Ananke is the Greek goddess of Necessity and Compulsion, and yet she is a goddess who is often overlooked.
The primary reason for a lack of recognition for Ananke comes about as she appears primarily in the Orphic tradition of the genealogy of the gods, whilst today, most people’s knowledge of the timeline of the gods comes from Hesiod, and his work the Theogony.
Despite this lack of recognition, Ananke is still placed as a Protogenoi in the Greek pantheon meaning that she is one of the primordial deities of Ancient Greece.
ANANKE AND CHRONOS
According to the Orphic tradition at the start of the cosmos was Hydros (water), from which the muddy form of Gaia (earth) formed, and Thesis (Creation); and from these gods were then born all other Greek deities. Ananke was born subsequently to a union of Hydros and Gaia.
Ananke would then partner with another child of Hydros and Gaia, Chronos (Time), and Plato would suggest that Ananke was the mother of the Fates (the Moirai) from this union with Chronos. This is in keeping with the belief that Ananke was the goddess that directed the fate of all gods and mortals.
Additionally, Ananke was also said in some ancient sources to be mother to Chaos, Aether (Air), Phanes (Procreation), and Erebus (Darkness), although of course the Hesiod tradition has different ordering and parentage for these Greek gods and goddesses.
ANANKE IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY
Whilst often thought of in terms of a stern woman, Ananke is also often depicted in serpent form, and it was said that the serpentine coils of Ananke and Chronos crushed the egg of creation to bring order to the cosmos and then encircled the universe, directing the passage of the heavens and the forward motion of time.
With most surviving ancient sources following the Hesiod genealogy of the gods it is perhaps not surprising that Ananke is rarely mentioned in surviving sources, although her name is used occasionally in Prometheus Bound (Aeschylus) and the Argonautica (Apollonius Rhodius). The Greek traveller and writer Pausanias would also state that in Corinth there was a temple dedicated to Ananke and Bia.
