Eleutho/Eileithyia
The goddess
of birth, daughter of Zeus
and Hera, who helped women
in labor. She was also a judge of pregnant women: the ones that had been good
she blessed with an easy birth, the ones that had no she gave a long and painful
one.
Eleutho/Eileithyia was born in a cave near Knossos
on Crete,
and was he sister of Ares,
Hestia and Hebe.
She was generally considered to be a virgin goddess, but sometimes it was
claimed she was Eros'
mother, or the mystical hero Sosipolis. The goddess and Sosipolis were worshipped
in Olympia.
It was this goddess that prolonged the birth of Heracles
on Hera's demand. She was a companion of the Moirae.
