Eu·men·i·des

(yo͞o-mĕn′ĭ-dēz′)

pl.n. Greek Mythology

A group of usually three goddesses, often described as benevolent fertility deities but identified in some traditions with the Furies.

[Greek eumenides (theai), gracious (goddesses), euphemism for the Furies, from eumenē, good-spirited : eu-, eu- + menos, spirit, disposition; see men- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Eumenides

(juːˈmɛnɪˌdiːz)

pl n

(Classical Myth & Legend) another name for the Furies, used by the Greeks as a euphemism

[from Greek, literally: the benevolent ones, from eumenēs benevolent, from eu- + menos spirit]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

Eu•men•i•des

(yuˈmɛn ɪˌdiz)

n.pl.

the Furies of Greek myth.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

Eumenides - (classical mythology) the hideous snake-haired monsters (usually three in number) who pursued unpunished criminals

Erinyes, Fury

classical mythology - the system of mythology of the Greeks and Romans together; much of Roman mythology (especially the gods) was borrowed from the Greeks

Alecto - one of the three Furies

Megaera - one of the three Furies

Tisiphone - one of the three Furies

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

In Flaxman's drawing of the Eumenides of Aeschylus, Orestes supplicates Apollo, whilst the Furies sleep on the threshold.

View in context

I remember that, in one of my classes, I chose to write a paper on Aeschylus' 'The Eumenides.'

Running in circles

The killer calls himself Eumenides, after the third of the Oresteia ancient Greek tragedies by Aeschylus, and warns each of his victims in notes drawn with exquisite Chinese calligraphy, luring police into a diabolical game.

Novels depicting China's criminal underbelly

Agamemnon, the first part of the Aeschylus' trilogy, Oresteia -- followed by The Libation Bearers and The Eumenides -- tells the story of the homecoming of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, after the Trojan war.

A red carpet welcome turns into murder

He has chosen the The Holy Goddesses or The Furies as a more accurate title for the play conventionally called Eumenides. Each spring in ancient Athens, he explains, three tragic poets competed, each presenting a set of three original tragedies and a farcical satyr play.

The Oresteia: Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, and the Holy Goddesses

Eumenides. In Macbeth, this is carried out through the

Introduction: The Tyrant's Fear

Aligning most closely with EBB's own theatrical commentary, Aurora reads Romney's wedding through the lens of Greek tragedy, likening him in his ultimate failure to Orestes being tormented by the Furies in Aeschylus's The Eumenides. Ever the stand-in for her creator, Aurora reads Romney as noble but flawed, much like the art of dramatic poetry itself when it is translated to the stage.

"The Dramatic Poet and the Unpoetic Multitudes": Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Allegorized Theatrical Commentary in Book IV of Aurora Leigh