Praxidike
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- For the moon of Jupiter, see Praxidike (moon).
In Greek mythology, Praxidike is the goddess of judicial punishment, the exactor of vengeance, two closely allied concepts in the classical Greek world-view. Tripled, she formed a group known as the Praxidikai: at Haliartos in Boeotia, Pausanias saw the open-air "sanctuary of the goddesses whom they call Praxidikae. Here the Haliartians swear, but the oath is not one they take lightly" (Guide to Greece viii.15.3).
The Orphic Hymn to Persephone identifies Praxidike as an epithet of Persephone: "Praxidike, subterranean queen. The Eumenides’ source [mother], fair-haired, whose frame proceeds from Zeus’ ineffable and secret seeds."[1]
Her two daughters were Arete (a goddess personifying virtue) and Homonoia (the very spirit of concord). She had a son, Ktesios, god of the household.
She is sometimes identified with Dike, goddess of justice.