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Goddesses of Ancient Greece - M
Macaria
Macaria was the daughter of Heracles and appears in Euripides's play Heraclidae
(The Children of Heracles). When she and her siblings took refuge from
Eurystheus with Demophon, king of Athens, Eurystheus prepared to take
them from the kingdom by force. Oracles told Demophon that his city would
win the battle over Heracles's descendants only if a highborn maiden was
offered as a sacrifice to Persephone. On hearing this, Macaria offered
to die for her siblings. The spring where she died was named the Macarian
spring in her honor.
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Maenads
The female devotees of the wine-god Dionysus, thus also called Bacchae
and Bacchantes. Inspired by him to ecstatic frenzy, they accompany him
in his wanderings and as his priestesses carry out his orgiastic rites.
In their wild frenzy they tear animals apart and devour the raw flesh.
They are represented crowned with vine leaves, clothes in fawnskins and
carrying the thyrsus, and dancing with the wild abandonment of complete
union with primeval nature.
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Maera
The daughter of Proetus, and companion of the goddess Artemis. Zeus pursued
her with his love, so that the jealous Artemis killed her. A daughter
of Atlas.
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Maia
The eldest and most beautiful of the Pleiades, the seven daughters of
Atlas and Pleione. Mistress of Zeus and mother of Hermes. |
Makara
The Makara are seven sisters who became the constellation Pleiades.
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Mania
("madness") The Greek personification of madness.
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Medusa
In some traditions she was the serpent goddess of the Libyan Amazons and
represented female wisdom. In others she was an Anatolian Sun Goddess.
Medusa is identical with the Crone or Destroyer aspect of the dark Egyptian
goddess Nieth; she was also one member of the triple personae of the North
African goddess An-Ath. When that goddess was imported by the Greeks as
patroness of Athens, Medusa's fierce visage was embossed on Athena's shield.
That her wrath turned men to stone may be a folk memory of the theft of
wise woman culture by the patriarchy.
Her blood was said to have the power to create life or bring death, symbolized
by the two black swans, facing opposite directions, which sometimes accompanied
her image. She was known as a full moon Goddess who brought rain for the
crops. In later myths, she was a beautiful Gorgon Queen who guarded the
Garden of the Hesperides containing the tree of golden apples in the land
of the setting sun. Athena put a curse on Medusa, turning her hair to
snakes and causing those who glimpsed her face to turn to stone, as punishment
for making love with Poseidon in Athena's temple. Patriarchal Greek myths
tell of Medusa's demise at the hands of Perseus who gave Athena, the Greek
Goddess of Wisdom, the former's head to wear on her shield. These myths
had also told of Zeus swallowing Metis, Athena's mother, and Athena springing
from Zeus' head, a clear example of the way the embodiment of wisdom was
changed from the earlier matrifocal myths. From Medusa's dead body the
giant Chrysaor and the winged horse Pegasus, her son by Poseidon, sprang
forth.
Megaera
("grudge") One of the three Erinyes (Furies). They were created
by drops of Uranus' blood. The Erinyes are the three goddesses of revenge,
they punished those who escaped or defied public justice. The other two
sisters are Alecto, the unceasing, and Tisiphone, the avenging. The three
are women with fiery eyes, dogs' heads, and their head are wreathed with
serpents. Their whole appearance is terrific and appalling. The sisters
are sometimes called the daughters of night and are brought about by murder,
perjury, ingratitude, disrespect, harshness, and the laws of hospitality.
Megaera, Alecto, and Tisiphone are impartial and impersonal and they pursue
wrongdoers until they sinners are driven mad and die.
Melete
One of the original three Greek (Boeotian) Muses (their number was later
increased to nine) and the Muse of Meditation. She is the sister of Aoide
and Mneme.
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Meliboa
The daughter of Oceanus and the mother of Lycaon. The only daughter of
Niobe, who was spared by Artemis. She was so upset by the death of her
brothers and sisters that she was from that moment on called Chloris ("the
pale one").
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Melissa
A nymph, the daughter of King Melisseus. She is thought to have fed the
infant Zeus with goat milk and thought humans the use of honey ('melitta',
bee). 'Melissa' was also a title for the priestesses of Demeter and Artemis.
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Melpomene
("choir") One of the nine Muses. Her realm was that of Tragedy.
The Muses are daughters of Zeus by Mnemosyne, and between them inspire
creative workings. She is usually represented with a tragic mask and wearing
the cothurnus (the boots traditionally worn by tragic actors). Sometimes
she holds a knife of club in one hand, and the mask in the other.
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Menippe
The daughter of Orion, and sister of Metioche. Both sisters were endowed
by Aphrodite with great beauty, and equaled Artemis in the womanly crafts.
When the region where they were born, Aonia, at the base of the Helicon,
was struck by the plague, they voluntarily sacrificed themselves to the
gods of the underworld in order to avert the plague. After their deaths
they were given a place among the stars.
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Menthe
A nymph, loved by Hades. A jealous Persephone turned her into a plant.
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Merope
A Greek mythological figure, Merope is one of the seven Pleiades, daughters
of Atlas and Pleione. The Pleiades were virgin companions of Artemis.
Merope lived on Chios, and was often pursued by Orion. Merope did not
love Orion and married a mortal, Sisyphus. Orion also pursued Alcyone,
Electra, Celaeno, Sterope, and Taygete, the other Pleiades and their mother.
One time they prayed to the gods for rescue. The gods answered by turning
them into doves and later into stars. Zeus placed them in the sky where
they now form part of the constellation, Taurus. Since Merope married
a mortal, she became the faintest star.
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Metioche
One of the two daughters of Orion, sister of Menippe. She voluntarily
sacrificed herself to avert a plague. |
Metis
("wisdom") One of the Titans, child of Uranus and Gaea (Heaven
and Earth). Among them, she was considered the most wise, and is said
to have provided the young Zeus with good advice when he began the battle
against his father. By Zeus, she is the mother of Athene, who may fairly
be considered her successor: Zeus was given a prophecy that any male child
of Metis would supplant him, as he had supplanted his sire, and he his.
Zeus therefore repeated after a fashion his forefather, and swallowed
the pregnant Metis whole, whereupon Athene sprang forth fully armed from
his forehead. |
Mneme
One of the original three Greek Muses (their number was later increased
to nine). Mneme is the Muse of Memory. She is the sister of Aoide and
Melete.
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Mnemosyne
("memory") One of the Titans, child of Uranus and Gaea (Heaven
and Earth). By Zeus, she is the mother of the Muses. |
Moira
The Greek goddess of fate or necessity, supreme even over the Olympian
gods.
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Momus
She is the Daughter of Nyx, and the Spirit of Derision, Sarcasm, and Irony.
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Mormo
Mormo was a minor Greek goddess. She bit naughty children in order to
frighten them.
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Muses
The Greek goddesses who presided over the arts and sciences. They were
believed to inspire all artists, especially poets, philosophers, and musicians.
The Muses were the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory.
The number of Muses varies over time; initially there was but one, and
later there is mention of three: Melete, Mneme, and Aoede - they were
originally nymphs in Pieria, western Thrace, and the Aloadae brought their
cult to Helicon in Boeotia. Usually there is mention of nine muses: Calliope,
Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia, and
Urania. The Muses sat near the throne of Zeus, king of the gods, and sang
of his greatness and of the origin of the world and its inhabitants and
the glorious deeds of the great heroes. From their name words such as
music, museum, and mosaic are derived.
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Myrrha
The daughter of Cinyras, and by him the mother of Adonis. She was turned
into a myrrh tree. |
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