Eleos

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In ancient Athens, Eleos (Ancient Greek Ἔλεος m.) or Elea^{[citation needed]} was the personification of compassion.^[1] Pausanias described her as "among all the gods the most useful to human life in all its vicissitudes."^[2]

Pausanias states that there was an altar in Athens dedicated to Eleos,^[3][2] at which children of Heracles sought refuge from Eurystheus' prosecution.^{[4][failed verification]} Adrastus also came to this altar after the defeat of the Seven against Thebes, praying that those who died in the battle be buried.^{[citation needed]} Eleos was only recognized in Athens, where she was honored by the cutting of hair and the undressing of garments at the altar.^[5][6]

Statius in Thebaid (1st century) describes the altar to Clementia in Athens (treating Eleos as feminine based on the grammatical gender in Latin): "There was in the midst of the city [of Athens] an altar belonging to no god of power; gentle Clementia (Clemency) [Eleos] had there her seat, and the wretched made it sacred".^[7]

Look up Ἔλεος in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• (Goddesses of Justice): Astraea, Dike, Themis, Prudentia
• (Goddesses of Injustice): Adikia
• (Aspects of Justice): (see also: Triple deity/Triple Goddess (Neopaganism))
  • (Justice) Themis/Dike/Justitia (Lady Justice), Raguel (the Angel of Justice)
  • (Retribution) Nemesis/Rhamnousia/Rhamnusia/Adrasteia/Adrestia/Invidia
  • (Redemption) Eleos/Soteria/Clementia, Zadkiel/Zachariel (the Angel of Mercy)

• Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• Bloch, René, "Eleos", in Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Antiquity, Volume 4, Cyr – Epy, edited by Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider, Brill, 2004. ISBN 9004122672.
• Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. ISBN 0-674-99328-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
• Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Statius, Thebaid translated by John Henry Mozley. Loeb Classical Library. Online version at the Topos Text Project.