Erinyes in the context of "Guilt (law)"

Oedipus at Colonus (also Oedipus Coloneus; Ancient Greek: Οἰδίπους ἐπὶ Κολωνῷ, Oidipous epi Kolōnō) is the second of the three Theban plays of the Athenian tragedian Sophocles. It was written shortly before Sophocles's death in 406 BC and produced by his grandson (also called Sophocles) at the Festival of Dionysus in 401 BC.

In the timeline of the plays, the events of Oedipus at Colonus occur after Oedipus Rex and before Antigone; however, it was the last of Sophocles's three Theban plays to be written. The play describes the end of Oedipus's tragic life. Legends differ as to the site of Oedipus's death; Sophocles set the place at Colonus, a village near Athens and also Sophocles's own birthplace, where the blinded Oedipus has come with his daughters Antigone and Ismene as suppliants of the Erinyes and of Theseus, the king of Athens.

Colonus or Kolonos (/kəˈloʊnəs/; Ancient Greek: Κολωνός, translit. Kolōnós) was a deme of the phyle Aegeis, of ancient Attica, celebrated as the deme of Sophocles, and the scene of one of the poet's tragedies, was situated ten stadia from the gate of the city, called Dipylum, near Plato's Academy and the river Cephissus. It derived its name from two small but conspicuous heights, which rise from the plain a little to the north of the Academy. Hence it is called by Sophocles "the white Colonus". It was under the especial care of Poseidon, and is called by Thucydides the ἱερόν of this god. It is frequently called Colonus Hippius or Kolonos Hippeios (Κολωνός Ἵππειος) or Hippius Colonus or Hippeios Kolonos (Ἵππειος Κολωνός), both meaning "Colonus of the Horses", to distinguish it from the "Colonus Agoraeus" in Athens. Besides the temple of Poseidon, it possessed a sacred grove of the Eumenides, altars of Athena Hippia, Demeter, Zeus, and Prometheus, together with sanctuaries of Peirithous, Theseus, Oedipus, and Adrastus. According to Greek mythology, Oedipus was buried there, as described by Sophocles, who was born there, in his Oedipus at Colonus. The natural beauties of the spot are described by Sophocles in the magnificent chorus: "Here the nightingale, a constant guest, trills her clear note under the trees of green glades, dwelling amid the wine-dark ivy and the god's inviolate foliage, rich in berries and fruit, unvisited by sun, unvexed by the wind of any storm. Here the reveller Dionysus ever walks the ground, companion of the nymphs that nursed him."

In the Athenian oligarchic revolution of 411 BCE, the oligarchs convened at the sanctuary of Poseidon Hippios at Colonus to frame their new constitution.

In Greek mythology, Poena or Poine (Ancient Greek: Ποινή, romanized: Poinḗ, lit. 'recompense, punishment') is the spirit of punishment and the attendant of punishment to Nemesis, the goddess of divine retribution. Some depictions are of a single being, and some depictions are of multiple beings—in the plural, the name is Poenai (Ποιναί); the Poenai are akin to the Erinyes.

The Greek word ποινή (poinḗ) means "a recompense or a punishment". From this word is derived the Latin word poena meaning "pain, punishment, penalty", which in turn gave rise to English words such as subpoena and pain.

In Greek mythology, Praxidice or Praxidike (Ancient Greek: Πραξιδίκη, [praksidíkɛː], lit. "Applied Justice") may refer to the following characters:

• Praxidice, goddess of judicial punishment and the exactor of vengeance, which were two closely allied concepts in the classical Greek world-view.
• Praxidice, according to the Orphic Hymn to Persephone, was an epithet of Persephone: "Praxidike, subterranean queen. The Eumenides' source [mother], fair-haired, whose frame proceeds from Zeus' ineffable and secret seeds." As praxis "practice, application" of dike "justice", she is sometimes identified with Dike, goddess of justice.
• Praxidice, according to Stephanus of Byzantium, a daughter of Ogygus named Praxidike, married to Tremiles (after whom Lycia had been previously named Tremile) and had by him four sons: Tlos, Xanthus, Pinarus and Cragus. In one account, all sons were mentioned except Xanthus to be the progeny of Praxidice and Tremilus. Of them, Tlos had a Lycian city named Tlos after himself. Cragus may be identical with the figure of the same name mentioned as the husband of Milye, sister of Solymus.

The plural Praxidicae (Ancient Greek: Πραξιδίκαι, Praxidikai) refers to the following groups of mythological figures who presided over exacting of justice:

Merope (/ˈmɛrəpiː/; Ancient Greek: Μερόπη, romanized: Merópē, lit. 'with her face turned', derived from μέρος meros "part" and ὤψ ops "face, eye") was originally the name of several characters in Greek mythology.

• Merope, one of the 3,000 Oceanids, water-nymph daughters of the Titans Oceanus and his sister-wife Tethys. She married Clymenus, son of Helios, and had children with him: Phaethon and the girls called Heliades.
• Merope, one of the Pleiades, daughter of Atlas and Pleione.
• Merope, one of the Heliades, daughter of either Helios and Clymene or of Clymenus (Helios' son) and Merope, one of the Oceanids.
• Merope, an Athenian princess as the daughter of King Erechtheus of Athens and possibly Praxithea, daughter of Phrasimus and Diogenia. She may have been the mother of Daedalus. The latter was attributed to various parentage: (1) Eupalamus and Alcippe, (2) Metion and Iphinoe, (3) Phrasmede or (4) Palamaon.
• Merope, also called Aero, was the consort or daughter of Oenopion.
• Merope, a queen of Onchestus as the wife of King Megareus and mother of Hippomenes.
• Merope, a Dorian who became the foster mother of Oedipus; otherwise the wife of Polybus was also called Periboea.
• Merope, queen of Messenia, wife of Cresphontes and mother of Aepytus.
• Merope, one of the daughters of Pandareus and his wife Harmothoë, and thus sister to Aëdon and Cleothera. After the deaths of their parents, she and her sister Cleothera were taken care of by the goddesses Aphrodite, Hera, Artemis and Athena until strong winds carried them over and took them to the Erinyes, whom they served as maids.