They are three very beautiful and talented daughters of Zeus and Themis who look after these particular stretches of time. The Horae are highly regarded despite bearing the almost unbearable names of Eunomia, Dike and Eirene. At least this was an improvement on their earlier ghastly names of Thallo, Carpo and Auxo.

Their numbers are often exaggerated. Some scholars feel there must be a dozen or so, one for each month. This is because they went partying a lot with the Graces and could do chorus girl routines. On the other hand, their name means ‘The Hours’ and there are twelve hours in a day.

Amongst many other things, they look after the Gates of Heaven. When undesirables approach, they slide a cloud in front so no-one can get through or get hurt. So much nicer than a board proclaiming ‘Trespassers Will Be Thunderbolted’.

The Horae do lots of fruity and blossomy things, and also offer services such as babysitting for the Gods and feeding the horses. Later they became associated with Natural and Moral Law.

No-one has a word to say against them, and we certainly don’t wish to hear any such thing.

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Article last revised on September 06, 2018 by Rowan Allen.
Editors: Peter J. Allen, Chas Saunders

References: Coming soon.

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