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Aidos

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aidos
Goddess of shame, modesty, respect, and humility.
ParentsEusebia (mother)[citation needed]
Equivalents
Roman equivalentPudicitia[citation needed]

Aidos or Aedos (/ˈdɒs/;[1] Greek: Αἰδώς, pronounced [ai̯dɔ̌ːs]) was the Greek goddess of shame, modesty, respect, and humility.[2] Aidos, as a quality, was that feeling of reverence or shame which restrains men from wrong. It also encompassed the emotion that a rich person might feel in the presence of the impoverished, that their disparity of wealth, whether a matter of luck or merit, was ultimately undeserved. Ancient and Christian humility share common themes: they both reject egotism, self-centeredness, arrogance, and excessive pride; they also recognize human limitations. Aristotle defined it as a middle ground between vanity and cowardice.[citation needed]

Mythology

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She was the last goddess to leave the earth after the Golden Age. She was a close companion of the goddess of vengeance Nemesis.[3] One source calls her daughter of Prometheus.[4] Mythologically, she is often considered to be more of a personification than a physical deity.

There are references to her in various early Greek plays, such as Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus, Iphigenia at Aulis by Euripides, and Oedipus Rex by Sophocles.

There were altars to Aidos in Athens[5] and in Sparta.[6]

Some sources mention Aeschyne (Ancient Greek: Αἰσχύνη) as a personification of shame and reverence.[7]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Zimmerman, J. E. (1964). Dictionary of Classical Mythology. New York: Harper & Row. p. 14.
  2. ^ Bell, Robert E. (1991). Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary. ABC-CLIO. p. 6. ISBN 9780874365818.
  3. ^ Hesiod, Works and Days 170 ff.
  4. ^ Pindar, Olympian Ode 7.44 ff.
  5. ^ Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 1.17.1.
  6. ^ Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 3.20.10–11.
  7. ^ Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 409 ff.; Aesop, Fables 528

References

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