The birth of Athena from the Head of Zeus with Eileithyia on the right
Eileithyia or Ilithyia was the Greek goddess of childbirth and midwifery, and the daughter of Zeus and Hera. In the cave of Amnisos (Crete) she was related with the annual birth of the divine child, and her cult is connected with Enesidaon (the earth shaker), who was the chthonic aspect of the god Poseidon. It is possible that her cult is related with the cult of Eleusis. In his Seventh Nemean Ode, Pindar refers to her as the maid to or seated beside the Moirai (Fates) and responsible for the creation of offspring. Her son was Sosipolis, who was worshiped at Elis.
Parents[]
Children[]
Birth of Herakles[]
When Alkmene went into labor Eileithyia (or arguably The Moirai aka The Fates) at the request of Hera sat outside Alkmene's bedroom with her legs crossed and held together by both hands with intertwined fingers. This was preventing Alkmene from giving birth to either Iphikles or Herakles. This continued for several days and the delivery was killing Alkmene and would have subsequently killed Iphikles & Herakles but Galinthias (who in some lesser accepted versions was aided by The Furies) emerged and falsely announced that Alkmene had given birth. This news shocked Eileithyia and caused her to break her concentration and position allowing Alkmene to actually give birth. Hera (or in some versions Eileithyia) was so furious that Galainthias's lie had allowed the birth of Herakles (she did not care that Iphikles had been born) that she punished Galinthias by transforming her into a weasel. Hekate (goddess of witchcraft) however took pity on Galinthias and made her an attendant. Herakles even built a temple to Galinthias later in life.
Origins[]
According to F. Willets, the goddess shows a clear connection to a preexisting Minoan goddess, as well as an earlier Neolithic concept. Eileithyia's guidance in childbirth may give influence of the first midwife. To Homer, she is "the goddess of childbirth". The Iliad pictures Eileithyia alone, or sometimes multiplied, as the Eileithyiai:
And even as when the sharp dart striketh a woman in travail, the piercing dart that the Eilithyiae, the goddesses of childbirth, send—even the daughters of Hera that have in their keeping bitter pangs; —
Hesiod (c. 700 BC) described Eileithyia as a daughter of Hera by Zeus (Theogony 921)—and the Bibliotheca (Roman-era) and Diodorus Siculus (c. 90–27 BC) (5.72.5) agreed. Also, a poem at the Greek Anthology Book 6, mention Eileithyia as Hera's daughter. But Pausanias, writing in the 2nd century AD, reported another early source (now lost): "The Lycian Olen, an earlier poet, who composed for the Delians, among other hymns, one to Eileithyia, styles her as 'the clever spinner', clearly identifying her with the Fates, thus making her older than Cronus." Being the youngest born to Gaia, Cronus was a Titan of the first generation and he was identified as the father of Zeus. Likewise, the meticulously accurate mythographer Pindar (522–443 BC) also makes no mention of Zeus:
Eleithuia, seated beside the deep-thinking Fates, hear me, creator of offspring, child of Hera great in strength. —
Later, for the Classical Greeks, "She is closely associated with Artemis and Hera," Burkert asserts, "but develops no character of her own". In the Orphic Hymn to Prothyraia, virginal Artemis is given an epithet relating to the goddess of childbirth, making the divine huntress also "she who comes to the aid of women in childbirth":
When racked with labour pangs, and sore distressed
the sex invoke thee, as the soul's sure rest;
for thou Eileithyia alone canst give relief to pain,
which art attempts to ease, but tries in vain.
Artemis Eileithyia, venerable power,
who bringest relief in labour's dreadful hour.
—
Eileithyia is commonly in classical Greek art most often depicted assisting childbirth. Vase-painters, when illustrating the birth of Athena from Zeus' head, may show two assisting Eileithyiai, with their hands raised in the epiphany gesture. The Beauty of Durrës, a large 4th-century B.C.E. mosaic shows the head figure of a woman, probably portrays the goddess Eileithyia. A fragment by Callimachus has Eileithyia assist her full-sister Hebe in her labour, presumably when she gave birth to Alexiares and Anicetus, her sons by Heracles.