Cretan Eileithyia

R. F. Willetts

doi:10.1017/S0009838800021868

Cretan Eileithyia

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2009

R. F. Willetts

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R. F. Willetts: Affiliation:
University of Birmingham

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The links between Eileithyia, an earlier Minoan goddess, and a still earlier neolithic prototype are, relatively, firm. The explanation is as simple as it is important. The continuity of her cult depends upon the unchanging concept of her function. Eileithyia was the goddess of childbirth; and the divine helper of women in labour has an obvious origin in the human midwife. To Homer she is ‘goddess of the pains of birth’. When Leto gave birth to Apollo in Delos, was in attendance, and so were a number of other goddesses who bathed the god-child and wrapped him in his swaddling-clothes.

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Type: Research Article
Information: The Classical Quarterly , Volume 8 , Issue 3-4 , November 1958 , pp. 221 - 223

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0009838800021868 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Classical Association 1958

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References

¹ II. 11. 270, 16. 187, 19. 103.

² H. Ap. 115–22.

³ Allen-Halliday, , Homeric Hymns (2nd ed.) p. 219Google Scholar; Baur, , Philol. viii, Sup., pp. 481Google Scholar f. Farnell, , Cults of the Greek States, ii. 613–14Google ScholarThomson, , Studies in Ancient Greek Society, i (2nd ed.), 245Google Scholar. For the plural see Il. 11. 270, 19. 119. On the votive terracottas to Eileithyia at Lato in Crete see Demargne in B.C.H. liii. 382.Google Scholar

⁴ 19. 188.

⁵ Nilsson, Minoan-Mycenaean Religion (2nd ed.), p. 73.

⁶ Hazzidakis in 10. 349; Halbherr, , Antiquary, xxvii. 112Google Scholar; Marinatos, (1929), 94, (1930), Cf. B.C.H. liii. 520Google Scholar n. 5; Arch. Az. (1930), p. 156; Hirschfeld in R.E. s.v. Amnisos; Nilsson, , op. cit., p. 58Google Scholar; Guarducci, , Inscr. Cret. i. 2.Google Scholar

⁷ Malten, , Jahrb., pp. 28–39Google Scholar; Wilamowitz, , Berl. Sitz. (1908), p. 331Google Scholar; Wackernagel, cited by Nilsson, , op. cit., p. 521.Google Scholar

⁸ It is attested at Athens, Megara, Corinth, Achaia, Arcadia, Messenia, Sparta, Delos, Tenos, Paros, Naxos, Thera, and Astypalaia. Jessen, in R.E. v. 2101Google Scholar; Nilsson, , op. cit., p 518.Google Scholar

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¹⁰ Inscr. Cret. 1. xviGoogle Scholar (Lato), 2. 31, 3. 18, 4A 13, 5. 48, 75, 15. 35. 26. 8 (cf. 27. 3 explained by the common Cretan change of ∈v to ov: Bechtel, , Griech. Dial. ii. 661)Google Scholar; ibid. 2. 3 (Aptera), 22; ibid. 4 (Gortyna), 174. 60, 76.

¹¹ Wackernagel, cited by Nilsson, , op. cit., p. 521.Google Scholar

¹² Nilsson, , op. cit., pp. 519Google Scholar, 521. The termination occurs in other pre-Greek place-names: Kretschmer, , Einl. in die Gesch. der griech. Sprache, p. 405Google Scholar; Fick, , Vorgriech. Ortsnamen, p. 87.Google Scholar

¹ Inscr. Cret. 1. xvi, 4A 8, 5. 3. On the change from ∈v to ov see p. 221, n. 10.Google Scholar

² Inscr. Cret. 1. vi (Biannos), 2. 39, and Guarducci, ad loc.: supplendum est, cum Eleusinius mensis etiam Olunte occurrat.'Google Scholar

³ Test. Epict. 2. 7, 3. 3.

⁴ H. Cer. 266, Hdt. 9. 57.

⁵ Hsch., Lib. Or. 11. 109.

⁶ I.G. iv. 955. 14 (Epid.).Google Scholar

⁷ And. 1. 110, I.G. i². 6. 129.

⁸ I.G. i². 5, ii². 847. 24, Hyp. fr. 112, Paus. 4. 33. 5.

⁹ 3. 14. 6, 17. 1, 20. 5.

¹⁰ The village (Kalyvia Sochas) is therefore presumably the site of the sanctuary mentioned by Pausanias: Prott, Von, Ath. Mitt. xxix. 8Google Scholar; B.S.A. xvi. 12Google Scholar; Nilsson, , Griech. Feste, p. 334, Min.-Myc. Rel., p. 520, n. 50.Google Scholar

¹¹ I.G. v (1). 607. 28.Google Scholar

¹² I.G. v (1). 213Google Scholar. 11. On the assimilation of ι to v in (cf. also the month ) and the change of intervocalic s to spiritus asper see Buck, , Greek Dialects, pp. 26, 55.Google Scholar

¹³ Nilsson, , Min.-Myc. Rel., p. 523.Google Scholar

¹⁴ See Guarducci, , Epigraphica, vii. 72.Google Scholar

¹⁵ This evidence is considerable, but not accepted as conclusive by Wackernagel: Nilsson, , Min.-Myc. Rel., p. 522.Google Scholar

¹⁶ D.S. 5. 77. 3–5. See further Persson in Arch.f. Religionswiss. (1922), p. 287; Religion of Greece in Prehistoric Times, pp. 149–50.

¹⁷ Inscr. Cret. 2. iii (Aptera), 22 and Guaducci, ad loc.Google Scholar

¹⁸ See p. 222, notes 1 and 2 above.

¹⁹ Inscr. Cret. 1. xvipraef. Nomen.Google Scholar

¹ Inscr. Cret. 2. xiipraef. Nomen, Res Sacrae.Google Scholar

² Ibid. I. xvi. 2. 31, 15. 35.

³ Ibid. 3. 18, 4A 13.

⁴ Ibid. 5. 48.

⁵ Ibid. 5. 75.

⁶ Ibid. 26. 8. Cf. 27. 3.

⁷ Ibid.praef. Nummi; Head, Hist. Num (2nd ed.), p. 470.

⁸ Inscr. Cret. 4. 174. 61, 76.Google Scholar

⁹ Ibid. 1, pp. 98, 280, ibid. 4, p. 244.

¹⁰ E.M. s.v. Call. fr. 168.

¹¹ St. Byz., s.v. .

¹² Inscr. Cret. 1, p. 98.Google Scholar

¹³ A.R. 3. 876, Nonn. D. 8. 115, 13. 251.

¹⁴ Str. 10. 476; Paus. 1. 18. 5; Hsch. s.v. Also, as an epithet of Eileithyia, (Ruf. Onom. 229), with which cf. = inner membrane surrounding the foetus: Sor. 1. 58, Gal. U.P. 15. 4, Hippiatr. 14, Emp. 71. In Od. 3. 444 a bowl in which the blood of victims was caught.