Ananke
Necessity, Compulsion, Inevitability
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Protogenoi
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Greek Name | Transliteration | Roman Name | Translation |
Αναγκη | Anankê | Necessitas | Necessity (anankê) |
ANANKE was the primordial goddess (protogenos) of necessity, compulsion, and inevitability. In the Orphic cosmogony she emerged self-formed at the dawn of creation--an incorporeal, serpentine being whose outstretched arms encompassed the breadth of the cosmos. Ananke and her mate Khronos (Chronos) (Time), their serpentine coils entwined, crushed the primal egg of creation splitting it into its constituent parts of earth, heaven and sea to form the ordered universe. After their act of creation Ananke and Khronos encircled the cosmos to drive the rotation of the heavens and the eternal passage of time. They were beyond the reach of the younger gods whose fates they were sometimes said to control.
Possibly the only ancient representation of the goddess, the torch-bearing, winged figure (below) is labelled with her name.