furies

The Furies, also known as the Erinyes, are chthonic goddesses of vengeance in Greek mythology. They personify the righteous anger that follows murder, oath-breaking, and offenses against the family. In Hesiod’s Theogony they are said to have been born from the blood of Uranus after Cronus castrated him, and they are traditionally three: Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. They dwell in the underworld and roam the earth to punish wrongdoers, pursuing criminals until guilt is confessed or justice is served. Their appearance varies by author, but they are often described as fearsome, sometimes with serpents in their hair and sometimes as wingless figures.

In Greek tragedy and later literature, the Furies are associated with the enforcement of natural law and family morality. They are invoked in oaths and during acts of murder and betrayal, and their pursuit can drive victims or offenders to madness. In Aeschylus’s Oresteia, Orestes is pursued by the Furies after killing his mother; Athene mediates a transformation that leads to the renaming of the Erinyes as the Eumenides, the “Kindly Ones.” This shift marks a transition from blood feud to a system of civic justice, with the Furies taking on a protective, purificatory role within the city.

The Roman counterpart is the Furiae. In modern culture, the Furies appear in various adaptations of Greek myth, often as symbols of vengeance, justice, or the tension between ancient natural law and formal legal structures.