Megaera is one of the three named Erinyes (Furies) of classical mythology — with Alecto and Tisiphone — associated with jealous vengeance and the punishment of blood-guilt. Parentage traditions vary (Nyx and Acheron; or birth from the blood of castrated Uranus on Gaia). Not to be confused with Megara, the Theban wife of Heracles.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Megaera" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.One of the three Furies
Received opinion names three Erinyes: Tisiphone, Megaera, and Alecto. Some handbooks call Megaera daughter of Nyx and Acheron; Hesiodic and Apollodorean tradition instead grows the Furies (with the Meliae) from the bloody drops of Uranus when Cronus castrated him, falling upon Gaia. Hyginus lists Megaera among the offspring of Aether and Terra.
Individually she personifies jealous spite within the collective pursuit of kin-slayers and oath-breakers. In several modern European languages her name became a common noun for a jealous or spiteful woman. Minor planet 464 Megaira is named for her.
II.Homonym
Megaera the Fury (id megaera-erinyes) is distinct from Megara, daughter of Creon and first wife of Heracles — a frequent modern confusion of similar names.