Aidonian's blog

Ananke is the Protogena of necessity, compulsion and inevitability. She emerged at the beginning of the universe when it was born along with other Gods like Khronos or Aion. While Hesiod doesn’t mention Her directly, other poets do. The earliest reference we have of her is from the 7th century BC where the poet Alkman mentions Her. She is well known in Orphic cosmology She is one of the few who was worshipped as Pausanias mentions a shrine of Her and Bia in a temple at Corinthe. Possibly the only ancient representation of the goddess, the torch-bearing, winged figure right is labelled with her name. While the Orphics envisioned Her as a serpentine being who along with Khronos, encircle the universe as They brought into being. One could see the Protogenoi, most of them anyway, as hypercosmic Gods, Gods who exists outside the universe.

She seems to have no active role in mythology except for in Orphic cosmology. Which is not so uncommon for Protogenoi.

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  (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.

Parents

Hydros and Gaia are said to be the parents of Ananke.

Offspring

Her offspring are plentiful according to the Orphics

• Khaos, Aither and Phanes by Khronos
• Khaos, Aither and Erebos by Khronos
• The Moirai

Names

She had various names:

• Ananke
• Adrasteia
• Tekmor

conclusion

Ananke is a Goddess who controls fate and is important figure as She represents necessity, cosmic order and fate. She is part of the framework that gave birth to the universe. Later She became important in philosophical and mystical traditions. She not just embodies cosmic forces like fate and inevitability, but she embodies cosmic fate. In that She is more powerfull that She can overrule the Moirai even, something that even Zeus does not dare to do and He is mentioned as the Leader of the Moirai as Zeus Moiraigates. She confronts people with the mortality and their time on this world. Through Her, one is confronted with their own mortality and there is no escaping from it. One could even assume that Ananke could even control the fates of the younger Gods.