Eumenides And The Kindly Ones

mikey4444 | 09:23 Sat 13th Jun 2015 | History

6 Answers

Can anybody explain why the Eumenides are sometimes referred to as the Kindly Ones ? They seem very scary creatures indeed to me !

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Baldric

The name comes from the Greek 'eumenes' for Well Disposed.

aelmpvw

because it was considered unwise to mention them by name (for fear of attracting their attention)

mikey4444

Question Author

Ah !....thanks.

Baldric

Just found this

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/e/eumenides.html

seadogg

In "Oedipus at Colonus", Oedipus refers to "the all seeing kindly ones", presumably as a way of placating these unpleasant characters, since his previous life could attract severe punishment from them.

woofgang

Its fairly traditional to call powerful and unpleasant entities by complimentary names to keep on their good side. Elves, pixies and so on were called "The Fair Folk" or "The Shining Ones"

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