Eleos | Greek Goddess
Eleos (Greek Ἔλεος), in Greek mythology, was a daemon who personified piety, charity and mercy. This benign spirit was the daughter of Erebo and Nix, and had as her opposite daemon Anaideia, cruelty. Eleos had an altar in the agora of Athens.
As Pausanias reports, "the Athenians are the only ones among the Hellenes who worship this divine being, and among all the gods it is the most useful for human life in all its vicissitudes." It was a temple of modest decoration, without statues or rituals, because the goddess lived only in the hearts of men.
She listened to all supplicants day and night, no matter how horrendous their crimes had been. That is why those who begged for asylum from the Athenians, like Adrastus or the Heraclides, would go to the altar of Eleos to ask for clemency. Its Roman equivalent was Misericordia.
As Pausanias reports, "the Athenians are the only ones among the Hellenes who worship this divine being, and among all the gods it is the most useful for human life in all its vicissitudes." It was a temple of modest decoration, without statues or rituals, because the goddess lived only in the hearts of men.
She listened to all supplicants day and night, no matter how horrendous their crimes had been. That is why those who begged for asylum from the Athenians, like Adrastus or the Heraclides, would go to the altar of Eleos to ask for clemency. Its Roman equivalent was Misericordia.