DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0652
024
Of THE MISCELLANY CUSTOMS OF GREECE.
tells us their names were Cottus, Briareus, andGyges, and that they were
the sons of Ooguvos and Tij, i- e. Heaven and Earth. Philocrus likewise
makes Earth their mother ; but instead of Heaven, substitutes the Sun
or Apollo for their father ; whence he seems to account as well for their
being accounted the superintendents of generation, as for the name of
'Fgirotfel'Togeg, for being immediately descended from two immortal gods,"
themselves (saith he) were thought <rp«Voi jrars'|S£, the third fathers, and
therefore might be well esteemed the common parents of mankind, and
from that opinion derive those honours which the Athenians paid them
as the authors and presidents of human generation (1).
The goddess who had the care of women in child-bed was called E<-
Xsi&vta, or EiXd&uia, sometimes Eksvda, as in the epigram :
—■—■—Mo%&ov EAft/fls;
You're past the pangs o'er which Eleutho reigas.
She is called in Latin, Lucina. Both had the same respects paid by wo-
men, and the same titles and epithets. Elithyia is called by Nonnus (2),
The succouring deity in child-birth.
Ovid speaks in the same manner of the Latin goddess (3) :
-Gravidis facilis Lucina puellis.
Lucina, kind to teeming ladies.
The Roman in Theocritus invokes Elithyia (4):
"Evfla yiip Elxsjfluctv sCocVaTo Kvtri^ocvti.
Thy mother there to Elithyia prays,
To ease her throes.-
The Roman women called for Lucina's assistance : whence Ovid
-Tu voto parturientis ades.
You kindly women in their travail hear.
Several other things are common to both. As Elithyia was styled uStvuv
tiruyuyog, StyjXewv tfwTSi^a, &.c. so likewise Lucina was graced with various
appellations, denoting her care of women. Their names, indeed, appear
to have distinct originals, yet both have relation to the same action ; for
Ei'Xjj'duia is derived «Vo tj? sXsudsiv, from coming, either because she came
to assist women in labour, or rather, from her being invoked to help
the infant e^stfOcu slsro <pȣ. to tome into the light, or the world. Lucina
is taken from lux, light, for the same reason, according to Ovid :
-Tu nobis lucem, Lucina, dedisti.
Lucina, you first brought us into light.
The Greek name (pa(f<pogeg sometimes attributed to this goddess, is of the
same import with the Latin, Lucina, being derived «Vo <r« <pSg cpigsiv, from
bringing lip** ; because it was by her assistance that infants were safely
delivered out of their dark mansions, to enjoy the light of this world. In
aliusian to this, the Greek and Latin goddesses were both represented
*vith lighted torches in their hands; which reason seems far more natural
(1) Vide Suidam, Etymologici Auctorem, (3) Fast. lib. gj
Phavori mm, Hesychium, &c, (4) Idyll, f.
<?'• Diouysiacis.
Of THE MISCELLANY CUSTOMS OF GREECE.
tells us their names were Cottus, Briareus, andGyges, and that they were
the sons of Ooguvos and Tij, i- e. Heaven and Earth. Philocrus likewise
makes Earth their mother ; but instead of Heaven, substitutes the Sun
or Apollo for their father ; whence he seems to account as well for their
being accounted the superintendents of generation, as for the name of
'Fgirotfel'Togeg, for being immediately descended from two immortal gods,"
themselves (saith he) were thought <rp«Voi jrars'|S£, the third fathers, and
therefore might be well esteemed the common parents of mankind, and
from that opinion derive those honours which the Athenians paid them
as the authors and presidents of human generation (1).
The goddess who had the care of women in child-bed was called E<-
Xsi&vta, or EiXd&uia, sometimes Eksvda, as in the epigram :
—■—■—Mo%&ov EAft/fls;
You're past the pangs o'er which Eleutho reigas.
She is called in Latin, Lucina. Both had the same respects paid by wo-
men, and the same titles and epithets. Elithyia is called by Nonnus (2),
The succouring deity in child-birth.
Ovid speaks in the same manner of the Latin goddess (3) :
-Gravidis facilis Lucina puellis.
Lucina, kind to teeming ladies.
The Roman in Theocritus invokes Elithyia (4):
"Evfla yiip Elxsjfluctv sCocVaTo Kvtri^ocvti.
Thy mother there to Elithyia prays,
To ease her throes.-
The Roman women called for Lucina's assistance : whence Ovid
-Tu voto parturientis ades.
You kindly women in their travail hear.
Several other things are common to both. As Elithyia was styled uStvuv
tiruyuyog, StyjXewv tfwTSi^a, &.c. so likewise Lucina was graced with various
appellations, denoting her care of women. Their names, indeed, appear
to have distinct originals, yet both have relation to the same action ; for
Ei'Xjj'duia is derived «Vo tj? sXsudsiv, from coming, either because she came
to assist women in labour, or rather, from her being invoked to help
the infant e^stfOcu slsro <pȣ. to tome into the light, or the world. Lucina
is taken from lux, light, for the same reason, according to Ovid :
-Tu nobis lucem, Lucina, dedisti.
Lucina, you first brought us into light.
The Greek name (pa(f<pogeg sometimes attributed to this goddess, is of the
same import with the Latin, Lucina, being derived «Vo <r« <pSg cpigsiv, from
bringing lip** ; because it was by her assistance that infants were safely
delivered out of their dark mansions, to enjoy the light of this world. In
aliusian to this, the Greek and Latin goddesses were both represented
*vith lighted torches in their hands; which reason seems far more natural
(1) Vide Suidam, Etymologici Auctorem, (3) Fast. lib. gj
Phavori mm, Hesychium, &c, (4) Idyll, f.
<?'• Diouysiacis.