Eurynome
An Oceanid who, in Pelasgian creation myth, was the goddess of all things and danced the world into being.
The Myth of Eurynome
In the standard Olympian mythology, Eurynome was simply an Oceanid — one of three thousand daughters of Oceanus and Tethys. She had a brief affair with Zeus that produced the three Graces: Aglaea, Euphrosyne, and Thalia. This alone would make her notable.
But an older tradition, preserved by the Pelasgians (the pre-Greek inhabitants of the Aegean), tells a far grander story. In their creation myth, Eurynome rose naked from Chaos. Finding nothing to stand on, she separated sea from sky and began to dance on the waves. Her dancing stirred the north wind into life, and she shaped that wind into a great serpent called Ophion. Eurynome and Ophion coupled, and she laid the universal egg from which all creation hatched — sun, moon, stars, earth, and every living thing.
She then ruled from Mount Olympus with Ophion until he grew arrogant and claimed to be the sole creator. She kicked out his teeth and banished him to the dark caves below the earth. The Pelasgian Eurynome was no minor nymph. She was the beginning of everything.
Parents
Oceanus and Tethys (Olympian); self-created from Chaos (Pelasgian)
Children
The three Graces (by Zeus); all creation (Pelasgian)
Symbols
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