Algea
The Algea were the personified Pains of Greek mythology, a group of divine beings named in Hesiod’s Theogony among the children of Eris (Strife). The word algea is the ordinary Greek plural for pains and aches, as in the first lines of the Iliad, where the wrath of Achilles brings “countless pains” on the Achaeans (Homer, Iliad 1.2). Hesiod calls them “tearful”.
Who Were the Algea?
Hesiod gives the Algea as one item in a long list of the offspring of Eris. After listing the children of Night, he continues: “But hateful Strife bore painful Toil (Ponos), and Forgetfulness (Lethe), and Famine (Limos), and tearful Pains (Algea), Fightings (Hysminai), Battles (Machai), Murders (Phonoi), Manslaughters (Androktasiai), Quarrels (Neikea), Lies and Words (Pseudea, Logoi), Disputes (Amphillogiai), Lawlessness (Dysnomia) and Ruin (Ate), who go together, and Oath (Horkos), who most troubles men on earth when anyone willingly swears a false oath” (Hesiod, Theogony 226–232). Some editions read the Lies and Words as a single item, “lying Words”. Hesiod does not give the Algea individual names, a number, or any story. They appear only in this list. Names such as Lype, Ania and Achus, sometimes given to three Algea, are not in Hesiod or in the other ancient texts.
Parentage
Their mother is Eris, and Hesiod names no father for the group. Eris herself is a daughter of Night (Theogony 224–225). The Algea are therefore among the many abstract powers of the Theogony born from Night’s line.
Their siblings
The brothers and sisters of the Algea in this passage are Toil, Forgetfulness, Famine, the Hysminai (battles), the Machai (fights), the Phonoi (murders), the Androktasiai (killings of men), the Neikea (quarrels), the Lies and Words, the Disputes, Lawlessness, Ruin and Oath. Hesiod says that Lawlessness and Ruin “go together”, meaning they are close companions (Theogony 230).
Family of Algea
- Parents
- Eris
The Algea and Other Personified Sorrows
The Algea are different from the other personifications of misery in Hesiod. Oizys (Misery) and Momos (Blame) are not children of Eris: Hesiod says that Night bore them, without a father, along with Moros, Ker, Thanatos, Hypnos and the Dreams (Theogony 211–214). Eris, a sister of these beings, is the mother only of the group listed above.
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