| Enodia | |
|---|---|
Goddess of Roads, Ghosts, Purification, Protection, the City, andCemeteries | |
 Votive relief with Enodia from westernMacedonia,Archaeological Museum of Kozani | |
| Abode | Pherae |
| Animals | Dogs,Horses, and perhapsBulls andSnakes |
| Symbol | Torches and IronKeys |
InAncient Greek religion andmythology,Enodia, also spelledEnnodia andEinodia (/ɛˈnoʊdi.ə/;[1]Ancient Greek:Ἐννοδία,romanized: Ennodía,lit. 'the one in the streets, on the road') is a distinctlyThessalian goddess, identified in certain areas or by certain ancient writers withArtemis,Hecate orPersephone. She was paired withZeus in cult and sometimes shared sanctuaries with him.[2] Enodia was primarily worshipped inAncient Thessaly[2][3] and was well known inHellenisticMacedonia.[2][4]
Enodia is a goddess ofroads, protection (apotropaic), ghosts, purification, the city, and cemeteries. She was included in the localdodekotheon.[5] The goddesses of this dodekotheon wereHestia,Demeter, Enodia,Aphrodite,Athena andThemis.[5]
The name ‘Enodia’ suggests that she watched over entrances and that she stood on the main road into a city, keeping an eye on those who entered, and in the road in front of private homes, protecting the inhabitants that dwelled within.[6] Divinities with thisApotropaic function were expected to keep away dangers such asburglars, maliciousspirits, and even pestilence such asmice.[6] Other notable divinites with this function areHecate,Hermes, andApollo.[6][7]
Enodia’s main cult location, especially before the 5th century, was the city ofPherai.[2][8] Pherai was an important city toAncient Thessaly, due to the location of the settlement.[8]
There are only two attested priests of Enodia. Timarete ofCorinth, who died inPella,Macedonia, in the late 5th century BC[9] andChrysame.[3] According to Polyaenus, Cnopus of Codridae was fighting with the Ionians at Erythrai after the recent Ionian colonisation ofAsia Minor.[3] Cnopus received an oracle that stated: “to take as general from the Thessalians, the priestess of Ennodia” (στρατηγὸν παρὰ Θεσσαλῶν λαβεῖν τὴν ἱέρειαν τῆς Ἐνοδίας). Chrysame, the priestess mentioned arrived and through her mastery of herbs, poisoned the Erythraians. Due to this, Cnopus led his army to victory.[3] Thessaly was stereotyped as being full of witches that could even draw down themoon, so the association of Chrysame with herbs makes sense.[10]
Enodia was sometimes depicted upon coins inThessaly. She is shown as a young woman, typically riding ahorse and carryingtorches.[2][11] A stele dated between the 1st and 2nd century depicts Enodia wearing achiton poderes, which is cross-girdled under the chest.[11] This stele also depicts her onhorseback and accompanied by adog.[11]
Before the 5th Century, Enodia's worship was mostly confined to the city ofPherai.[3] Though herepigraphical evidence is first found within the city ofLarisa.[3] Pherai was an important city inAncient Thessaly from the Iron Age, which allowed Enodia to become a Pan-Thessalian goddess.[8] During the 5th century Enodia's cult rapidly expanded throughThessaly, SouthernMacedonia, and even expanded intoThrace.[6] According to Polyaenus’Strategemata, Enodia was supposedly a national deity during theIonian migration.[2][3]
The expansion of Enodia's cult is linked to the push for aThessalian civil identity.[3] The Cults ofPythian Apollo and Enodia were expanded and pushed throughoutThessaly.[3] Yet, there was a fundamental difference between regionalizing the panhellenic Apollo and parochialising a local, regional goddess such as Enodia. She came to be worshipped throughoutThessaly andMacedonia, especially in theHellenistic andRoman eras.[2][3]
The usage of Enodia for the new Thessalian civil identity failed, as she was unsuitable divinity for the new Thessalian identity would be constructed whenFlamininus refounded the league in 196.[3] She is completely absent from Thessalian coins from the post-Flamininan era.[3] Decrees of the new League were not published in a sanctuary of Enodia; whether atPherai or elsewhere inThessaly.[3] There is no evidence of possible investment in any of her sanctuaries and no month of theThessalian calendar in use after 196 appears to recognise and honour the goddess.[3]
One myth of Enodia further connects her with the city ofPherai.[12] As a baby, the goddess Enodia was brought toPherai at the time ofPheres; which was when the city was in its infancy. She had been found byPheres’ shepherds. In a way, she had grown up with the city.[12] No other Thessalian city had claimed such a close connection to a single divinity likePherai did, in a way making Enodia the city’s patron or special divinity.[12]
Enodia was worshipped throughoutThessaly,Macedonia,[4] and parts ofThrace.[6] She shared sanctuaries withZeus and was paired with him in cult.[2] In their shared cult,Zeus was often given the epithetThaulios.[4][8] Enodia is possibly the most distinct and best understood of the deities worshipped inThessaly and her cult was spread from the late fifth and fourth centuries onwards into surrounding regions;Macedonia in particular.[2][4] In the fourth century, she was a part of the localdodekotheon.[3] The goddesses of this localdodekotheon wereHestia,Demeter, Enodia,Aphrodite,Athena andThemis.[5]
Enodia is also akourotrophos (i.e. a protector and nurturer of children). An iron key was found inside of a drilled hole of a small base that bares an inscription asking Enodia for help with a child.[6] It suggests that the base was originally placed near something that the key was able to lock and unlock, either literally or symbolically. Another inscription found on a similar base inLarisa asks Enodia for help with a child.[6] These are similar to thehekatia that were placed at entrances.[6] It is unknown if Enodia had this trait originally, or if this arose due to identification withHecate.[6]
Enodia'schthonic aspects are strongest with her dominion overcemeteries.[8] Her worship often took place or near at cemeteries, such as the sanctuary ofZeus and Enodia inPherai.[2][8] Pieces possibly displaced from local tombs were dedicated later to Enodia in the eighth or seventh centuries.[2]Votives consisted mainly of smallbronze andiron objects such as jewellery of all kinds but mainlyfibulae, bird and animal figurines.[2][8] The animal figurines feature a wide range of species such asdogs,horses, and possiblybulls andsnakes.[2] Fragments from theArchaic sculptural record includes abull's head. These are sacred to Enodia as and tounderworld deities, notablyHecate.[2][6] There is also the addition of mostly femaleterracottas from the seventh century onwards.[2]Fibulae were popular votive offerings to the Goddess (which form nearly half of the existent votive records) with their ritual use to fixfunerary clothing in Thessaliangraves.[2]Fibulae were generally preferred to pins throughoutAncient Thessaly.[2]
The popularity offibulae votives at theshrine of Enodia suggests thatmortuary imagery may have been relevant to the cult.[2] Though thechthonic aspects of the cult should not be overemphasised, as Enodia was also worshipped in a distinctly non-chthonic way; as an Olympian.[2]
She is also a civic goddess. One of Enodia'sshrines was placed against the edge of acity, suggesting that she has an interest in civic life.[2] She was also grouped within the Patrooi Theoi, a group of gods in Thessaly of kinship and groups.[12] The other gods in this group with Zeus Thaulios were Enodia, Athena, the Moirai, and Poseidon.[12]
Despite her identification withHecate[2][6] orArtemis,[2] Enodia stood on her own as a separate, popular goddess throughout theHellenistic andRoman eras.[2][3] InTheocritus’ Idyll II,Hermes Enodia (Hermes with the Epithet Enodia) is mentioned.[13] It refers to a statue of the god at the entrance to anestate.[13]
Epithets of Enodia
Due to the similarities between the two goddesses, such as protecting roads, shared animals, averting evil, etc., it is no surprise that Enodia wasidentified withHecate.[6] Due to this,Lucian describes the rites ofHecate atAigina as being the ‘rites of Enodia’.[16]Pausanias in theDescription Of Greece describesHecate-Enodia receiving a sacrifice of a black puppy at night by the Spartans.[17] This is a typical offering forHecate, as black dogs are sacred to her.[18]
The identification betweenHecate and Enodia dates back to at least the fifth century.[6] By the time of the fourth century,Hecate-Enodia is closely tied withghosts inOn the Sacred Disease, a text that seeks to shame magicians.[10][19] The text describes multiple ‘Sacred Diseases’ that are said to be caused by the gods, according to the magicians.[10][19]
If he shrieks loudly they compare him to a horse and say that Poseidon is responsible. 35. If a patient makes his stool, as often happens to those under the compulsion of disease, the god is named as Enodia. 36. If the stools come frequently and are rather thin, as in the case of birds, Apollo Nomios is responsible. 37. If he has foam coming out of his mouth and he kicks out with his feet, Ares gets the blame. 38. If the patient is attended by fears, terrors, and madnesses in the night, jumps up out his bed and flees outside, they call these the attacks of Hecate or the onslaughts of ghosts [hêrôes].
— On the Sacred Disease
Hecate Enodia refers toHecate's role at crossroads asTrioditis and asTrivia (who is another goddess identified withHecate) in the Roman Era.[20]
Media related toEnnodia at Wikimedia Commons