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{{Short description|Ancient Greek goddess of necessity}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File:Ananke by Platone.jpg|thumb|Ananke as represented by a modern illustration of [[Plato]]'s ''[[The Republic (Plato)|Republic]]''.]]
{{Ancient Greek religion}}
{{Greek deities (primordial)}}
{{Greek deities (personifications)}}

In [[ancient Greek religion]], '''Ananke''' ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˈ|n|æ|ŋ|k|iː}}; {{langx|grc|Ἀνάγκη}}), from the common noun {{lang|grc|[[wiktionary:ἀνάγκη|ἀνάγκη]]}} ("force, constraint, necessity"), is the [[Orphism (religion)|Orphic]] [[personification]] of inevitability, compulsion, and [[metaphysical necessity|necessity]]. She is customarily depicted as holding a [[Spindle (textiles)|spindle]]. One of the [[Greek primordial deities]], the births of Ananke and her brother and consort, [[Chronos]] (the [[personification of Time|personification of time]], not to be confused with the [[Titans|Titan]] [[Cronus]]), were thought to mark the division between the eon of [[Chaos (cosmogony)|Chaos]] and the beginning of the [[cosmos]]. Ananke is considered the most powerful dictator of fate and circumstance. Mortals and gods alike respected her power and paid her homage. She is also considered the mother of [[Moirai|the Fates]], hence she is thought to be the only being to overrule their decisions<ref name="Abril">{{cite book |editor=Abril Cultural |title=Dicionário de Mitologia Greco-Romana |year=1973 |publisher=Editora Victor Civita |pages=134 |language=pt |oclc=45781956 }}</ref> (according to some sources, excepting [[Zeus]] also). According to Daniel Schowalter and Steven Friesen, she and the Fates "are all sufficiently tied to early Greek mythology to make their Greek origins likely."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schowalter |first1=Daniel N. |last2=Friesen |first2=Steven J. |title=Urban Religion in Roman Corinth: Interdisciplinary Approaches Issue 53 of Harvard theological studies |date=2005 |publisher=Harvard Theological Studies, Harvard Divinity School |isbn=9780674016606 |page=147 |url=https://vdocuments.site/urban-religion-in-roman-corinth-interdisciplinary-approaches-harvard-theological.html}}</ref>

The ancient Greek traveller [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] wrote of a temple in ancient [[Corinth]] where the goddesses Ananke and [[Bia (mythology)|Bia]] (meaning force, violence or violent haste) were worshiped together in the same shrine. Ananke is also frequently identified or associated with [[Aphrodite]], especially [[Aphrodite Urania]], the representation of abstract celestial love; the two were considered to be related, as relatively un[[anthropomorphise]]d powers that dictated the course of life.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Papaioannou |first1=Sophia |last2=Serafim |first2=Andreas |last3=Demetriou |first3=Kyriakos |title=Rhetoric and Religion in Ancient Greece and Rome |date=25 October 2021 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |isbn=978-3-11-069970-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-LBIEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT133 |access-date=10 April 2024 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Ivanov|first1=Vi͡acheslav Ivanovich|last2=Bird|first2=Robert|last3=Wachtel|first3=Michael|title=Selected Essays|date=2001|publisher=Northwestern University Press|isbn=9780810115224|page=154|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FJ3YyoZFBZ8C&pg=PA154}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Portmann|first1=Adolf|last2=Ritsema|first2=Rudolf|title=Avenir Et Devenir Des Normes|date=Jan 1, 1977|publisher=Brill Archive|isbn=9789004048805|page=100|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y8kUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA100}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Stroud|first1=Ronald|title=The Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore: The Inscriptions XVIII.6|date=Sep 30, 2013|publisher=American School of Classical Studies at Athens|isbn=9781621390138|page=84|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pxdDBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA84}}</ref> Her Roman counterpart is '''Necessitas''' ("necessity").<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|entry=Ananke|title=Brill's New Pauly|last=Dräger|first=Paul|year=2006|doi=10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e119980}}</ref>

== Etymology ==
"Ananke" is derived from the common [[Ancient Greek]] noun {{lang|grc|[[wikt:ἀνάγκη|ἀνάγκη]]}} ([[Ionic Greek|Ionic]]: {{lang|grc|ἀναγκαίη}} {{lang|grc-Latn|anankaiē}}), meaning "force, constraint or necessity." The common noun itself is of uncertain [[etymology]].<ref>[[Robert S. P. Beekes|Beekes, R. S. P.]] (2009). ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', p.&nbsp;97. Brill.</ref> [[Homer]] refers to her being as necessity, often abstracted in modern translation ({{lang|grc|ἀναγκαίη πολεμίζειν}}, "it is necessary to fight") or force ({{lang|grc|ἐξ ἀνάγκης}}, "by force").<ref>''[[Iliad]]'' 4.300, ''[[Odyssey]]'' 4.557: [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dα%29na%2Fgkh Lidell, Scott: ''A Greek English Lexicon'': ἀνάγκη]</ref> In [[Ancient Greek literature]] the word is also used meaning "fate" or "[[destiny]]" ({{lang|grc|ἀνάγκη δαιμόνων}}, "fate by the [[Daimon|daemons]] or by the gods"), and by extension "compulsion or torture by a superior."<ref>E.Ph.1000, [[Xenophon]], ''[[Hiero (Xenophon)|Hiero]]'' 9.4</ref> She appears often in poetry, as [[Simonides]] does: "Even the gods don't fight against ''ananke''".<ref name="Bowra61">[[Simonides]] Fr. 4.20 Diehl: [[Maurice Bowra|C. M. Bowra]] (1958), ''The Greek Experience''. W. P. Publishing company, Cleveland and New York, p. 61</ref>

The pre-modern is carried over and translated (by reduction) into a more modern philosophical sense as "necessity", "logical necessity",<ref>[[Aristotle]], ''[[Metaphysics (Aristotle)|Metaph.]]''1026.b28, 1064.b33: [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dα%29na%2Fgkh Lidell, Scott: ''A Greek English Lexicon'': ἀνάγκη]</ref> or "laws of nature".<ref>[[Xenophon]], ''[[Memorabilia (Xenophon)|Memorabilia]]'' 1.11.1: [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dα%29na%2Fgkh Lidell, Scott: ''A Greek English Lexicon'': ἀνάγκη]</ref>

== Mythology ==
In [[Orphism (religion)|Orphic]] mythology, Ananke is a self-formed being who emerged at the dawn of creation with an [[incorporeal]], serpentine form, her outstretched arms encompassing the cosmos. Ananke and [[Chronos]] are mates, mingling together in serpent form as a tie around the universe. Together, they have crushed the primal egg of creation of which constituent parts became earth, heaven and sea to form the ordered universe.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KkKGLhuhVfAC&pg=PA50|title=The Uroboric Serpent: Water and Being and the Mythos Unthought in Metaphysics|date=2008|isbn=9780549685210}}</ref> Ananke is the mother (or another identity) of [[Adrasteia]], the distributor of rewards and punishments.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k4-EAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA220|title=Religion and Psychology: Mapping the Terrain|last2=Parsons, Jr.|first2=William B.|last3=Gómez|first3=Luis O.|date=2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134625352|page=220|last1=Jonte-Pace|first1=Diane}}</ref>

In the ''[[Orphic Hymns]]'', Aphrodite Urania is described as the mother of Ananke and ruler of the three Moirai:
{{blockquote|
Ourania, illustrious, laughter-loving queen, sea-born, night-loving, of an awful mien;
<br />Crafty, from whom Ananke first came, producing, nightly, all-connecting dame: 
<br />'Tis thine the world with harmony to join, for all things spring from thee, O pow'r divine.
<br />The triple Moirai are rul'd by thy decree, and all productions yield alike to thee
|Orphic hymn LIV.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mierzwicki |first1=Tony |title=Hellenismos: Practicing Greek Polytheism Today |date=2018 |publisher=Llewellyn Worldwide |isbn=9780738743752 |page=93 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-_lmDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT93}}</ref>}}

=== Mother of the Moirai ===
The Greek philosopher [[Plato]] in his ''[[Republic (Plato)|Republic]]'' discussed the parentage of the Moirai or the Fates in the following lines:<ref>Plato, ''Republic'' 617c (trans. Shorey) (Greek philosopher C4th B.C.):</ref><blockquote>And there were another three who sat round about at equal intervals, each one on her throne, the Moirai (Moirae, Fates), daughters of Ananke, clad in white vestments with filleted heads, Lakhesis ([[Lachesis]]), and Klotho ([[Clotho]]), and [[Atropos]] (Atropus), who sang in unison with the music of the [[Siren (mythology)|Seirenes]], Lakhesis singing the things that were, Klotho the things that are, and Atropos the things that are to be . . . Lakhesis, the maiden daughter of Ananke (Necessity).</blockquote>
[[File:Ananka i Mojre.JPG|thumb|Ananke the personification of Necessity, above the [[Moirai]], the Fates.]]

[[Aeschylus]], the famous tragedian, gave an account in his ''[[Prometheus Bound]]'' where the Moirai were called the helmsman of the goddess Ananke along with the three [[Erinyes]]:<ref>Aeschylus, ''Prometheus Bound'' 510 ff</ref><blockquote>Prometheus: Not in this way is Moira (Fate), who brings all to fulfillment, destined to complete this course. Only when I have been bent by pangs and tortures infinite am I to escape my bondage. Skill is weaker by far than Ananke (Necessity).<br />Chorus: Who then is the helmsman of Ananke (Necessity)?<br />Prometheus: The three-shaped (trimorphoi) Moirai (Moirae, Fates) and mindful (mnêmones) Erinyes (Furies).<br />Chorus: Can it be that Zeus has less power than they do?<br />Prometheus: Yes, in that even he cannot escape what is foretold.<br />Chorus: Why, what is fated for Zeus except to hold eternal sway?<br />Prometheus: This you must not learn yet; do not be over-eager.<br />Chorus: It is some solemn secret, surely, that you enshroud in mystery.</blockquote>Here Prometheus speaks of a secret prophecy, rendered ineluctable by Ananke, that any son born of Zeus and Thetis would depose the god. (In fact, any son of [[Thetis]] was destined to be greater than his father.)

== In philosophical thought ==
In the ''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]'', Plato has the character Timaeus (not Socrates) argue that in the creation of the universe, there is a uniting of opposing elements, intellect ('nous') and necessity ('ananke'). Elsewhere, Plato blends [[abstraction]] with his own [[myth]] making: "For this ordered world ([[cosmos]]) is of a mixed birth: it is the offspring of a union of Necessity and [[Intellect]]. Intellect prevailing over Necessity by persuading (from Peitho, goddess of persuasion) it to direct most of the things that come to be toward what is best, and the result of this [[subjugation]] of Necessity to wise persuasion is the initial formation of the universe".<ref>48a, trans. John M. Cooper</ref> In [[Victor Hugo]]'s novel ''[[The Hunchback of Notre-Dame|Notre-Dame of Paris]]'', the word "Ananke" is written upon a wall of Notre-Dame by the hand of Dom [[Claude Frollo]]. In his ''[[Toute la Lyre]]'', Hugo also mentions Ananke as a symbol of love. In 1866, he wrote:

{{Blockquote|Religion, society, nature; these are the three struggles of man. These three conflicts are, at the same time, his three needs: it is necessary for him to believe, hence the temple; it is necessary for him to create, hence the city; it is necessary for him to live, hence the plow and the ship. But these three solutions contain three conflicts. The mysterious difficulty of life springs from all three. Man has to deal with obstacles under the form of superstition, under the form of prejudice, and under the form of the elements. A triple "ananke" (necessity) weighs upon us, the "ananke" of dogmas, the "ananke" of laws, and the "ananke" of things. In ''Notre-Dame de Paris'' the author has denounced the first; in ''[[Les Misérables]]'' he has pointed out the second; in this book (''[[Toilers of the Sea]]'') he indicates the third. With these three fatalities which envelop man is mingled the interior fatality, that supreme ''ananke'', the human heart.
Hauteville House, March, 1866. Victor Hugo, ''Toilers of the Sea'', 1866, p. 5<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/worksofvictorhug08hugoiala#page/n11/mode/2up Victor Hugo, ''Toilers of the Sea''], 1866, p. 5</ref>|author=Victor Hugo|title=|source=}}

[[Sigmund Freud]] in ''[[Civilization and Its Discontents]]'' (p.&nbsp;140) said: "We can only be satisfied, therefore, if we assert that the process of civilization is a modification which the vital process experiences under the influence of a task that is set it by [[Eros]] and instigated by Ananke&nbsp;— by the exigencies of [[reality]]; and that this task is one of uniting separate individuals into a community bound together by libidinal ties."

[[Wallace Stevens]], in a poem of the 1930s, writes: "The sense of the serpent in you, Ananke, / And your averted stride / Add nothing to the horror of the frost / That glistens on your face and hair."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Stevens|first1=Wallace|title=Collected Poems|date=1990|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|isbn=9780679726692|page=152}}</ref> This connects with Stevens's sense of necessity or fate in his later work, especially in the collection ''The Auroras of Autumn''.

Robert Bird's essay "Ancient Terror",<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bird|first1=Robert|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LzxhCR0S3fIC&pg=PA154|title=The Russian Prospero: The Creative Universe of Viacheslav Ivanov|date=2007|publisher=Univ of Wisconsin Press|isbn=9780299218331|page=154}}</ref> inspired by [[Léon Bakst]]'s painting ''Terror Antiquus'', speculates on the evolution of Greek religion, tracing it to an original belief in a single, supreme goddess. [[Vyacheslav Ivanov (poet)|Vyacheslav Ivanov]] suggests that the ancients viewed all that is human and all that is revered as divine as relative and transient: "Only [[Moirai|Fate]] (Eimarmene), or universal necessity (Ananke), the inevitable '[[Adrasteia]],' the faceless countenance and hollow sound of unknown Destiny, was absolute." Before the goddess, who is both indestructible Force of Love and absolute Fate the Destroyer, Life-Giver and Fate-Death, as well as incorporating [[Mnemosyne]] (Memory) and [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]] (Mother Earth), masculine daring and warring are impotent and transient, and the masculine order imposed by [[Zeus]] and the other Olympian Gods is artificial.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ivanov|first1=Vi͡acheslav Ivanovich|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FJ3YyoZFBZ8C&pg=PA154|title=Selected Essays|last2=Bird|first2=Robert|last3=Wachtel|first3=Michael|date=2001|publisher=Northwestern University Press|isbn=9780810115224|pages=153–159}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.allwords.com/word-ananke.html Multi-lingual Dictionary]

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{{Greek mythology (deities)}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ananke (Mythology)}}
[[Category:Destiny]]
[[Category:Greek goddesses]]
[[Category:Personifications in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Time and fate goddesses]]
[[Category:Greek primordial deities]]
[[Category:Snake goddesses]]
[[Category:Personifications]]