In Greek mythology, the Horae (), Horai () or Hours (, ) were the of the and the natural portions of time.
Etymology
The term
hora comes from the Proto-Indo-European *yóh₁r̥ ("year").
Function
The Horae were originally the personifications of nature in its different seasonal aspects, but in later times they were regarded as goddesses of natural justice and order in general. "They bring and bestow ripeness, they come and go in accordance with the firm law of the periodicities of nature and of life",
Karl Kerenyi observed, adding "
Hora means 'the correct moment'."
[References to the Horai in classical sources are credited in Karl Kerenyi's synthesis of all the mythology, The Gods of the Greeks 1951, pp. 101f and passim (index, "Horai").] Traditionally, they guarded the gates of
Mount Olympus, promoted the fertility of the earth, and rallied the stars and constellations.
The course of the seasons was also symbolically described as the dance of the Horae, and they were accordingly given the attributes of spring flowers, fragrance and graceful freshness; for example, in Hesiod's Works and Days, the fair-haired Horai, together with the Charites and Peitho crown Pandora — she of "all gifts" — with garlands of flowers.[Hesiod, Works and Days 74-75] Similarly Aphrodite, emerging from the sea and coming ashore at Cyprus, is dressed and adorned by the Horai,[ Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite 6.5-13] and, according to a surviving fragment of the epic Cypria,[Epic Cycle, Cypria fr. 4 as cited in Athenaeus, 15.682 d, f] Aphrodite wore clothing made for her by the Charites and Horai, dyed with spring flowers, such as the Horai themselves wear.
Names and numbers
The number of Horae varied according to different sources, but was most commonly three: either the trio of Thallo, Auxo, and Carpo (goddesses of the order of nature), or Eunomia (goddess of good order), Dike (goddess of Justice) and Eirene (goddess of Peace).
The earlier Argive Horae
In Argos, two Horae, rather than three, were recognised, presumably winter and summer: Auxesia (possibly another name for Auxo) and Damia (possibly another name for Carpo).
[Pausanias, 9.35.1]
In late euhemerist interpretations, they were seen as Cretan maidens who were worshipped as goddesses after they had been wrongfully stoned to death.
The classical Horae triads
The earliest written mention of
Horai is in the
Iliad where they appear as keepers of
Zeus's cloud gates.
[Homer, Iliad 5.749-51] "Hardly any traces of that function are found in the subsequent tradition,"
Karl Galinsky remarked in passing.
They were daughters of
Zeus and
Themis, younger sisters of the
Moirai.
The Horai are mentioned in two aspects in Hesiod[Hesiod, Theogony 901 ff.] and the Homeric Hymns:[ Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, 6.2 ff & to Pythian Apollo, 3.186 ff]
-
in one variant emphasizing their fruitful aspect, Thallo, Auxo, and Carpo —the goddesses of the three seasons the Greeks recognized: spring, summer and autumn— were worshipped primarily amongst rural farmers throughout Greece;
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in the other variant, emphasizing the "right order" aspect of the Horai, Hesiod says that Zeus wedded "bright Themis" who bore Dike, Eunomia, and Eirene, who were law-and-order goddesses that maintained the stability of society; they were worshipped primarily in the cities of Athens, Argos, and Olympia.
First triad
Of the first, more familiar, triad associated with
Aphrodite and Zeus is their origins as emblems of times of life, growth (and the classical three seasons of year):
-
Thallo (Θαλλώ, from θάλλειν ( thallein 'to sprout, grow', esp. fruit trees)
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Auxo (Αὐξώ, from αὐξάνειν ( auxanein, 'to increase')
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Carpo (Καρπώ, from καρπῶν ( karpōn) 'to bear fruit')
At Athens, two Horae: Thallo (the Hora of spring) and Carpo (the Hora of autumn), also appear in rites of Attica noted by Pausanias in the 2nd century AD.[Pausanias, 9.35.2][Hyginus, Fabulae 183]
Second triad
Of the second triad associated to Themis and Zeus for law and order:
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Dike (Δίκη, "Justice", her Roman equivalent was Iustitia) was the goddess of morality and justice: she ruled over human justice, as her mother Themis ruled over divine justice. The Anthropomorphism of Diké as an ever-young woman dwelling in the cities of men was so ancient and strong that in the 3rd century BCE Aratus in Aratus 96 asserted that she was born a mortal and that, though Zeus placed her on earth to keep mankind just, he quickly learned this was impossible and placed her next to him on Olympus, as the Greek astronomical/astrological constellation The Maiden.
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Eunomia (Εὐνομία, "Order", her Roman equivalent was Disciplina) was the goddess of law and legislation. The same or a different goddess may have been a daughter of Hermes and Aphrodite.
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Eirene (Εἰρήνη. "Peace", her Roman equivalent was Pax) was the personification of peace and wealth, and was depicted in art as a beautiful young woman carrying a cornucopia, scepter, and a torch or rhyton.
Third triad
The last triad of Horae was identified by Hyginus:
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Pherusa (Substance)
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Euporie (Abundance)
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Orthosie (Prosperity)
The Four Seasons
Nonnus in his
Dionysiaca mentions a distinct set of four Horae, the daughters of
Helios. Quintus Smyrnaeus also attributes the Horae as the daughters of Helios and
Selene, and describes them as the four handmaidens of
Hera.
[Hammond, "SELENE", pp. 970–971] The seasons were personified by the ancients, the Greeks represented them generally as women but on some antique monuments they are depicted as winged children with attributes peculiar to each season.
The Greek words for the four seasons of the year were as follows:
|
| Eiar | Spring | Crowned with flowers, holding either a kid or a sheep, and having near to her a budding shrub: she is also characterised by Mercury, and by a ram. |
| Theros | Summer | Crowned with ears of corn, holding a bundle of them in one hand and a sickle in the other: she is also characterised by Apollo, and by a serpent. |
| Phinoporon | Autumn | Either holds bunches of grapes, or has a basket of fruits upon her head: she is also characterised by Bacchus, and by a lizard or hare. |
| Cheimon | Winter | Well clothed, and the head covered, stands near a tree deprived of foliage, with dried and withered fruits in one hand and water-fowls in the other: she is also characterised by Hercules, and by a salamander. |
Modern influence
Nicolas Poussin has represented the four seasons by subjects drawn from the
Bible: Spring is portrayed by
Adam and
Eve in paradise: Summer, by Ruth gleaning: Autumn, by
Joshua and
Caleb bearing grapes from the promised land; and Winter, by the deluge.
In more modern representations the seasons are often surrounding Apollo: Spring, as Flora, crowned with flowers, and in a shaded green drapery over a white robe: Summer, standing under the lion in the zodiac, with a gold-coloured drapery over a white gauze vestment, the edges of which are tinged by the yellow rays of the sun, holding a sickle, having near her a wheat-sheaf; Autumn, as a Bacchante, in a violet-coloured garment, pressing grapes with one band into a golden cup, which she holds in the other; and Winter as an aged person, placed in the shade at a great distance from the god.[Virgil, Georgics 1.145][Horace, Ode 7. b. iv]
The Hours
Finally, a quite separate suite of Horae personified the twelve hours (originally only ten), as tutelary goddesses of the times of day. The hours run from just before sunrise to just after sunset, thus winter hours are short, summer hours are long:
The nine Hours
According to Hyginus, the list is only of nine, borrowed from the three classical triads alternated:
|
| Auxo | Growth | 1st triad |
| Eunomia | Order | 2nd triad |
| Pherusa | Substance | 3rd triad |
| Carpo | Fruit | 1st triad |
| Dike | Justice | 2nd triad |
| Euporie | Abundance | 3rd triad |
| Thallo | Flora | 1st triad |
| Eirene | Peace | 2nd triad |
| Orthosie | Prosperity | 3rd triad |
The twelve Hours
A distinct set of ten
or twelve Hours is much less known
[Nonnus, Dionysiaca 41.263] and they are described as daughters of
Chronos (Time):
[Nonnus, Dionysiaca 12.15]
|
| Auge | First light (initially not part of the set) |
| Anatolê | Sunrise |
| Musica | The morning hour of music |
| Gymnastica | The morning hour of gymnastics |
| Nymphe | The morning hour of bathing |
| Mesembria | Noon |
| Sponde | poured after lunch |
| Elete | Prayer |
| Acte | Eating and pleasure |
| Hesperis | Evening |
| Dysis | Sunset |
| Arctus | Night sky, constellation (initially not part of the set) |
The twenty-four Hours
The last set of hours of the day and night is allegorically represented in the following:
|
| Twelve Hours of Morning | The ancients supposed each of the hours to be governed by a separate planet. |
| First hour | Represented as a young girl, her head adorned with light flowing hair; she is clad in a short dress of rose-colour, resembling the tints of the clouds before the rising of the sun; her wings are like those of a butterfly, and she holds the Sun and a bunch of full-blown roses. | Sun |
| Second hour | Appears to have wings like the preceding; her hair is of a darker hue, and her dress of a deep gold colour; she is surrounded by light clouds, indicating the vapours which the sun exhales from the earth; her attributes are the planet Venus and a sunflower. | Venus |
| Third hour | Her hair is brown, and her drapery is white, shaded with red; she holds the planet Mercury and a sun-dial. | Mercury |
| Fourth hour | Considered to be time best calculated for gathering herbs, as the heat of the sun had by then dissipated the clouds, and sufficiently dried the earth; its personification was therefore clothed entirely in white, and bore a hyacinth and the figure of the Moon. | Moon |
| Fifth hour | Her robe was tinged with lemon colour, denoting the golden brightness of the sun as it advances towards the meridian; in her hand was the planet Saturn | Saturn |
| Sixth hour | Turns her face to the beholder, and as the sun has now attained its greatest power, her dress is red and flaming; her accompaniments are the planet Jupiter and a lotus, which, like the sunflower, follows the course of the sun. | Jupiter |
| Seventh hour | Her dress is orange, tinged with red; she holds the planet Mars and a lupin, a plant that, according to Pliny, served to indicate the time to the country people on a cloudy day. | Mars |
| Eighth hour | Wears a variegated robe of orange and white, showing the diminution of light, now beginning to be apparent; the Sun is in her hands. | Sun |
| Ninth hour | Her attitude and that of the two preceding hours, inclines towards the horizon; her dress is lemon-coloured; she bears the planet Venus and a branch of olive, a tree said by Pliny to shed its leaves during the solstice. | Venus |
| Tenth hour | She is dressed in yellow, tinged with brown; she holds the planet Mercury and a branch of poplar. | Mercury |
| Eleventh hour | As the day draws to its close, appeared to be precipitating her flight; her drapery is dark yellow, and her attributes are a moon and a clepsydra, or hour-glass, which marks the time without the sun's assistance. | Moon |
| Twelfth hour | Seems in the act of plunging beneath the horizon, thus denoting the setting of the sun; she is dressed in a robe of dark violet colour, and holds the planet Saturn and a branch of willow. | Saturn |
| Twelve Hours of Night | These, like the hours of the day, are depicted with wings, and in the attitude of flying; they differ from each other only in the colour of their drapery, and in their various attributes.
! |
| First hour | Her robe is of the hue of the horizon during twilight; she bears in her hands the planet Jupiter and a bat. | Jupiter |
| Second hour | Habited in dark gray, and holds the planet Mars and a screech owl. | Mars |
| Third hour | Clad in black, carries an owl and the Sun. | Sun |
| Fourth hour | Her dress is not quite so dark as that of the preceding, because the light of the heavenly bodies now diminishes in some measure the obscurity of night; she holds the planet Venus and an hour-glass. | Venus |
| Fifth hour | Her attributes are the planet Mercury and a bunch of poppies. | Mercury |
| Sixth hour | She is enveloped in a thick black drapery, and holds the Moon and a cat, which has the faculty of seeing in the dark. | Moon |
| Seventh hour | Her robe is deep blue; she bears the planet Saturn and a badger, that animal being much disposed to sleep. | Saturn |
| Eighth hour | Clad in a lighter blue, holds the planet Jupiter and a dormouse. | Jupiter |
| Ninth hour | Dressed in violet colour, to denote the approach of morning, and is characterised by the planet Mars and an owl. | Mars |
| Tenth hour | Her robe is of a paler shade of violet; she bears the Sun and a clock surmounted by a bell. | Sun |
| Eleventh hour | Habited in blue, and accompanied by a cock, holds the planet Venus. | Venus |
| Twelfth hour | Her attitude of flying precipitately behind the horizon; her drapery is of mixed colours, white, blue, and violet; she bears in her hand the planet Mercury, and leads a swan, which, by its white plumage, indicates the brightness of the coming day. | Mercury |
Notes
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Hesiod, Theogony from The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
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Hesiod, Works and Days from The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
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Homer, Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Homer, Homeri Opera in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
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The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
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Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996, . "Horae" p. 217
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Nonnus, Dionysiaca translated by William Henry Denham Rouse (1863-1950), from the Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1940. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
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Nonnus, Dionysiaca. 3 Vols. W.H.D. Rouse. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1940–1942. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
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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. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
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Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy translated by Way. A. S. Loeb Classical Library Volume 19. London: William Heinemann, 1913. Online version at theio.com
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Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy. Arthur S. Way. London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1913. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Horae"
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