Also called Erinnyes, the Furies were not quite women, not quite Gorgons and were often pictured with or said to have snakes in their hair like Gorgons/Medusa. They're usually said to have fiery eyes, dogs' heads with snakes for hair or in their hair.
Tisiphone: the Avenger
Megara: the Jealous
Alecto: the Unresting
Tisiphone punished people for their crimes of patricide, fratricide and homicide. Her name is often said to mean "voice of revenge" or "vengeance." In some tales, snakes from Tisiphone's head bit and killed people. Megara's name means "evious anger," and she punished people for their crimes of infidelity. Alecto's name means "unceasing anger," and she punished people for their moral crimes, especially when these harmed or were premeditated against other people.
There doesn't seem to be a specific supernatural power attributed to these three entities but if the snakes from their hair didn't bite people/sinners and kill them, it is said that the Furies pursued people without mercy until they went completely mad. They weren't necessarily killers, and their duty/purpose was to relentlessly punish, not kill - although a snake from Tisiphone's hair did fatally strike Cithaeron in some stories. A more notable version from Plutarch (46-119 A.C.E.) asserts that when Cithaeron, a beautiful male youth, didn't respond quickly to Tisiphone's romantic interest in him, she was hasty and reached up into her hair, grasped a snake and threw it at him in anger. Cithaeron was tending sheep near the top of mount Asterion, and was caught totally off guard. The snake wrapped around his neck, choking him to death. Apparently the Gods had favoured Cithaeron, so they re-named the mountain where he expired as mount Cithaeron.
Of course, this explanation is for the Greek mythological personas of the Erinnyes/Furies, but there are comic book heroes and manga characters called the Furies, too.
Tisiphone: the Avenger
Megara: the Jealous
Alecto: the Unresting
Tisiphone punished people for their crimes of patricide, fratricide and homicide. Her name is often said to mean "voice of revenge" or "vengeance." In some tales, snakes from Tisiphone's head bit and killed people. Megara's name means "evious anger," and she punished people for their crimes of infidelity. Alecto's name means "unceasing anger," and she punished people for their moral crimes, especially when these harmed or were premeditated against other people.
There doesn't seem to be a specific supernatural power attributed to these three entities but if the snakes from their hair didn't bite people/sinners and kill them, it is said that the Furies pursued people without mercy until they went completely mad. They weren't necessarily killers, and their duty/purpose was to relentlessly punish, not kill - although a snake from Tisiphone's hair did fatally strike Cithaeron in some stories. A more notable version from Plutarch (46-119 A.C.E.) asserts that when Cithaeron, a beautiful male youth, didn't respond quickly to Tisiphone's romantic interest in him, she was hasty and reached up into her hair, grasped a snake and threw it at him in anger. Cithaeron was tending sheep near the top of mount Asterion, and was caught totally off guard. The snake wrapped around his neck, choking him to death. Apparently the Gods had favoured Cithaeron, so they re-named the mountain where he expired as mount Cithaeron.
Of course, this explanation is for the Greek mythological personas of the Erinnyes/Furies, but there are comic book heroes and manga characters called the Furies, too.
