Eurynome is one of the elder Oceanids (saltwater nymphs) and the Titan-goddess of water-meadows and pasturelands in Greek Mythology.
Genealogy and Family[]
She is one of the elder daughters of Oceanus and Tethys, making her an Oceanid and one of the 3,000-4,000 sisters of The Potamoi. She and the Nereid, Thetis are the foster mothers of Hephaestus. Eurynome later married her cousin, Zeus as his third bride and with him bore many daughters including Thalia, Euphrosyne, Aglaia and Pasithea, who are the first generation of The Graces.
Stories[]
Aside from becoming a wife of Zeus, she and the Nereid Thetis, became the foster mothers of the God Hephaestus, after saving him from drowning, after Hera threw him (her own son) out of Mount Olympus. The Nymphs raised him to become a blacksmith.
A female deity named "Eurynome" appears in an another account, where she is the wife of the snake god, Ophion, both were the leaders of the Titans, until Cronus and Rhea overthrew them and took their positions as the leaders of The Titans. It is unknown if this is the same Eurynome or another female deity in Greek Mythology with the same name.
Significance[]
Eurynome was worshipped at a sanctuary near the confluence of rivers called the Neda and the Lymax in classical Peloponnesus. She was represented by a statue of what we would call a mermaid.
Trivia[]
The Greek spelling of her name is Εὐρυνόμη, it means 'broad pasture; broad law'.