Epione: The Goddess of Soothing Pain and the Giver of Health

Epione: The Goddess of Soothing Pain and the Giver of Health Euphenia (Ευφηνία), also known as Epione (Ἐπινόεια) or Myrrha (Μυρρή), was a goddess in ancient Greek religion, specifically an Alcmaeonid cult. She was the daughter of the river god Achelous and the nymph Charites and she was also half-sister to Panacea, the other main deity of this group.

Her sister was Hypseis (meaning "Horse") and her brother was Phlias. Euphenia is a lesser-known deity who attracted little interest from any historian or mythographer until recently. She is rarely mentioned by ancient writers except for one mention by Pausanias who described her temple at Amyklai where she had temples dedicated to her throughout Greece.

As it turns out though, there are several other references to Euphenia throughout ancient literature that have yet to be fully explored, so much more can be said about Euphenia than what has already been told. A Brief Timeline of Euphenia’s Mythology As the daughter of Achelous, the river god, Euphenia was a water nymph who was also a half-sister to Panacea, the other main deity of this group.

She was the sister of Hypseis (meaning "Horse") and Phlias and her brother was Epione or Myrrha (meaning "Myrtle"). Her father was also the father of Hippothoos and Autonoë. She was also a goddess of healing and was one of the main goddesses of the Alcmaeonid cult. She was first mentioned by Hesiod in his Theogony as one of the daughters of the primordial gods, the other being Panacea.

She was also mentioned by Homer in the Odyssey and later in Pausanias’ book Guide to Greece where he described a sanctuary of Euphenia in Amyklai where it was said that she had temples dedicated to her throughout Greece. Euphenia: The Goddess of Soothing Pain and the Giver of Health Epione is a goddess of healing , who through her cult came to be associated with soothing pain and the administration of health.

This is primarily due to the fact that the epikindos, the ritual cleansing of the body using red wine , was done as a “soporific” meant to calm and ease pain. While the epikindos was widely used from ancient times, it was particularly prevalent in Epione’s cult and temples dedicated to Epione were found all over Greece. Ovid described Epione’s temple in the following way: The rear of the sacred precinct has a small, circular portico and is paved with marble.