Eileithyia

Sources give variant genealogies and origins. Hesiod and literary traditions sometimes present Eileithyia as a daughter of Hera (and Zeus in some accounts), while other early testimonia (as reported by Pausanias from Olen and in Pindar) cast her in older or allied roles beside the Moirai, suggesting affinities with fate or pre-Greek ritual practices. The name is attested in Linear B (e-re-u-ti-ja), and scholars have argued for both Greek derivation (from ἐλεύθω, "to bring") and a pre-Greek origin; the evidence supports long regional continuity rather than a single coherent origin narrative.

Literary and iconographic sources depict Eileithyia attending births; vase-paintings show figures labelled as Eileithyiai in groups, often with raised hands in an epiphany gesture. Pausanias describes a cult image at Aigion: a wooden body covered in finely-woven drapery with the face, hands and feet rendered in Pentelic marble. Archaeological and artistic evidence thus records clothed cult statues and portrayals of one or more childbirth goddesses present at delivery scenes.

Classical texts and hymns attribute to Eileithyia the power to cause and to relieve childbirth pains. Homer describes childbirth pangs as "the piercing dart that the Eilithyiae... send," while hymnic and cultic invocations call her to "come" and bless labour with easy birth. In mythic narratives she both obstructs and facilitates parturition: for example, in the Alcmena cycle her presence delays birth in some tellings, and in the Galanthis episode mythic tradition reports that Galanthis was transformed (into a weasel) after deceiving the childbirth goddess to allow delivery. She is also depicted in some sources as seated beside the Moirai, emphasizing an association with the allotment or production of offspring.