- For the geometer moth genus, see Semiothisa''
In
Greek mythology,
Macaria was one of the
Heracleidae, children of
Heracles. She was in
Heracleidae, a play by
Euripides. She and her brothers and sisters hid from
Eursytheus in
Athens, ruled by King
Demophon. As Eurystheus prepared to attack, an
oracle told Demophon that he would win if and only if a
noble woman was sacrificed to
Persephone. Macaria volunteered for the sacrifice and a spring was named the Macarian spring in her honor.
In the 10th century CE, the Byzantine Greek work "Suda" shows another Macaria as a goddess of a blessed afterlife (which was assured to Orphic mystery initiates after death). This Macaria is the daughter of Hades, and Persephone in some traditions, though there is no mention of her before this time. She then became the divinity of bliss death but wasn't famous.