Megaera
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- There is also a figure named Megara (mythology).
Megaera (Ancient Greek: Μέγαιρα, English translation: "the jealous one") is one of the Erinyes in Greek mythology. She is the cause of jealousy and envy, and punishes people who commit crimes, especially marital infidelity. Like her sisters Alecto and Tisiphone, she was born of the blood of Uranus when Cronus castrated him. In modern French (mégère) and Portuguese (megera), derivatives of this name are used to designate a jealous or spiteful woman. The Italian word megera indicates an evil and/or ugly woman.
[edit] References in popular culture
- In David Weber's novel Path of the Fury, Megaera is the name of a sentient AI and the ship that she occupies.
- Megaera is the name of the gorgon in the 1964 film The Gorgon, although this seems a misunderstanding of her role in Greek mythology.
- In Golden Sun: The Lost Age, Megaera is a summoned spirit.
- "Megaera" is a song by the British rock band Return of the Furies
- In Thomas Pynchon's "Against the Day", the historical HMS Megaera is described as "...a frigate which had been wrecked on Amsterdam Island nearly thirty years before." (107)
