Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, Angelos () or Angelia (Ἀγγελία) was a daughter of

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

and

Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; ; in Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Oly ...

Mythology

Angelos' story only survives in scholia on

Theocritus Theocritus (; , ''Theokritos''; ; born 300 BC, died after 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily, Magna Graecia, and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry. Life Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from his writings ...

' ''Idyll'' 2. Angelos was raised by

nymphs A nymph (; ; sometimes spelled nymphe) is a minor female nature deity in ancient Greek folklore. Distinct from other Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature; they are typically tied to a specific place, land ...

to whose care her father had entrusted her. One day she stole her mother Hera's anointments and gave them away to Europa. To escape Hera's wrath, she had to hide first in the house of a woman in labor, and next among people who were carrying a dead man. Hera eventually ceased from prosecuting her, and Zeus ordered the Cabeiroi to cleanse Angelos. They performed the purification rite in the waters of the Acherusia Lake in the

Underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

. Consequently, she received the world of the dead as her realm of influence, and was assigned an epithet ''katachthonia'' ("she of the underworld"). The story of Angelos is cited by the scholiast in a series of rare myths concerning the birth of Hecate, which makes it possible to think that Angelos was essentially equal to Hecate. This is to some extent confirmed by the fact that, according to Hesychius, ''Angelos'' was a surname of

Artemis In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Artemis (; ) is the goddess of the hunting, hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, transitions, nature, vegetation, childbirth, Kourotrophos, care of children, and chastity. In later tim ...

in Syracuse, being that Artemis as goddess of the moon was identified with Hecate. Angelos could be an early version of Hecate, the one that pertained both to the upper world and the underworld, similar to the position of

Persephone In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Persephone ( ; , classical pronunciation: ), also called Kore ( ; ) or Cora, is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the Greek underworld, underworld afte ...

.'' RE''
s.v. Angelos, p. 2189Wikisource
.

Notes

References

* ''

Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft The Pauly encyclopedias or the Pauly-Wissowa family of encyclopedias, are a set of related encyclopedias on Greco-Roman world, Greco-Roman classical studies, topics and scholarship. The first of these, or (1839–1852), was begun by compiler A ...

'', Band I, Halbband 2, Stuttgart, J. B. Metzler, 1894
Wikisource
Greek death goddesses Underworld goddesses Greek goddesses Children of Hera Children of Zeus Epithets of Artemis Residents of the Greek underworld {{Greek-deity-stub