Eleos

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Greek deity of mercy and compassion

title: "Eleos" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["greek-gods", "personifications-in-greek-mythology", "women-in-greek-mythology"] description: "Greek deity of mercy and compassion" topic_path: "general/greek-gods" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleos" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Greek deity of mercy and compassion ::

In ancient Athens, Eleos (Ancient Greek Ἔλεος m.) was the personification of compassion. Pausanias described her as "among all the gods the most useful to human life in all its vicissitudes."

Mythology

Pausanias states that there was an altar in Athens dedicated to Eleos, at which children of Heracles sought refuge from Eurystheus' prosecution. Adrastus also came to this altar after the defeat of the Seven against Thebes, praying that those who died in the battle be buried. Eleos was only recognized in Athens, where she was honored by the cutting of hair and the undressing of garments at the altar.

Statius in Thebaid (1st century) describes the altar to Clementia in Athens (treating Eleos as feminine based on the grammatical gender in Latin): "There was in the midst of the city [of Athens] an altar belonging to no god of power; gentle Clementia (Clemency) [Eleos] had there her seat, and the wretched made it sacred".

Notes

References

Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
Bloch, René, "Eleos", in Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Antiquity, Volume 4, Cyr – Epy, edited by Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider, Brill, 2004. .
Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Statius, Thebaid translated by John Henry Mozley. Loeb Classical Library. Online version at the Topos Text Project.

References

Bloch, para. 1.
''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=eleos-bio-1&highlight=eleos s.v. Eleos].
[[Pausanias (geographer). Pausanias]], ''Graeciae Descriptio'' [[wikisource:Description of Greece (Jones)/Book 1#ATHENS 2. 1.17.1]]
[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus). Apollodorus]], 2.8.1
Patricia Monaghan, PhD. (2014). "Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines".
Scholia to Sophocles's ''[[Oedipus at Colonus]]'', 258
Statius. "Thebaid, 12.481".

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