Praxidice

In Greek mythology, Praxidice or Praxidike (Ancient Greek: Πραξιδίκη, [praksidíkɛː]) may refer to the following characters:

• Praxidice, goddess of judicial punishment and the exactor of vengeance, which were two closely allied concepts in the classical Greek world-view.
• Praxidice, according to the Orphic Hymn to Persephone, was an epithet of Persephone: "Praxidike, subterranean queen. The Eumenides' source [mother], fair-haired, whose frame proceeds from Zeus' ineffable and secret seeds." As praxis "practice, application" of dike "justice", she is sometimes identified with Dike, goddess of justice.
• Praxidice, according to Stephanus of Byzantium, a daughter of Ogygus named Praxidike, married to Tremiles (after whom Lycia had been previously named Tremile) and had by him four sons: Tlos, Xanthus, Pinarus and Cragus. In one account, all sons were mentioned except Xanthus to be the progeny of Praxidice and Tremilus. Of them, Tlos had a Lycian city named Tlos after himself. Cragus may be identical with the figure of the same name mentioned as the husband of Milye, sister of Solymus.

The plural Praxidicae (Ancient Greek: Πραξιδίκαι, Praxidikai) refers to the following groups of mythological figures who presided over exacting of justice:

• Arete and Homonoia, daughters of Praxidice and Soter, sisters to Ktesios.
• Alalcomenia, Thelxionoea and Aulis, daughters of the early Boeotian king Ogyges. At Haliartos in Boeotia, Pausanias saw the open-air "sanctuary of the goddesses whom they call Praxidikae. Here the Haliartians swear, but the oath is not one they take lightly". Their images only portrayed their heads, and only heads of animals were sacrificed to them.