Women, Weird and Wonderful: Peitho, Persuasive Wife of Hermes

As a young man in love in ancient Greece, you’d better have the goddess Peitho on your side. She was the goddess of persuasion and she would be vital to win the heart of your beloved (and the approval of her dad.) Peitho famously intervened for the Phenician prince Kadmos, when he had his eyes set on Aphrodite’s daughter Harmonia. And notoriously for Paris, when he plotted to take beautiful Helen to Troy. Throughout the marriage, you’d call in Peitho too, to resolve conflicts without quarrelling. On a state level, she was deemed essential for the functioning of a democracy. Obviously, she also played a major role in the justice system. It was Peitho who assisted Athena to get Orestes acquitted after he unalived his mother. Her parentage is uncertain, but she was a confidant of Aphrodite, maybe as one of the three Graces. According to some, she would have been the wife of Hermes, which makes sense. The smartest, wittiest and slyest god, paired with the most articulate and convincing goddess. This could have been a match made in heaven.

Eros and Peitho, fresco (Pompeï), National Archaeological Museum Napels, Italy

Peitho atop a Wall, relief, National Archaeological Museum Napels, Italy