Goddesses of Ancient Greece ~ D

Daiera
'The Wise One of the Sea', the Daughter of Oceanus and the mother of Eleusis, identified with Aphrodite.

Damia
Goddess of feminine health, and protectress of women. A Greek goddess of growth in nature. Possibly equal to Demeter.

Danae
Danae was the daughter of Acrisius. An oracle warned Acrisius that Danae's son would someday kill him, so Acrisius shut Danae in a bronze room, away from all male company. However, Zeus conceived a passion for Danae, and came to her through the roof, in the form of a shower of gold that poured down into her lap; as a result she had a son, Perseus. When Acrisius discovered Perseus, he locked both mother and son in a chest, and set it adrift on the sea. The chest came ashore at Seriphus, where Danae and Perseus were welcomed. Later, King Polydectes of Seriphus fell in love with Danae and tried to force himself on her; he was eventually killed by Perseus.

Danaides
The fifty daughters of Danaus. He fled with his daughters in fear of his twin brother Aegyptus, but the fifty sons of Aegyptos followed them to Argos and forced Danaus to give them his daughters in marriage. At their father's behest they murdered their husbands at their wedding night. The only one who spared her husband was Hypermnestra. In Hades, the girls were condemned eternally to pour water in a vessel with holes in its bottom.

Daphne
(Laurel) A daughter of Peneus. She was nymph who, uncharacteristic of the breed, abhorred the embrace of men, and preferred to dance in solitude among the mountain meadows. Pursued by Apollo, she emplored her father to keep her chaste. He transformed her into a tree, the mountain laurel. Apollo then blessed the laurel and made its wreath a symbol of Divine accolade and victory of spirit.

Deianira
A princess from Greek legend. She became the wife of Heracles after he fought for her with Achelous. Later she unwittingly gave her husband the poisoned blood of the centaur Nessus, who had told her it would ensure Heracles' love for her for ever. When he tried on the shirt the poisonous blood killed him. Deianira took her own live out of grief over his death.

Deino
"dread", was one of the three Graeae (gray women) in Greek Mythology. Her parents were Phorcys and Ceto. She had quite a few sisters including Enys, Pemphredo, and Graea. Her other sisters were female monsters known as the Gorgons. The Gorgons, who the Graea guarded, were Euryale, Sthenno, and Medusa. The best known Gorgon, Medusa, had snakes for hair, and turned whoever looked at her to stone. There were several ways in which Deino and her sisters Enys and Pemphredo were unique. First, they had been gray-haired since their birth (hence their name). But even more interesting, they only shared one eye and one tooth among them. This occasionally led to trouble. In one mythological story King Polydectes sent Perseus off to bring back the head of Medusa, one of the Gorgons. Since Perseus needed information on where to find Medusa, he went to Deino and the other two Graeae. As the sisters were passing their eye between them, Perseus snatched it and held it until they told him everything he wanted to know.

Demeter
Demeter is the Goddess of the harvest, the fertile ploughed earth, the Corn Mother; Persephone, the Corn Maiden, is the seed planted underground. Around the 15th century BCE, the Mycenaens brought Demeter from Crete to Eleusis, the place where she found her daughter and where the initiation of women into the Great Mysteries was performed. Classical Greek myth tells of Persephone having been abducted by Hades to become Queen of the Underworld. Her mother, Demeter, implored the deities to let her daughter return to earth. They consented but, in the meantime, Persephone had eaten a seed from a pomegranate, forcing her to remain in the underworld. As a compromise, it was agreed that she would inhabit the earth for part of the year and the underworld during the other part, a metaphor for the growing season and non-growing season. However, long before the mythical Hades was ever conceived, in more ancient, pre-patriarchal times, Persephone was Queen of the Underworld and was another form of Hecate. Originally, the Triple Goddess was represented by Kore, the virgin; Demeter, the mother preserver; and Hecate or Persephone, the destroyer. In later years, Kore and Persephone became the same Goddess. The pomegranate was an ancient symbol of female fertility; the souls of the underworld ate pomegranates so that they could be reborn. The Eleusinian mystery religion centered on her worship and on reverence for her lost daughter. Persephone was mown down and torn from her mother exactly as the sheaf in Demeter's hand is reaped from the bosom of Mother Earth. Although Demeter rescues her daughter from the underworld, she bequeaths winter dark and cold as a sign of her grief.

Derketo
The Greek rendering of Atergatis, the Syrian fish goddess.

Despina
"Mistress". A daughter of Poseidon and Demeter. It is also an epithet for multiple goddesses, such as Aphrodite, Demeter, and Persephone.

Diana
Greek/Roman Goddess, called the "Mother of All Creatures" in her nurturing aspect, was represented as the "many-breasted" Diana. Her aspect as huntress stems from Neolithic times when her priestesses sacrificed any invaders to their shores. In Roman myth, as Diana, she was "Queen of Heaven" and was worshipped as a triple Goddess (Lunar Virgin, Mother of Creatures, and Huntress). As the ancient Roman goddess of the moon, Diana's sanctuary could be found on the shore of Lake Nemi, Italy, in the midst of a grove. Shrines to the moon were usually found in forests and near water. A sacred flame, representing the power of the moon to fertilize, was kept burning there. In later times, when she merged with Artemis, she became a three-fold goddess: virgin (waxing moon), mother/nurturer/protector (full moon) and crone (waning moon). She protected women, children and animals and came to the aid of women and animals during birthing with healing herbs from the woods. Patroness of childbirth, nursing and healing. Mother of Animals, Lady of Wild Creatures and Goddess of wild woodlands, forests, hunting. Often depicted with a basket. Oak groves were sacred to Her. Ancient worship focused on the nature goddesses Isis-Ishtar-Inanna and called Her Queen of Heaven. By Roman times she is called Diana; yet at Ephesus in Anatolia Her worship was most profound under the names Mother of Animals, Many-Breasted Artemis. Columnar and wearing a unique ritual garment adorned with animals, her crown and staring gaze incorporate Astarte, while Her moon disc and horned beasts evoke Diana. Her temple, which was built by Amazons (undoubtedly matrilineal priestesses), was one of the wonders of the ancient world and a goal of devout pilgrimage. In AD 380 her shrine was rededicated to Mary, whose old age and death was placed at Ephesus by Church legend. Note the similarity of posture, palms bestowing blessing, with countless images of Mary.
Goddess of the wild beasts and glens, her crescent bow symbolized the moon. In this form she was venerated by the Gauls well into the 7th century CE. Diana carried forth the legacy of Greek Artemis and Diana of Ephesus. The columns of her temple were incorporated into Constantinople's Church of St. Sophia. Her priest lived in Aricia, and if a man was able to kill him with a bough broken from a tree in this forest, he would become priest himself. Torch-bearing processions were also held in her honor here. She was later given a temple in the working-class area on the Aventine Hill where she was mainly worshipped by the lower class (plebeians) and the slaves, of whom she was the patroness. Slaves could also ask for asylum in her temple. Her festival coincided with the idus (13th) of August. Diana was originally a goddess of fertility and, just as Bona Dea, she was worshipped mainly by women as the giver of fertility and easy births. Under Greek influence she was equated with Artemis and assumed many of her aspects. Her name is possibly derived from 'diviana' ("the shining one"). She is portrayed as a huntress accompanied by a deer. Diana was also the goddess of the Latin commonwealth.

Dido
The legendary founder and queen of Carthage, daughter of Belus and sister of Pygmalion. In Virgil, she entertained Aeneas, who arrived at Carthage during his wanderings, and fell in love with him. When he left her to continue his search for the new home in Italy, she killed herself on a funeral pyre. When Aeneas later encountered her shade on a trip to the underworld, she turned away from him, still refusing to forgive his desertion of her.

Dike
(justice) Daughter of Zeus and Themis, one of the Horae. Goddess of Divine Justice, She purified disputes and arbitrated controversies by application of Divine Will. Dike was born a human and put on earth to keep justice. When Zeus, her father, saw that was impossible, he brought her up to the gods and goddesses to sit on the opposite side of her mother, next to him.

Dione
A Daughter of Okeanos, at times associated as a partner with Zeus. According to certain traditions, the goddess or Titaness Dione became by Zeus the mother o

Dirce
The wife of King Lycus. To fulfill his oath to his brother Nycteus, king of Thebes, to get his daughter Antiope back, Lycus and his army marched towards Sicyon, destroyed the city and killed Antiope's husband Epopeus. Lycus put Antiope in his wife's care, but Dirce mistreated Antiope severely, using her as a slave. Antiope managed to escape and was finally reunited with her sons Amphion and Zethus, her children with Zeus. Her twins exacted a terrible vengeance upon Dirce. They tied her to the horns of a wild bull and in that fashion she was killed.

Doris
A sea-Goddess, she was the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys wife of Nereus, She had fifty daughters, called the Nereids. Amond them Amphitrite.

Dryads
In Greek mythology, the dryads are female spirits of nature (nymphs), who preside over the groves and forests. Each one is born with a certain tree over which she watches. A dryad either lives in a tree, in which case she is called a hamadryad, or close to it. The lives of the dryads are connected with that of the trees; should the tree perish, then she dies with it. If this is caused by a mortal, the gods will punish him for that deed. The dryads themselves will also punish any thoughtless mortal who would somehow injure the trees.

Dryope
A Greek nymph, loved by the god Apollo, and the mother of Amphissus. When once she was gathering flowers for her child she came upon a lotus and wanted to take it, but it turned out to be the nymph Loti who was changed into a flower. Dryope then turned into a lotus herself. She was the daughter of Eurytus. Ovid IX, 329.