the Olympian Palladium, so that it was cast out of heaven, now bringing it to the city whose site was determined by the landing place in the earlier account. Apparently there needed to be an explanation fror the introduction of the mysteries into Troy. Although the Palladium was connected with Athena, who had no strong role in the mysteries, its function of guaranteeing the safety of the city was perhaps given more credibility by having Dardanus and Electra heavily involved in worship of the Cabeiri. Electra remained in Troy until its fall, according to some writers. Even though the Pleiades had a kind of second-class immortality, being daughters of a Titan, this would have made Electra well over 100 years old. According to the story, she watched the city founded by her son perishing in flames and tore out her hair in grief; she was placed among the stars as a comet. Other accounts say she and her sisters were already among the stars as the seven Pleiades and that Electra's brilliancy dimmed when Ilium was destroyed. [Apollodorus 3.10.1, 12.1.3; Servius on Virgil's Aeneid 1.32,384, 2.325, 3.167, 7.207, 10.272; Tzetzes on Lycophron 29; Diodorus Siculus 5.48; Scholiast on Euripides' Phoenician Maidens 1136; Eustathius on Homer's Iliad 1155.]

HARMONIA, one of the inspired conceptions of some long-forgotten writer, was a tribute to the ability of the Greeks to create an ideal balance. She was the daughter of Love (Aphrodite) and War (Ares). Her brothers were Deimos (Terror) and Phobos (Fear), both mainly thought of in terms of war. Again, as if to balance things, some called Eros and Anteros full brothers as well, but in any case they were half-brothers. After Cadmus founded Thebes, Zeus gave him Harmonia as a wife. This was a union favored by all the gods and goddesses of Olympus, especially Athena, who was the self-appointed protectress of Cadmus. All the Olympians attended the wedding, and rich presents were give, the most opulent being a necklace of exquisite design studded with precious stones. Fashioned for him by Hephaestus, the was the groom's gift to the bride, along with a handsome peplus, or robe. Some said the necklace was presented to her by Aphrodite or Athena. Some said Cadmus had received it from his sister Europa, who had earlier received it from Zeus, but this would make no sense, since Cadmus never saw Europa again after her abduction. In fact, his fruitless search for her had resulted in his founding Thebes. This beautiful jewelry, whatever its origin, came with a curse as it was passed from generation to generation. The results of its attraction culminated in the battle of the Seven against Thebes and the subsequent campaign of the Epigoni. Even in Harmonia's possession, its virulence seemed to spread like poison over the family. The children of Harmonia by Cadmus were Autonoe, Ino, Semele, Agave, and Polydorus. While they were small, Harmonia seemed to lead a rather idyllic life. Undeniably immortal herself, she spent time in the company of other immortals such as the Charites (Graces), Hebe (the goddess of youth), the Horae (Seasons), the Muses, Apollo, and her mother Aphrodite. Some even claimed that the Charites were her daughters by Zeus, who was already her grandfather and later would become her son-in-law as well. The mellow life enjoyed by Harmonia came to an end when her daughters grew up. Ino's husband went insane and tried to kill her, but she leapt into the sea and became a sea divinity. Autonoe married the god Aristaeus, but he left her when their son Actaeon was turned into a stag, then killed and eaten by his hunting dogs. Semele was burned alive when she forced her lover Zeus to appear to her in his full splendor. He managed to save the child she was carrying, which turned out to be Dionysus. This grandchild did not help things when later he converted his aunts to his worship. One day the three of them got drunk and, mistaking him for a wild beast, tore Agave's son, Pentheus, apart with their bare hands. Only Polydorus, the son, turned out reasonably well, if we do not dwell on the fact that he was the great-grandfather of Oedipus. Cadmus and Harmonia left Thebes even before the death of Pentheus. Their leaving has never been explained; perhaps the tragedies of the other daughters caused them to go to a remote place. There was a prophecy among the Enchelean people in northern Greece that if Cadmus would lead them against their enemies, the Illyrians, the would be victorious. Cadmus did so, and the prophecy was fulfilled. He and Harmonia then ruled in Illyria. Although grandparents, they produced another son, Illyrius. Afterward, the gods changed them into dragons and transported them to Elysium, or the Isles of the Blessed. A variation of this account calls Harmonia the daughter of Zeus and Electra, daughter of Atlas. She was therefore sister to Dardanus and Iasion. She and her brothers lived on the island of Samothrace, where they had gone from Arcadia. When Cadmus went there searching for Europa, he fell in love with Harmonia. In this version also, the gods smiled on the marriage and attended the wedding celebration on Samothrace. Then Cadmus took Harmonia to Thebes, and the two stories merged at that point. The second version might have arisen in conjunction with the strong Cabeirian influence in Theban worship (the Cabeiri were the divinities worshipped on the islands of Lemnos and Samothrace). Dardanus and Iasion taught the mysteries in the Aegean and Asia Minor, and it would seem appropriate that Harmonia introduced them on the Greek mainland. [Apollodorus 3.4.2,5.4; Diodorus Siculus 1.68,4.48; Pindar, Pythian Odes 3.94,167; Statius, Thebaid 2.266; Euripides, Bacchanals 1233,1350; Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.562-602; Pausanias 9.5.1,12.3; Hyginus, Fables 6,184,240; Ptolemaeus Hephaestion 1; Apollonius Rhodius 4.517.]

PANDORA over the centuries has become a kind of equivalent of Eve, the first created woman. Much blame was assigned to both because of a foolish mistake (provided we remove the element of destiny). Pandora, whose name literally meant All Gifts, came into being when Zeus had her created by the master artisan Hephaestus to punish Prometheus for stealing fire from heaven. Right there we have an anomaly, since the theft of fire presupposed an already existing population of the earth. But perhaps only males existed at that point, and Zeus had other ideas for propagation. It is interesting that he saw the creation of a woman as a punishment. Whatever the reason, Pandora was created as the first woman, and all the gods came forward to endow her with gifts. Aphrodite gave her beauty, Hermes gave her cunning, and other gods and goddesses gave her various powers that Zeus had calculated to bring about the ruin of man. Finally he had Hermes deliver her to Epimetheus, the not-so-bright brother of Prometheus. Epimetheus was utterly charmed by this marvelous creation, although he had been warned by Prometheus never to accept a gift from Zeus. He forgot his promise to his brother to think before acting, because Aphrodite's gift had certainly included the ability of Pandora to give her husband ultimate sexual pleasure. Life was happy for Pandora and especially so for Epimetheus. But already destiny was at work. In the house was a covered earthen vessel (or box or chest) that either had been placed in the safekeeping of Epimetheus or given to Pandora along with other gifts. In either case it was forbidden to open it. But its unknown contents plagued Pandora (she had been given curiosity along with everything else). One day while Epimetheus was away, she could stand the temptation no longer and peeked into the vessel. She found out soon enough why she should not have opened the pot, for out swarmed all the calamities of mankind--from tidal waves to premature balding. It was too late to stop them as they spread out through the window and across the world. Pandora dropped the lid back in time to prevent the excape of the final occupant of the vessel. This was Elpis, and no matter how bad things became for people then and in the future, there was always hope. Pandora became the mother of Pyrrha by Epimetheus. Pyrrha married Deucalion, son of Prometheus, and these two people repopulated the earth when Zeus, finally disgusted with man, sent a flood to wipe out the human race. There is no record of Pandora's final history. It is not really certain whether or not she was considered immortal. In later writings she became associated with infernal divinities such as Hecate, Persephone, and the Erinyes.
In one or two versions of the allegory, Pandora brought the fatal vessel Epimetheus and, using her newly fashioned wiles, prevaied upon him to open it. It is interesting to observe the parallel of this story to that of Eve in the garden of Eden urging Adam to taste the forbidden apple. Some said the vessel contained only benefits for mankind, but these were allowed to escape. In any case, the result was intended to be the same. The birth of Pandora was represented on the pedestal of the statue of Athena in the Parthenon. [Hesiod, Theogony 571, Works and Days 30,50,96; Hyginus, Fables 142; Apollodorus 1.7.2; Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.350; Orphica, Argonautica 974.]