Horae

(Ὧραι). The goddesses of order in nature, who cause the seasons to change in their regular course, and all things to come into being, blossom, and ripen at the appointed time. In Homer, who gives them neither genealogy nor names, they are mentioned as handmaidens of Zeus, intrusted with the guarding of the gates of heaven and Olympus—in other words, with watching the clouds. Hesiod calls them the daughters of Zeus and Themis, who watch over the field operations of mankind; their names are Eunomia (Good Order), Diké (Justice), and Irené (Peace), names which show that the divinities of the three ordinary seasons of the world of nature—Spring, Summer, and Winter—are also, as daughters of Themis, appointed to superintend the moral world of human life. This is especially the case with Diké, who is the goddess who presided over legal order, and, like Themis, was enthroned by the side of Zeus. According to Hesiod, she immediately acquaints him with all unjust judicial decisions, so that he may punish them. In the tragic poets she is mentioned with the Erinyes, and as a divinity who is relentless and stern in exacting punishment. (See Astraea.) At Athens, two Horae were honoured —Thallo, the goddess of the flowers of spring; and Carpo, the goddess of the fruits of summer. Nevertheless the Horae were also recognized as four in number, distinguished by the attributes of the seasons. They were represented as delicate, joyous, lightly moving creatures, adorned with flowers and fruits, and, like the Graces, often associated with other divinities, such as Aphrodité, Apollo, and Helios. As the Hora specially representing spring, we have Chloris, the wife of Zephyrus, and goddess of flowers, identified by the Romans with Flora (q.v.).