MACARIA (Makaria) - Greek Goddess of Blessed Death (original) (raw)

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Translation

Blessed (makar)

MAKARIA (Macaria) was the goddess of a "blessed" death, a minion of her father Haides. She was perhaps a more merciful counterpart of the death-god Thanatos or else connected with the passage of souls to the Islands of the Blessed (Nesoi Makarioi).

PARENTS

HAIDES (Suidas s.v. Makaria)

CLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES

Suidas s.v. Makariai (trans. Suda On Line) (Byzantine Greek Lexicon C10th A.D.) :
"Makaria (Macaria, Blessed). Death. A daughter of Haides. And a proverb : ‘Go to blessedness,’ instead of go to misery and utter destruction. Or ‘Go to blessedness’ is said by euphemism. Since even the dead are called ‘blessed ones.’"

SOURCES

BYZANTINE

• Suidas, The Suda - Byzantine Greek Lexicon C10th A.D.

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