TISIPHONE (punisher of murder)

Yet Tisiphone once cherished Oedipus when he was born, healing the wounds on his pierced feet.¹ She possessed the authority to prevent a person's death, a power she exercised when she forbade the death of a Theban speaker.¹⁰ Her duties extended to the boundaries of the underworld, where she guarded the entering way to the house of sin, sleepless forever on her watch.^8,7 When the gate's dog was stolen, she assumed her watch duty.⁷

She prepared her instruments of ruin by boiling a mixture of Cerberus foam and Echidna venom in a hollow brass vessel, stirring the poison with a stalk of green hemlock.⁵ Leaving her abode, she pursued her mission, driving disease and fear ahead of her as she moved through the landscape.^5,11 She threw two snakes from her hair at Ino and Athamas, inspiring direful intent in their minds, and blocked their passage to prevent their escape.⁵ Mourning, Fright, Terror, and Madness accompanied her journey as she executed her commands, returning to the empty realms of Hades only when her task was done.⁵

In the wars of Thebes, Tisiphone moved through both military camps causing chaos, inflaming brothers to fight against each other and against their father.⁹ Her presence prompted a man to leave his secret cell and implore the Furies, while also driving him to pray for his lost eyes.⁹ Tisiphone was commanded to create a new, huge, and unwonted horror for Tartarus, demonstrating her ability to conjure fierce and strange monsters.² Even when moved by the persuasive strains of an Odrysian plaint, she shed base tears yet repeated her allotted task, demanding further punishment after Tydeus's act of vengeance was completed.^2,12 She shook her locks, adding a hissing sharpness to the sound of trumpets, and raised a homed serpent from her hair to signal the underworld.^13,6

Tisiphone’s nature was one of relentless fury, as she moved through fighting lines in a state of furious anger, her pale complexion marking her presence in the battle.^14,11 She was weary of the bloodshed of two peoples, yet she continued to pursue the guilty swarm with menace and affront.^6,8 She howled over Phyllis and Demophoon during their fatal night together, present at the scene of the lovers' betrayal.¹⁵ When the Tyrian chieftain prayed, Tisiphone mingled with his frightened attendants and turned his prayers away from the celestial sire.¹⁶ Triumphant after executing commands, she could summon companions by digging her Stygian blade into the ground and muttering names.^5,6