Source Verification: Eileithyia
Every claim below is either what a named ancient source attests, in its own line or section, or a point where the sources themselves disagree.
What the Sources Attest
Who are Eileithyia's parents?
Zeus and Hera. Hesiod's Theogony names her among the children Hera bore to Zeus, alongside Ares, the war god, and Hebe, the goddess of youth.
Source: Hesiod, Theogony 921-923
What happened when Hera used Eileithyia against Heracles?
Hera tricked Zeus into swearing that whichever of his descendants was born that day would rule over the others, then rushed to Argos and had Eileithyia delay the birth pangs of Heracles's mother Alcmene while hastening the premature delivery of a rival child, Eurystheus - costing Heracles the kingship Zeus had intended for him.
Source: Homer, Iliad 19.95-133
Why couldn't Leto give birth to Apollo right away?
Because Hera, jealous, kept Eileithyia detained on Olympus and ignorant of Leto's labor. Leto suffered through nine days and nights of pain on the island of Delos until the other goddesses sent Iris to bring Eileithyia down from Olympus, and only then was Apollo born.
Source: Homeric Hymn to Apollo 89-101
Is there only one Eileithyia?
Not necessarily. Homer's Iliad refers to the Eileithyiai in the plural during the account of Heracles's delayed birth, suggesting Greek belief sometimes treated childbirth as governed by several such goddesses rather than a single one.
Source: Homer, Iliad 19.95-133
Where was Eileithyia worshipped?
Among her sanctuaries, Homer's Odyssey names a cave at Amnisos on Crete, near Knossos, as a place sacred to Eileithyia - one of the oldest sites of her cult and the kind of location women seeking a safe delivery would have approached directly.
Source: Homer, Odyssey 19.188
Where Accounts Differ
- whether Eileithyia is one goddess or several (the Eileithyiai)
Sources
- Hesiod, Theogony 921-923
- Homer, Iliad 19.95-133
- Homeric Hymn to Apollo 89-101
- Homer, Odyssey 19.188
- Timothy Gantz, Early Greek Myth (1993)