Alphito

In the region of Argos, Alphito was venerated as a goddess of barley, her name evoking both the pale hue of grain kernels and sun-bleached bones in the soil. Over time, however, this association with whiteness underwent a dark transformation. What once symbolized fertility and sustenance gradually came to represent disease, decay, and death.

Alphito's divine status eroded as she was reimagined as a hideous crone lurking in shadows, invoked by parents to frighten misbehaving children into obedience. Her descent from honored deity to folklore's nursery bogeyman marked a complete reversal of her original sacred role.