View source for Brizo

{{Expert needed|Classical Greece and Rome|reason=Someone should go through the references and make sure they assert what is now written in the article|date=December 2023}}
{{Short description|Ancient Greek goddess}}
'''Brizo''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|r|aɪ|z|oʊ}} ([[Ancient Greek|Greek]]: Βριζώ) is an ancient [[Greek mythology|Greek goddess]] who was known as the protector of mariners, sailors, and fishermen.<ref name=dictclaan>{{cite web|title=Dictionary of Classical Antiquities|url=http://www.ancientlibrary.com/seyffert/0103.html|url-status=usurped|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605194132/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/seyffert/0103.html|archivedate=2011-06-05}}</ref><ref name=Harpers>{{Cite web| title = Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Brizo| accessdate = 2023-04-12| url = http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0062:entry=brizo-harpers&highlight=brizo}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite book |last1=Bruneau |first1=Philippe |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/befar_0257-4101_1970_mon_217_1 |title=Recherches sur les cultes de Délos à l’époque hellénistique et à l’époque impériale |date=1970 |publisher=De Boccard |location=Paris |page=447-448 |access-date=2025-05-06}}</ref> Brizo was also known as an oracular goddess specializing in [[oneiromancy]].<ref name=grkdivi>{{cite web|title=Greek Divination|url=http://www.ancientlibrary.com/divination/0145.html|url-status=usurped|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402101130/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/divination/0145.html|archivedate=2015-04-02}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> 

One of the epithets that was used in ancient Greece for the seers who specialized at the interpretation of dreams was brizomantis (βριζόμαντις).<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=e)nupnio/mantis Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, enypniomantis]</ref><ref name="A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Brizo">[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=brizo-bio-1 A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Brizo]</ref>

== Etymology ==
Brizo, in ancient greek Βριζώ / ''Brizṓ'', derives from the verb  βρίζω signifiant « to slumber ».<ref name=":0" />

==Worship==
According to the hellenistic author Semus of [[Delos]], Brizo was worshipped by the women of Delos, who set out food offerings in small boats. Brizo would accept anything but fish. Prayers were addressed to her to grant everything that was good, but especially to safeguard ships.<ref name=":1">Semus of Delos, [[Fragmente der griechischen Historiker]], 396 F 4 = [[Athenaeus|Athenaeus of Naucratis]], [[Deipnosophistae]], 8.335 AB.</ref> Along with the offerings, Lillian Lawler has suggested that a dance done by sailors at Delos was in honour of Brizo.<ref>{{Cite journal| doi = 10.2307/283307| issn = 0065-9711| volume = 75| pages = 20–33| last = Lawler| first = Lillian B.| title = The Dance of the Ancient Mariners| journal = Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association| date = 1944|url = https://www.jstor.org/stable/283307| jstor = 283307| url-access = subscription}}</ref> Brizo also granted oracular dreams.<ref name=":1" /> The people of Delos maybe [[Incubation (ritual)|slept in the oracular sanctuary]] (''manteion'') mentioned in a delian inscription<ref>[[Inscriptiones Graecae|IG]] XI, 2, 165, l. 44.</ref> to receive prophetic dreams from the goddess,<ref name=":0" /> or perhaps they had those dreams in their own homes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ehrenheim |first=Hedvig von |url=https://books.openedition.org/pulg/15905 |title=Greek incubation rituals in classical and hellenistic times |publisher=Presses universitaires de Liège |year=2015 |location=Liège |pages=19 |language=english}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Renberg |first=Gil H. |title=Where dreams may come : incubation sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman world |publisher=Brill |year=2017 |location=Leiden |pages=318-320 |language=english}}</ref> Given the maritime nature of Brizo's cult, it is highly likely that the Delians who experienced oracular dreams were people about to set sail and women whose husbands were lost at sea.<ref name=":2" />  

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brizo}}
[[Category:Greek sea goddesses]]
[[Category:Mythological Greek seers]]
[[Category:Oracular goddesses]]
[[Category:Greek sleep deities]]

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