The three Furies: Alecto, Megaera and Tisiphone, and what each one punishes

Short answer: the Furies, whom the Greeks called the Erinyes, are three: Alecto, "the unceasing", Megaera, "the grudging", and Tisiphone, "the avenger of murder". They do not punish any crime at all: they chase blood crimes, broken oaths and betrayal within a family. And you cannot pray to them to stop.

Where they come from

When Cronus castrated Uranus, the blood of the sky fell on the earth. Out of that blood the Furies were born.

That origin matters: they are older than the Olympians. Zeus did not appoint them and they do not answer to him. They belong to an earlier order, older than courts and older than the gods who judge.

What each one hunts

The names are not decorative, they are a division of labour.

Alecto is "the relentless", the one who does not stop. She is the one who never abandons a pursuit once begun.

Megaera is "the envious" or "the grudging". She handles jealousy, kept resentment and the crimes that grow inside a household.

Tisiphone is "the avenger of murder". Her speciality is killing, and above all killing someone of your own blood.

What they do not punish

Here is the part almost nobody tells. The Furies are not general justice. They do not go after the thief or the liar.

They go after the person who kills their mother, who breaks an oath, who betrays hospitality. Crimes that break a bond thought unbreakable.

That is a division of labour with Nemesis, who punishes excess and pride. Nemesis handles the one who has too much. The Furies handle the one who broke what could not be broken.

The case that changed them: Orestes

Orestes kills his mother, Clytemnestra, because she had killed his father, Agamemnon. The Furies hunt him, because matricide is exactly their remit.

And here the myth does something new: instead of letting them tear him apart, Athena convenes a court. Twelve citizens hear both sides and vote. The tie is broken by her, in favour of Orestes.

The Furies rage, because they have just lost for the first time to something that did not exist before: a trial. Athena negotiates with them and offers them a place of honour in the city. They accept, and become the Eumenides, "the kindly ones".

That change of name is one of the great moments in Greek myth: it is vengeance turning into justice.

Who is who

Fury	What the name means	What she handles
Alecto	The unceasing	Never abandons a pursuit
Megaera	The grudging	Jealousy, resentment, crimes inside the house
Tisiphone	Avenger of murder	Killing, above all among kin

Quick questions

How many Furies are there and what are their names?

Three: Alecto, Megaera and Tisiphone. The Greeks called them the Erinyes and the Romans the Furiae. They were born from the blood of Uranus when Cronus castrated him, which makes them older than the gods of Olympus.

What does the name Megaera mean?

"The grudging one" or "the envious one". The English word megaera, and its cousins in the Romance languages, survive as a much reduced echo of what she was in the myth: a power that hunted resentment inside families.

Why are the Furies also called the Eumenides?

Because they changed their name at the end of Orestes' trial. Athena persuaded them to accept a place of honour in Athens instead of continuing the hunt, and from then on they are the Eumenides, "the kindly ones". It is the myth telling how vengeance became a courtroom.