Greek goddess of harmony and concord
Harmonia
Harmonia is, in Greek mythology, the goddess of harmony and concord and the wife of the Theban hero Cadmus. She matters chiefly for her family story and for the famous necklace that brought misfortune to those who wore it.
The myth
According to the most widespread tradition, Harmonia was the daughter of Aphrodite and Ares. Other accounts have her born on Samothrace to Zeus and the Pleiad Electra, making her the sister of Dardanus and Iasion, who founded the island's mystic rites.
In nearly all versions she marries Cadmus, founder of Thebes, after he slew a dragon sacred to Ares and served the god for eight years. All the gods attended the wedding, and the couple received gifts, most notably a peplos and a necklace wrought by Hephaestus. With Cadmus she bore Ino, Polydorus, Autonoe, Agave, Semele and, in some accounts, Illyrius. Through Semele she became the grandmother of Dionysus.
The necklace, called the Necklace of Harmonia or of Eriphyle, brought misfortune above all to the queens and princesses of Thebes. It passed from hand to hand until Alcmaeon gave it to his wife Alphesiboea, and Alcmaeon was later killed by the sons of Phegeus. It was finally dedicated in the temple of Athena at Delphi, from where the Phocian general Phayllus later stole it. Hyginus, for his part, speaks of a peplos 'dipped in crime' as the source of the curse.
In the end, Cadmus was expelled from Thebes and the couple ended up in Illyria, where he was transformed into a serpent. Harmonia asked to share his fate, and the gods transformed them both.
Worship and religion
Harmonia was closely associated with Aphrodite Pandemos, an aspect of the goddess that personified order and civic unity. A less common tradition also links her to the gods of Samothrace and their mystery rites. The sources record no independent, lasting cult devoted to her.
Legacy
Her name gave rise to the word harmony and to the abstract ideas of concord and balance. In Roman mythology her equivalent is Concordia. The cursed necklace is one of the most repeated motifs in Greek mythology, and the story of Cadmus and Harmonia has been retold many times.
Ancient sources: Already celebrated in epic poetry as the wife of Cadmus; the tale of the peplos and the necklace is preserved by Hyginus, a Latin author.
In art
Literature and theatre
- Dionysiaca · Nonnus of Panopolis, 0500