Alastor
Alastor ( Greek Ἀλάστωρ ) In Greek mythology, the demon of on crimes based curse . In particular, it relates to the curse that weighed on the house of Atreus , originally caused by Orestes' murder of his mother Clytaimnestra . Alastor causes the cursed to commit new outrages, whereby the curse is renewed, according to the well-known Schiller quote: "That is the curse of the evil deed, that it, producing, must always give birth to evil".
This curse demon is also personified as a personal companion, ie the cursed is pursued by his Alastor, such as Oedipus in Sophocles ., Is possessed by an Alastor or is even referred to as Alastor, according to Orestes in Aeschylus.
Alastor appears generally as an evil spirit in the " Persians " of Aeschylus.
“Alastor” also appears as a nickname for avenging deities, especially the Erinyes , but also Zeus . There was an altar dedicated to "Zeus Alastor" near Thasos .
In later times, Alastor becomes a swear word ("wicked") and in Christian demonology the name of a devil.
Finally, Alastor also appears as the name for one of the black horses in the four-horse team of Hades .
literature
- Konrad Wernicke : Alastor 1 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 1, Stuttgart 1893, Col. 1292 f.
- Hans von Geisau: Alastor. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 1, Stuttgart 1964, column 230.
Web links
- Alastor in the Theoi Project
Individual evidence
- ↑ Aeschylus Agamemnon 1468ff, 1560ff
- ↑ Friedrich Schiller The Piccolomini V, 1
- ↑ Sophocles Oedipus on Colonus 788
- ↑ Aeschylus Eumenids 236
- ↑ Aeschylus The Persians 354
- ^ Susan Guettel Cole: Civic Cult and Civic Identity. In: Mogens Herman Hansen: Sources for the Ancient Greek City-State: Symposium August, 24-27 1994. Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, Copenhagen 1994, p. 310
- ↑ Suda , keyword Alastor ( Ἀλάστωρ ), Adler number: alpha 1082 , Suda-Online
- ↑ Claudius Claudianus de Raptu Proserpinae I.286