Adrasteia
Adrasteia
- Emily Kearns
Extract
Adrasteia, a goddess apparently of the ‘mountain mother’ type, like *Cybele, associated with *Phrygia, but well known to the Greeks from a fairly early date. In the Phoronis, the *Idaean Dactyls are described as the ‘servants, skilled of hand, of mountain Adrasteia’ (fr 2 Davies, EGF, and Bernabé, PEG), and she was named also in *Aeschylus’ Niobe (TrGF 3 F158); *Antimachos identified her with *Nemesis. In Athens, her cult was established before 429/8 bce, when she is grouped together with *Bendis in the accounts of the ‘treasurers of the other gods’; thus the cult was publicly funded, and could be seen as ‘official’. But in contrast with Bendis, we know nothing more of her Athenian cult.
Subjects
- Greek Myth and Religion
