Eileithyia

Eileithyia was the Greek goddess of childbirth, the divine helper of women in labour. In the earliest poetry she is the daughter of Zeus and Hera, and the Romans identified her with Lucina. She appears in the stories of the births of Apollo and Artemis and of Heracles, and she had shrines throughout the Greek world, from Crete to Olympia and Athens.

Parents and Names

Hesiod says that Hera, joined in love with Zeus, bore Hebe, Ares and Eileithyia (Hesiod, Theogony 921–923). Homer speaks of the Eileithyiae in the plural, as the “daughters of Hera” who send the sharp pangs of labour (Iliad 11.270–271), but he can also speak of a single Eileithyia, “goddess of childbirth”, who brings a child into the light (Iliad 16.187; 19.103). The Cretans, Pausanias says, believed that she was born at Amnisus in the territory of Cnossus, and that Hera was her mother (Pausanias 1.18.5). The Odyssey knows a cave of Eileithyia at Amnisus on Crete (Odyssey 19.188). The Lycian poet Olen called her “the clever spinner” and made her older than Cronus, identifying her with fate, according to Pausanias, and in his hymn to Eileithyia he made her the mother of Love (Pausanias 8.21.3; 9.27.2).

Eileithyia and the Birth of Apollo

When Leto was in labour on Delos, the other goddesses came to her, but Eileithyia was not told: she was sitting on Olympus under golden clouds, held back by the jealous Hera. The goddesses sent Iris to fetch her, promising her a great necklace of gold threads nine cubits long, and told Iris to call her without Hera knowing. Eileithyia came, and as soon as she set foot on Delos, Leto went into labour and bore Apollo (Homeric Hymn to Apollo 3.97–119). Pausanias reports the Delian tradition that Eileithyia came from the Hyperboreans to Delos and helped Leto in her labour (Pausanias 1.18.5).

Eileithyia and the Birth of Heracles

In the Iliad, Zeus announces that Eileithyia will that day bring to light a man who will rule all his neighbours. Hera tricks him into swearing it, then goes to Argos and holds back the Eileithyiae so that Eurystheus is born, as a seven-month child, before Heracles (Iliad 19.96–124). Apollodorus gives the same tale, saying Hera persuaded the Ilithyias to delay the delivery of Alcmena (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.5). In Ovid, Alcmena herself tells how, after seven nights and days of pain, Lucina came but, bribed by Juno, sat on the altar before the door with her fingers interlocked and her knee clasped, and murmured spells to hold the birth back. Alcmena’s servant Galanthis tricked her by calling out that the child was already born; the goddess sprang up in alarm, her hands came apart and the birth was released. Lucina turned Galanthis into a weasel (Ovid, Metamorphoses 9.281–323).

Cult

• At Athens there was a temple of Eileithyia, who the Athenians said had come from the Hyperboreans to Delos; the wooden statues there were draped to the feet (Pausanias 1.18.5).
• At Olympia she was worshipped with Sosipolis, under the surname Olympian, with a priestess chosen every year (Pausanias 6.20.2–3).
• At Aegium there was an ancient sanctuary in which her wooden image was covered with drapery; one hand was stretched out straight, the other held a torch (Pausanias 7.23.5–6).
• At Tegea the temple in the market-place marked the spot where, they said, Auge fell on her knees and gave birth to Telephus (Pausanias 8.48.7).
• At Sparta there was a sanctuary founded after an oracle from Delphi (Pausanias 3.17.1).

Eileithyia Sources

The main sources are Hesiod, Theogony 921–923; Homer, Iliad 11.270–271, 16.187, 19.96–124 and Odyssey 19.188; the Homeric Hymn to Apollo 3.97–119; Apollodorus, Library 2.4.5; Ovid, Metamorphoses 9.281–323; and Pausanias 1.18.5, 3.17.1, 6.20.2–3, 7.23.5–6, 8.21.3, 8.48.7 and 9.27.2.

See Also: Hera, Zeus, Leto, Apollo, Artemis, Heracles, Alcmene