Aidos

Aidos (Ancient Greek: Αἰδώς) was the Greek goddess of shame, modesty and humility. She was a close friend of the goddess Nemesis.[1] One source calls her the daughter of Prometheus.[2]

Aidos is often considered to be more of a personification than a physical goddess. She was said to be the feeling of reverence that stops men from doing bad things. She was also said to be a feeling of shame that a rich person might get when they saw poor people.

She is spoken about in some early Greek plays, such as Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus, Iphigenia at Aulis by Euripides, and Oedipus Rex by Sophocles.

There were altars to Aidos in Athens[3] and in Lacedaemon.[4]

References

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  1. ↑ Hesiod, Works and Days, 170 ff
  2. ↑ Pindar, Olympian Ode 7. 44 ff
  3. ↑ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 1. 17. 1
  4. ↑ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 3. 20. 10 - 11

More reading

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