From our earliest literary evidence it is clear that the Erinyes were connected with darkness. In Hesiod’s Theogony they were born from Earth as a consequence of a brutal and nocturnal act of violence: the castration of Ouranos.1 In Aeschylus, however, they belong to the offspring not of Earth, but of Night.2 In both cases their relationship with darkness and their dark character is a result of their origin.3 As for their sphere of activity this was already determined by the time of Homer. In this poet they are avengers of any transgression of the natural order of things, the goddesses of punishment, who are in charge of reestablishing justice and cosmic order.4 They are inhabitants of Hades, the world of the dead, which in Homer is a dark world of shadows, never reached by the light of the sun.5
In Aeschylus’ Eumenides the Erinyes are presented in an even more insistent and graphic way as creatures of darkness, described as black6 and as dwellers of the darkness of the underworld.7 The whole play is about the contrast between the darkness of the Erinyes and the light represented by Apollo,8 a contrast between the worlds of the dead and the living.
The monstrous and fearful character of the Erinyes is remarked by the Pythia in the prologue of the tragedy, when she first calls them Gorgons, but then immediately corrects herself by saying that she cannot compare them with Gorgons because the Erinyes have no wings, are black and in some way they are even more terrible.9
A point worth exploring is whether this relationship with Night—as children of Night—would imply that they also operate at night, conceived as the natural phenomenon which follows (or precedes) the day. That is, can we attribute the Erinyes with the capacity of acting at night and—perhaps—of resting during daylight?
In Euripides’ Orestes they act at a mental level, they are only real in Orestes’ mind, and Orestes, who is the only one who can see them, says that their first appearance occurred at night, although there is no later reference to a nocturnal action.10 In Euripides the Erinyes’ mode of action could have been determined by the conception presented by Aeschylus. At the end of Libation Bearers they are also only a manifestation of Orestes’ madness.11 In contrast, in Eumenides their appearance becomes real and physical—they are the chorus of the tragedy—and, although we cannot determine with absolute certainty that Aeschylus presents them as operating only at night, we might consider as evidence of their nocturnal action the fact that according to Libation Bearers night—at least a symbolic night—had expanded over the palace from the time when Agamemnon was killed.12 And also in Libation Bearers there are constant allusions to sleep and dreams, which could be an allusion to night as the normal time to sleep and dream. In Eumenides it is night for Orestes as a consequence of the matricide, the crimes have turned day into night.
The Erinyes are—as Homer calls them– ἠεροφοίτιδες (Iliad 9. 571, 19), an epithet which could refer to the fact that they walk in darkness, invisible, and this darkness could be the darkness of night, the realm of the invisible par excellence.13
However, when the Pythia goes to Apollo’s temple to predict the future, she finds them around the omphalos—in the prologue of Eumenides—exhausted and asleep. And if we deduce from line 67 that it was Apollo who put them to sleep, perhaps we might infer that it was the power of light—the Sun— which makes them sleep.14 In their sleep they are visited by Clytaemestra’s ghost. An angry Clytaemestra who rouses them complaining that they are asleep and neglecting their function.15
The Erinyes’ mode of action is described in Eumenides with several horrific terms which allude to their character. And amongst those characteristics there is one which makes them truly vampire-like creatures: the fact that they drink their victims’ blood.16
All the events in the palace of Argos, Agamemnon’s death, the situation of Clytaemestra and Aegisthus, have provoked night as a dark veil which covers everything and everybody, which anticipates more terrible disasters. And during that night—real or imagined—the matricide is committed and the Erinyes appear, first at a mental and private level—in Orestes’ mind—then at a real level, when everybody—included the audience in the theater—can see them. They need to be seen because their hideousness is scaring. But nobody usually sees them because their world is darkness.
Finally, at the end of Eumenides darkness becomes light when the Erinyes are transformed into the Eumenides. The ancient goddesses will keep their rights and will receive the honor of a place of privileged worship in Athens as a guarantee of prosperity for the city. It is the triumph of light.
One should also consider the representation of the Erinyes in Greek art and see whether it can give us some more details about their relationship with night and darkness.
Images of the Erinyes in vase-painting in the context of the myth of Orestes show in general a strong influence from dramatic performances.17 Some of them seem to reflect the text of Eumenides, for instance, when the Pythia finds the Erinyes sleeping in Apollo’s temple. An Apulian bell-crater attributed to the Judgement Painter and in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (360 BC) shows Orestes and the omphalos in the center of the image, Apollo and Athena one on each side and two Erinyes sleeping at the bottom of the image.18 On an Apulian kalyx-crater by the Konnakis Painter in the Hermitage Museum (360–350 BC) Orestes is also depicted inside Apollo’s temple and the Pythia looks frightened by the sight of the five Erinyes sleeping. The Erinyes are here represented with black skin—like the description in Eumenides—and contrasting white robes.19 In both scenes there is an opposition between the placid and relaxed Erinyes, with their eyes closed, and the image of Orestes or of the Pythia, which give the impression of agitated movement.
The usual iconography of the Erinyes presents them as women, sometimes winged (unlike the description in Eumenides), with snakes in their hair and in their hands. In their aspect as huntresses they can hold a short hunting javelin, but they can also appear holding one or two torches. This attribute is not documented in any literary text and it is not constant in vase-painting in scenes of the myth of Orestes. In fact, it does not appear until 380–360 BC in a red-figure Attic pelike in the National Museum of Perousia with the scene of two Erinyes menacing Orestes.
Some other later examples of the same scene are: an Apulian volute-crater in Berlin Museum (360–350 BC) which shows a winged Erinys holding a torch in her left hand and a sword in the right hand. She is in front of Apollo and Orestes and two women look frightened at the sight of her. Another Apulian volute-crater in the Hermitage Museum (360–350 BC) has on the right side one Erinys sitting and holding two torches, another one walks toward Orestes brandishing a torch. Behind her, a third one also with a torch, has her left arm raised. On a Campanian hydria in Berlin Museum (350–325 BC) a winged Erinys is depicted on the left, with a snake around her body, holding a torch with her right hand. The torch is down in a kind of resting position.
Torches are a source of artificial light which provide illumination in darkness. In ancient Greece, however, torches appear also in the world of ritual and can assume a religious and cultic meaning.20
The Erinyes are not the only characters depicted bearing torches in Greek vase-painting. Several gods are also represented in art as torch-bearers. In some cases the torch appears clearly connected with the underworld, such in the cases of Hekate, Demeter or Persephone.
The torch has an important role in the characterization of Hekate.21 Images on Attic and South Italian vases show her usually holding two torches, for instance on scenes of the anodos of Persephone in which she guides Persephone in crossing the border between two worlds, in an emergence from darkness into light. In the opposite direction she is represented guiding Hades’ chariot in scenes of the abduction.22
Demeter and Persephone are also commonly represented holding one or two torches. In these cases there are different aspects which might be suggested by the use of the torch: on the one hand the darkness of Hades, on the other hand the rites of initiation of the Eleusinian Mysteries23 and the ritual of the wedding and the funeral (Persephone’s wedding with Hades and her relationship with the world of the dead). In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Demeter is described holding torches when she is looking for Persephone accompanied by Hekate.24
Lyssa, the personification of madness in Euripides Herakle s, is also represented holding torches. Probably because of a similar function, her iconography is very similar to that of the Erinyes and she is depicted as a huntress in Greek vase-painting in several mythological contexts, holding one or two torches in a menacing attitude.25 The way she operates in the tragedy when she induces madness in Herakles to make him kill his children is very similar to the manner of action of the Erinyes, although Lyssa acts in order to provoke the crime whereas the action of the Erinyes follows the crime. Lyssa is also considered a daughter of Night and she is able to produce terrible deeds. Although the literary evidence about Lyssa does not refer to night or darkness, her character as an underworld daimon and a huntress, and probably also the influence of the Erinyes’ iconography, could have been reasons for adopting the torch as one of her attributes. Nevertheless, Lyssa is always represented only as a personification.
We should, of course, also consider a strong relationship attested between Dionysos and torches. Some literary sources allude to Dionysos holding torches.26 He is called Nyktelios “nocturnal,” referring probably to his nocturnal celebrations. In Euripides’ Bacchae the god admits his preference for darkness and it is documented that Bacchic ceremonies took place at night.27 Dionysos has also a chthonic aspect in relation to the Eleusinian Mysteries, he even appears as a paredros of Demeter (according to Pindar I 7, 3–5). Torches are depicted in representations of the worship of Dionysos in the second quarter of the 5th century and maenads holding torches appear dancing and in- Erinyes as Creatures of Darkness volved in a variety of activities, sometimes accompanying the god, including scenes of nocturnal banquets. We can interpret torches as a source of light, necessary for those nocturnal celebrations, but also as a symbol of Dionysos.
Torches appear also in different cults and ritual acts and they are documented as part of the cult of Demeter, Zeus, Artemis, Aphrodite, etc. They are used for light inside the temple and also in some ceremonies with different symbolic meanings.28 For example, the use of torches in wedding processions is attested already in Homer29 and images of wedding processions include the use of torches as part of the ceremony.30 Wedding and funeral have parallel rituals and overlapping rites which take place at night. They both involve a night journey accompanied by people carrying torches, to light the way and, perhaps, to express also the idea of protection.
In Greek art there is no painting of night; vase-painters do not have the opportunity to use color when they attempt to depict the darkness of night, as we can see in later art—particularly in baroque painting.31 Even the scenes which happen in a supposedly dark world—the Underworld—do not show any visual difference from scenes happening during the day.
The torch transforms darkness into light; it allows people to see and be seen. Paradoxically it belongs to the world of night, as shadows belong to the world of natural or artificial light. At the same time, the torch involves a relationship with cult and ritual—as we have already seen.
In Greek vase-painting the representations of the Erinyes could have adopted the torch as a characteristic element, symbolizing their dark origin, the darkness in which they operate and in which they need light. The torch could have been inspired by performances of the Oresteia where, at the end of Eu- menides—in the final procession accompanied by Athena—the torch represents the triumph of light and guides the Erinyes to their new subterranean place where they will have their new cult as Eumenides.32
Sometimes the Erinyes bear one or two javelin-like burning torches which, in these cases, suggest also a menacing weapon brandished against Orestes or—in some representations of the Erinyes in Hades—against other characters, as if they were brandishing a sword or a real javelin. In such cases the fire of the torch makes their action more frightening.33 According to Aellen34 we should distinguish the image of the individual and isolated Fury from the plural Erinyes in Orestes’ myth. The Fury appears as a winged huntress brandishing flaming torches in some scenes of the Underworld and in some other mythological scenes in which she is not involved in literary evidence. The artists have probably developed an iconographical invention related to revenge and madness. In these scenes the Fury becomes an Underworld daimon and can be mistaken for Lyssa—who, at the same time, could have adopted the iconographical model of a Fury—when the artists do not identify her by an inscribed name. Particularly in South Italian painting the menacing torch appears more insistently as a weapon in the hands of a Fury, used in the same way as a javelin.
Erinyes, Gorgons, Keres, Harpies, they are all monstrous and sinister creatures in Greek mythology, related to the Underworld in different ways. But only in the case of the Erinyes can we deduce a strong relationship with night, not only as their origin, but also as their sphere of activity. They alone live in darkness; they alone embody the terrible and frightening darkness of night.
1. Hesiod, Theogony 183–85. They are the avengers of Ouranos in 472.
2. They invoke their mother Night in Eumenides 322, 821–22, 877.
3. As Earth is usually referred to as dark Earth (for instance Iliad 2.699) both accounts of their origin stress their darkness (See E. Irwin, Color Terms in Greek Poetry (Toronto, 1974)). In Pausanias (8.34.3) we find a reference that the Erinyes when they were about to make Orestes mad, appeared dark to him, and again they seemed to him to be white ‘… and he sacrificed to the white goddesses.’ But according to Irwin, this is probably a later refinement that made the Eumenides dark when they were hostile and white when they were kindly disposed.
4. As goddesses of vengeance for instance in Iliad 9.571, 21.412. As the goddesses who punish those swearing falsely in Iliad 19.259 and in general about their nature and function in Odyssey 2.135.
5. Odyssey 11.15–19: ‘The bright Sun cannot look down on them with his rays. Dreadful Night spreads her mantle over the unhappy people.’
6. Eumenides 51–54: ‘… and they are black, utterly revolting in their manner.’
7. Eumenides 72: ‘Their realm is the darkness of the underworld.’
8. For A. H. Sommerstein, ed., Aeschylus’ Eumenides (Cambridge, 1989: 278–79), even when Orestes goes to Delphi, home of the fire-light that is called imperishable, he is pursued by the Erinyes, the powers of darkness. But finally the sun appears in l. 906.
9. Eumenides 48–63.
10. Orestes 401: ‘When began the madness? What the day?’; 404: ‘In that nightwatch for gathering of the bones.’
11. Libation Bearers 1061–62. Several scholars have discussed the relationship between the conception of the Erinyes in Libation Bearers and in Eumenides, the passage from fantasy to reality, from the product of Orestes’ state of mind to a visible and real presence on stage (See A. L. Brown, “The Erinyes in the Oresteia: Real life, the Supernatural and the Stage,” JHS 103 (1983): 13–34).
12. For example, Libation Bearers 52–53: ‘Blackness covers the house through the death of his master.’ 285 ff.: ‘Those below have a weapon from the dark, from men killed within their family and supplicating vengeance: it is madness and empty terror in the night.’; 810: ‘… And he may see freedom’s brilliant light with welcoming eyes after the veil of darkness!’
13. For B. Hainsworth (The Iliad: A Commentary. Cambridge, 1993: 137–38) that walking in darkness may imply ‘coming unseen’ although the Erinyes normally terrify their victims by their horrendous appearance. However, the Erinyes who walks in darkness enhances her menace by the obscurity of the epithet. It is supposed that a mysterious appearance in darkness can also be frightening.
14. For Sommerstein (Aeschylus’ Eumenides, 95) Apollo’s words in l.67: ‘I have promised not to be gentle to your enemies in future and as you see I am not being gentle with them now’ would imply that it is him who has brought sleep upon the Erinyes to facilitate Orestes’ escape.
15. Eumenides 94 ff.
16. Eumenides 264–66. In Agamemnon (1188 ff.) the Erinyes are described by Cassandra as having drunk human blood, but it is the blood of the murdered, not that of their own victims. However, in Eumenides (264–66) it seems that they allude to their victim’s blood when they say that blood is their food and this makes them even more terrible and frightening. For Brown (The Erinyes in the Oresteia, 14, 26) this idea could be an invention by Aeschylus based on the description of the Keres in Hesiod’s Shield (249–52) and the same time an intention to evoke other vampire-like creatures (such as Lamia) and to re-awake childish terrors in the audience.
17. For the iconography of the Erinyes see for example: H. Sarian, ‘Erinys’ in LIMC III, 1, 825–43; Junge, M. Untersuchungen zur Ikonographie der Erinys in der Griechischen Kunst (1983); Prag, A.J.N.W. The Oresteia. Iconographic and Narra- tive Tradition (London, 1985); H. Sarian, ‘Refléxions sur l’iconographie des Erinyes dans le milieu grecque, italiote, et etrusque’, in Iconographie classique et identités regionales, BCH 14 (1986) : 25–35; D. Knoepfler, Les imagiers de l’Orestie (Neuchâtel, 1993).
18. This scene seems to have been popular among South Italian vase-painters, probably because of the big impact of that particular moment in performances of the Oresteia. A study on this image in Vermeule, E.T. ‘More Sleeping Furies’, in Studies in Classical Art and Archaeology. A tribute to Peter Heinrich von Blanckenhagen (1976): 185–88.
19. For this image see Trendall A. D. and Webster, T. B. L. Illustrations of Greek Drama (London, 1971), 1.10 (46).
20. For light and fire in ancient Greece see for instance W. D. Furley, Studies in the Use of Fire in Ancient Greek Religion (New York, 1981); E. Parisinou, The Light of the Gods. The Role of Light in Archaic and Classical Greek Cult (London, 2000).
21. Several literary references allude to her as the goddess who carries torches. In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (52) she accompanies Demeter in her search for Persephone holding a source of light (probably a torch): ‘Hekate met her with a light in her hand.’ Apollonios (Argonautica III, 1214–16) says of her: ‘around her head was a garland of terrible snakes entwined with oak-branches, and her torches flashed out a blinding brightness.’ Hekate is called Phosphoros ‘torch-bearing’ and also Nyktipolos, ‘who walks at night’ and chthonia ‘who lives in the underworld,’ all epithets alluding to her relationship with darkness.
22. For some representations of Hekate with torches and her connections with the Erinyes see Aellen, D. À la recherche de l’ordre cosmique: forme et fonction des personnifications dans la céramique italiote (Kilberch/Zürich, 1994): 58–61. For iconography of Hekate with torches see Parisinou, The Light of the Gods, 83–84.
23. Iconographical representations related to the Eleusinian Mysteries and also several literary references (e.g., Aristophanes, Frogs 313–14 or Sophocles, Oedipous at Colonus 1048–1052) document the torch as a distinctive element in the ritual of Eleusis. See for instance Bérard, C. ‘La lumière el le Faisceau: images du rituel éleusinien,’ in Recherches et documents du centre Thomas More 48 (1985): 17–34; Parisinou, The Light of the Gods, 67–71; Parker, R. Polytheism and Society in Athens (Oxford, 2005).
24. See Parisinou, The Light of the Gods, 67–71.
25. For the iconography of Lyssa see Kossatz-Deissmann, A.‘Lyssa,’ in LIMC 322–329. D. Aellen (À la recherche de l’ordre cosmique, 24, ff.) considers Lyssa in South Italian vase-painting as a name for a Fury, an infernal demon.
26. For instance Euripides, Ion 550 or Sophocles, Oedipus Rex 210.
27. Euripides, Bacchae 485.
28. For the use of light of torches and lamps in the worship of the gods see Parisinou, The Light of the Gods, 136–161; Palaiokrassa, L. ‘Beleuchtungsgeräte,’ in ThesCRA V (Los Angeles, J.P. Getty Museum, 2005): 363–76.
29. Iliad 18.490–6.
30. See Oakley J. H. and Sinos, R. H. The Wedding in Ancient Athens (Wisconsin & London, 1993); Parisinou, The Light of the Gods, 54–59.
31. For the representation of night and darkness in art see Saint Girons, B. Les marges de la nuit (Paris, 2006).
32. Eumenides, 1022–23.
33. The torch used as a weapon appears also in some images of Artemis represented as a huntress, for instance on an Attic pelike by the Herakles painter in the British Museum (c.370 BC) in which Artemis is killing a deer using a torch as a weapon, possibly using it because of the destructive power of fire and also the frightening aspect of a bright light. At the same time the idea of nocturnal hunting could be considered. If we think that Artemis is a goddess who shares some traits with Hekate—as nocturnal goddesses—and who is associated with Selene, we can deduce her nocturnal activities, which could be highlighted by the use of a torch. One or two torches are also used by Artemis as weapons to fight against the Giants in scenes of the Gigantomachy. See Parisinou, The Light of the Gods, 102–3.
34. See Aellen, À la recherche de l’ordre cosmique, 24.
Aellen, D. A la recherche de l’ordre cosmique: forme et fonction des personnifica- tions dans la céramique italiote (Kilchberg/Zürich, 1994).
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Furley, W. Studies in the Use of Fire in Ancient Greek Religion. New York, 1981.
Hainsworth, B. The Iliad: A Commentary. Cambridge, 1993.
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Knoepfler, D. Les imagiers de l’Orestie. Neuchâtel, 1993.
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Parisinou, E. The Light of the Gods. The Role of Light in Archaic and Classical Greek Cult. London, 2000.
Parker, R. Polytheism and Society in Athens. Oxford, 2005.
Prag, A. J. N. W. The Oresteia, Iconographic and Narrative Tradition. Warminster, 1985.
Ramnoux, C. La Nuit et les Enfants de la Nuit dans la tradition grecque. Paris, 1986.
Saint Girons, B. Les marges de la nuit. Paris, 2006.
Sarian, H. ‘Refléxions sur l’iconographie des Erinyes dans le milieu grecque, italiote et etrusque’ in Iconographie classique et identités regionales. BCH 14 (1986): 25–35.
Sommerstein, A., ed. Aeschylus’ Eumenides. Cambridge, 1989. Thesaurus Cultus et Rituum Antiquorum (ThesCRA) V (Los Angeles, J.P. Getty Museum, 2005).
Trendall, A. D., and T. B. L. Webster. Illustrations of Greek Drama. London, 1971.
Vermeule, E. ‘More Sleeping Furies’ in Studies in Classical Art and Archaeology. A Tribute to Peter Heinrich von Blanckenhagen (1976): 185–88.