Erinyes
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Erinyes (or Eumenides) were the goddesses of revenge in Greek mythology.
They forever followed the person who did a crime (even if the person had a good reason to do it), and they even could make the person go mad. They are often shown with snakes on their heads, blood coming out of their eyes, and looking very horrific.
Very well known is the one time the Erinyes followed Orestes: Orestes' mother Klytaimnestra and her lover Aegisthos had killed Orestes' father Agamemnon. The god Apollo told Orestes to kill the murderers of his father, which he did. Orestes was then pursued by the Erinyes for his crime. But with the help of Athena and Apollo Orestes went to a court in Athens. It was decided that Orestes had acted right and nobody should hurt him. Even the Erinyes accepted the decision, and from then on they were also called Eumenides, because they could also let people go in peace if their crime was done for a good reason.
