Auxo: Greek Goddess of Summer Growth

The Story of Auxo

Auxo was the goddess of summer growth and one of the Horae, the goddesses of the seasons. She was a daughter of Zeus and Themis. Her name means increase or growth.

Auxo watched over plants through the warm months, helping crops swell toward ripeness between the blossoms of spring and the harvest of autumn. She has no myths of her own, since her gift was the quiet work of growing. The traveler Pausanias wrote that the Athenians honored her as one of the Graces, together with Hegemone.

Young Athenian men named Auxo among the divine witnesses when they swore their oath of service as citizens. For the Greeks she stood for the patient, steady increase on which every harvest depended. She was one of many gods who kept the farming year turning in good order.