Eurynome

eer e NO me

Ευρυνομη

Mother of the Graces

Eurynome is an Okeanid, i.e. she is one of the three thousand daughters of Okeanos (Ocean) and Tethys.

Eurynome and Zeus are the parents of the three Graces: Euphrosyne, Aglaia and Thalia; the Graces are the attendants of Aphrodite (goddess of Love) because they embody charm and beauty; their names reflect their attributes: Aglaia (Splendor), Euphrosyne (Festivity), and Thalia (Rejoicing).

Eurynome and her consort Ophion were the first to occupy Mount Olympos (Olympus) but returned to the sea after they were forced off the mountain by the Titans, Kronos (Cronos) and Rheia (Rhea).

Eurynome and the Nereid Thetis earned the eternal gratitude of the smith of the gods, Hephaistos (Hephaestus), when they cared for him after he had been ejected from Mount Olympos. After a violent dispute with Hera, Zeus threw Hephaistos from Mount Olympos and he landed halfway across the Aegean Sea on the island of Lemnos. After finding the abandoned young god, Eurynome and Thetis cared for him but the terrible fall had injured Hephaistos's legs and left him permanently lame. The two goddesses nursed and raised Hephaistos in secret. They provided him with a cave where he could practice and perfect his craft until, after nine years, he returned to Mount Olympos to rejoin his mother and take his rightful place among the Olympians.

Eurynome in The Iliad

(listed by book and line from four different translations)

Richmond Lattimore

• 18.398 - Hephaistos tells his wife Charis that Eurynome and Thetis caught him and cared for him when he had been thrown from Mount Olympos by Zeus
•  
• 18.399 - Hephaistos refers to Eurynome as 'daughter of Ocean'
•  
• 18.405 - Hephaistos says that only Eurynome and Thetis knew of his fate when he had been thrown from Mount Olympos by Zeus

Loeb Classical Library

• 18.398 - Hephaestus tells his wife Charis that Eurynome and Thetis had received him into their bosom when he had been thrown from Mount Olympus by Zeus
•  
• 18.399 - Hephaestus refers to Eurynome as 'daughter of backward-flowing Oceanus'
•  
• 18.405 - Hephaestus says that only Eurynome and Thetis knew of his fate when he had been thrown from Mount Olympus by Zeus

Robert Fagles

• 18.466 - Hephaestus tells his wife Charis that Thetis had taken him to her breast, Eurynome too, when he had been thrown from Mount Olympus by Zeus
•  
• 18.467 - Hephaestus refers to Eurynome as 'the daughter of Ocean's stream that runs around the world'
•  
• 18.473 - Hephaestus says that only Eurynome and Thetis knew of his fate when he had been thrown from Mount Olympus by Zeus

Robert Fitzgerald

• 18.462 - Hephaistos tells his wife Grace that Eurynome and Thetis had taken him in when he had been thrown from Mount Olympos by Zeus
•  
• 18.463 - Hephaistos refers to Eurynome as 'daughter of tidal Ocean'
•  
• 18.405 - Hephaistos says that only Eurynome and Thetis knew of his fate when he had been thrown from Mount Olympos by Zeus

Other Text References

Theogony

• line 358 - Eurynome is listed with her sisters as the daughters of Tethys and Okeanos (Ocean)
•  
• line 908 - Eurynome, daughter of Okeanos (Ocean), was the consort of Zeus and became the mother of the Graces (Charities): Euphrosyne, Aglaia and Thalia

Argonautika

• book 1, line 504 - Orpheus sang of how Eurynome and Ophion were the first masters of Mount Olympos (Olympus) but were forced off the mountain by Kronos (Cronos) and Rheia (Rhea)