Ate

Ate (Atê) was the goddess of delusion, mischief and ruin in Greek mythology. The word ate means the blindness or infatuation that leads a person to a disastrous act, and the damage that follows. Homer makes her the eldest daughter of Zeus, while Hesiod lists her among the children of Eris (Strife). Her best-known story is told in the Iliad, where Zeus throws her out of heaven.

Family

In Hesiod’s Theogony, Eris (Strife) bore a series of hateful powers: Ponos (Toil), Lethe (Forgetfulness), Limos (Famine), the tearful Algea (Pains), the Hysminai (Battles), the Makhai (Fights), the Phonoi (Murders), the Androktasiai (Manslaughters), the Neikea (Quarrels), the Pseudologoi (Lying Words), the Amphilogiai (Disputes), and Dysnomia (Lawlessness) and Ate, two who keep close company with each other. Horcus (Oath), who brings most harm to men when one swears a false oath on purpose, is named last (Hesiod, Theogony 226–232). Hesiod does not name a father for them.

Homer gives a different parentage. In the Iliad Agamemnon calls Ate the eldest daughter of Zeus (Homer, Iliad 19.91). Phoenix, in his speech to Achilles, says the Prayers (Litai) are daughters of great Zeus (Iliad 9.502).

Ate in the Iliad

Ate appears in two speeches of the Iliad. In the first, Phoenix tells Achilles that the Prayers are lame, wrinkled and squint-eyed, and follow after Ate. Ate herself is strong and sound of foot, so she outruns all of them and reaches every land first, harming men, while the Prayers come after and heal. Whoever respects the daughters of Zeus when they draw near is greatly helped; whoever refuses, they ask Zeus to let Ate follow him, so that he is harmed and pays (Iliad 9.502–512).

In the second, Agamemnon makes peace with Achilles and explains why he took Achilles’ prize from him. He says that Zeus, Fate and the Fury who walks in darkness put a savage delusion (ate) in his mind in the assembly. He then describes the goddess: Ate is the eldest daughter of Zeus, who deludes all men. Her feet are delicate, for she does not walk on the ground but over the heads of men, harming them (Iliad 19.86–94).

The Fall of Ate

Agamemnon goes on to say that Ate once deluded Zeus himself. On the day when Heracles was about to be born to Alcmena in Thebes, Zeus announced to the gods that the child born that day of his blood would rule all his neighbours. Hera, thinking of deceit, told him to swear a great oath on it. Zeus did not see the trick and swore, and then he was deluded (Iliad 19.95–113). Hera hurried to Argos, where the wife of Sthenelus was seven months pregnant, and brought her son into the light early, while holding back Alcmena’s birth. She then told Zeus that Eurystheus, the son of Sthenelus, had been born, of Zeus’s own line, and so would rule the Argives (Iliad 19.114–124).

Zeus was struck by sharp pain. In anger he seized Ate by her bright hair and swore a great oath that she would never again come to Olympus and the starry sky. He whirled her and threw her from heaven, and she came to the works of men. Zeus groaned over her whenever he saw his dear son Heracles doing shameful labour set by Eurystheus (Iliad 19.125–133). In Homer, therefore, it is Hera who deceives Zeus; Ate is the blindness that makes him fall for it, and she is the one punished.

The Meaning of Ate

In the Iliad the word ate is used both for the personified goddess and for the state of mind she brings. Agamemnon says he was deluded (asamen) and that Zeus took away his wits (Iliad 19.134–137). He then offers gifts to Achilles to make amends (Iliad 19.138–144). Ate is therefore a power that clouds judgement, and the ruin that follows is the harm she does to her victim.

Ate Sources

Hesiod, Theogony 226–232; Homer, Iliad 9.502–512 and 19.86–144.

See Also: Eris, Zeus, Horcus, Ponos, Algea, Makhai, Phonoi, Androktasiai, Pseudologoi, Dysnomia, Limos, Lethe, Hera, Heracles, Eurystheus, Agamemnon