Eileithyia

Greek mythology

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

Eileithyia, pre-Hellenic goddess of childbirth, who hindered or facilitated the process according to her disposition. She is mentioned in several Linear B tablets from ancient Crete. The next earliest evidence for her cult is at Amnisus, in Crete, where excavations indicate that she was worshipped continuously from Neolithic to Roman times. In Homer’s writings she appears, sometimes in the plural, as a personification of birth pangs and is described as the daughter of Hera, the consort of Zeus. In later times Eileithyia tended to be identified with Hera or Artemis, goddesses who were also associated with marriage and childbirth.