Stheno and Euryale

InGreek mythology,Stheno(/ˈsθiːnoʊ,ˈsθɛnoʊ/;Ancient Greek:Σθενώ,romanized:Sthenṓ,lit. 'forceful')^[2]andEuryale(/jʊəˈraɪəli/yuu-RY-ə-lee;Ancient Greek:Εὐρυάλη,romanized:Euryálē,lit. 'far-roaming')^[3]were two of the threeGorgons,along withMedusa,sisters who were able to turn anyone who looked at them to stone.^[4]WhenPerseusbeheaded Medusa, the two Gorgons pursued him but were unable to catch him.

Family

According toHesiod,andApollodorus,Stheno and Euryale, along with Medusa, were daughters of the primordial sea-godPhorcysand the sea-monsterCeto,^[5]while, according toHyginus,they were daughters of "the Gorgon", an offspring ofTyphonandEchidna,and Ceto.^[6]

Mythology

Two views of the same vase. Above: a headless Medusa on the left, with Stheno and Euryale running right. Below: the continuation of the scene showing Perseus running right.Dinos of the Gorgon Painter LouvreE874 (early sixth century BC)^[7]

The Gorgons Stheno and Euryale were immortal, whereas their Gorgon sister Medusa was mortal.^[8]The only story involving them is their pursuit of Perseus after he has beheaded Medusa. The HesiodicShield of Heracles(c. late seventh–mid sixth century BC) describes the two Gorgons' pursuit of Perseus, as depicted on Heracles' shield:

Perseus himself, Danae’s son, was outstretched, and he looked as though he were hastening and shuddering. The Gorgons, dreadful and unspeakable, were rushing after him, eager to catch him; as they ran on the pallid adamant, the shield resounded sharply and piercingly with a loud noise. At their girdles, two serpents hung down, their heads arching forward; both of them were licking with their tongues, and they ground their teeth with strength, glaring savagely. Upon the terrible heads of the Gorgons rioted great Fear.^[9]

While the "great Fear" rioting upon the heads of the Gorgon, in the passage from theShieldquoted above, might possibly be a vague reference to hair made of snakes, the poetPindarmakes such a physical feature explicit, describing the two Gorgons, just like their sister Medusa, as having "horrible snakey hair" (ἀπλάτοις ὀφίων κεφαλαῖς).^[10]

According to Apollodorus' version of their story, all three Gorgons had the ability to turn to stone anyone who looked upon them. And whenPerseusmanaged to behead Medusa by looking at her reflection in his bronze shield, Stheno and Euryale chased after him, but were unable to see him because he was wearingHades' cap,which made him invisible.^[11]

Euryale's lamenting cry, while chasing Perseus, is noted in two sources. Pindar has Athena create the "many-voiced songs of flutes" to imitate the "shrill cry" of the "fast-moving jaws of Euryale".^[12]WhileNonnus,in hisDionysiaca,has the fleeing Perseus "listening for no trumpet but Euryale's bellowing".^[13]

Iconography

The typical archaic (c. 8th–5th century BC) depictions of Stheno and Euryale, show their head turned to face the viewer, sitting (seemingly without a neck) atop a running body in profile, with wings on its back and curl-topped boots. In later depictions the heads shrink in size with respect to their bodies, possess necks, and become less wild looking.^[14]

Notes

^Mack, p. 581, fig. 6; Beazley Archive1102.
^Bane,s.v. Stheno(or "mighty one" ).
^Mayor,p. 433;Bane,s.v. Euryale(or "far-howling" and "wide-leaping" ); Daly and Rangel, s.v. Euryale ( "wide-stepping" or "Euryale may also mean 'the wide sea,' which would fit her role as a daughter of sea gods." ).
^Bremmer,s.v. Gorgo/Medusa;Gantz, p. 20; Grimal, s.v. Gorgons; Tripp, s.v. Gorgons; Daly and Rangel, s.v. Euryale.
^Hesiod,Theogony270–277;Apollodorus,1.2.6,2.4.2.
^Tripp, s.v. Gorgons;Hyginus,FabulaePreface9,35.Euripides,Ion986–991,has "the Gorgon" being the offspring ofGaia,spawned by Gaia as an ally for her children theGiantsin their war against theOlympiangods.
^Gantz, p. 21; Krauskopf and Dahlinger,p. 313, no. 314;PerseusLouvre E 874 (Vase);Beazley Archive300055;Digital LIMC 4022;LIMCIV-2,p. 185 (Gorgo, Gorgones 314).
^Hesiod,Theogony270–277;Apollodorus,2.4.2.
^The Shield of Heracles229–237 (Most,pp. 18–21).
^Gantz, p. 20;Pindar,Pythian12.9.
^Bremmer,s.v. Gorgo/Medusa(which calls Apollodorus' version "canonical" );Apollodorus,2.4.2–3.See alsoAeschylus(?),Prometheus Bound798–800.
^Gantz, p. 20;Pindar,Pythian12.20.
^Nonnus,Dionysiaca25.58;see alsoDionysiaca13.77–78,30.265–266.
^Wilke,pp. 31–35;Krauskopf and Dahlinger,pp. 313–315, no. 312–334.For images see:LIMCIV-2,pp. 184–187 (Gorgo, Gorgones 312–331).

References

Aeschylus(?),Prometheus BoundinAeschylus, with an English translation by Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D. in two volumes.Vol 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts,Harvard University Press.1926.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Apollodorus,Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes,Cambridge, Massachusetts,Harvard University Press,London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.ISBN 0-674-99135-4.ISBN 9780786471119.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Bane, Theresa,Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology,McFarland, 2013.
Bremmer, Jan N., s.v. Gorgo/Medusa, publishedonline 22 December 2015,in theOxford Classical Dictionary,edited byTim Whitmarsh,digital ed, New York, Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0-19-938113-5.
Daly, Kathleen N., Marion Rangel,Greek and Roman mythology, A to Z,third edition, Chelsea House Publishers, New York, 2009.ISBN 978-1-60413-412-4.
Euripides,Ion,translated by Robert Potter inThe Complete Greek Drama,edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill Jr. Volume 1. New York. Random House. 1938.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Gantz, Timothy,Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources,Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes:ISBN 978-0-8018-5360-9(Vol. 1),ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3(Vol. 2).
Gaius Julius Hyginus,Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginustranslated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies.Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Grimal, Pierre,The Dictionary of Classical Mythology,Wiley-Blackwell, 1996.ISBN 978-0-631-20102-1.Internet Archive.
Hard, Robin (2004),The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology",Psychology Press, 2004,ISBN 9780415186360.Google Books.
Hesiod,TheogonyfromThe Homeric Hymns and Homericawith an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Krauskopf, Ingrid, Stefan-Christian Dahlinger ( "literarische Quellen" ), s.v. Gorgo, Gorgones inLexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae(LIMC)IV.1. Artemis Verlag, Zürich and Munich. 1988.ISBN 3-7608-8751-1.Internet Archive.
Mack, Rainer, "Facing Down Medusa (An aetiology of the gaze)",Art Historyvol. 25, 2002, pp. 571–604.
Mayor, Adrienne,The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World,Princeton University Press, Feb 9, 2016.
Most, G.W.(2018b),Hesiod: The Shield, Catalogue of Women, Other Fragments,Loeb Classical Library,No. 503, Cambridge, Massachusetts,Harvard University Press,2007, 2018.ISBN 978-0-674-99721-9.Online version at Harvard University Press.
Nonnus,Dionysiaca,Volume I: Books 1–15,translated byW. H. D. Rouse,Loeb Classical LibraryNo. 344, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1940 (revised 1984).ISBN 978-0-674-99379-2.Online version at Harvard University Press.Internet Archive (1940).
Nonnus,Dionysiaca,Volume II: Books 16–35,translated byW. H. D. Rouse,Loeb Classical LibraryNo. 345, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1940.ISBN 978-0-674-99391-4.Online version at Harvard University Press.Internet Archive (1940).
Nonnus,Dionysiaca,Volume III: Books 36–48,translated byW. H. D. Rouse,Loeb Classical LibraryNo. 346, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940.ISBN 978-0-674-99393-8.Online version at Harvard University Press.Internet Archive (1940, reprinted 1942).
Pindar,Odes,Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1990.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Tripp, Edward,Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology,Thomas Y. Crowell Co; First edition (June 1970).ISBN 069022608X.
Wilk, Stephen R.,Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon,Oxford University Press, New York, 2000.ISBN 0-19-512431-6.Internet Archive.Google Books.

[1] Mack, p. 581, fig. 6; Beazley Archive1102.

[2] Bane,s.v. Stheno(or "mighty one" ).

[3] Mayor,p. 433;Bane,s.v. Euryale(or "far-howling" and "wide-leaping" ); Daly and Rangel, s.v. Euryale ( "wide-stepping" or "Euryale may also mean 'the wide sea,' which would fit her role as a daughter of sea gods." ).

[4] Bremmer,s.v. Gorgo/Medusa;Gantz, p. 20; Grimal, s.v. Gorgons; Tripp, s.v. Gorgons; Daly and Rangel, s.v. Euryale.

[5] Hesiod,Theogony270–277;Apollodorus,1.2.6,2.4.2.

[6] Tripp, s.v. Gorgons;Hyginus,FabulaePreface9,35.Euripides,Ion986–991,has "the Gorgon" being the offspring ofGaia,spawned by Gaia as an ally for her children theGiantsin their war against theOlympiangods.

[7] Gantz, p. 21; Krauskopf and Dahlinger,p. 313, no. 314;PerseusLouvre E 874 (Vase);Beazley Archive300055;Digital LIMC 4022;LIMCIV-2,p. 185 (Gorgo, Gorgones 314).

[8] Hesiod,Theogony270–277;Apollodorus,2.4.2.

[9] The Shield of Heracles229–237 (Most,pp. 18–21).

[10] Gantz, p. 20;Pindar,Pythian12.9.

[11] Bremmer,s.v. Gorgo/Medusa(which calls Apollodorus' version "canonical" );Apollodorus,2.4.2–3.See alsoAeschylus(?),Prometheus Bound798–800.

[12] Gantz, p. 20;Pindar,Pythian12.20.

[13] Nonnus,Dionysiaca25.58;see alsoDionysiaca13.77–78,30.265–266.

[14] Wilke,pp. 31–35;Krauskopf and Dahlinger,pp. 313–315, no. 312–334.For images see:LIMCIV-2,pp. 184–187 (Gorgo, Gorgones 312–331).

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