Irlandos at 09:51, October 9, 2006

2006-10-09T09:51:10Z

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'''Nemesis''' (Νέμεσις, also called '''Rhamnousia''', the "goddess of [[Rhamnous]]", at her sanctuary at Rhamnous, north of [[Marathon]]), in [[Greek mythology]], is the spirit of divine retribution against those who succumb to [[hubris]], vengeful fate personified as a remorseless goddess. The name ''Nemesis'' is related to the [[Greek language|Greek]] word ''νείμειν'', meaning "to give what is due". The Romans equated one aspect of Greek Nemesis, which might be translated "indignation at ''unmerited'' advantage", as ''Invidia'' ([http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2003/2003-12-28.html Aronoff 2003)].

==Background==
Such harsh divine justice is a major theme in the Hellenic world view, providing the unifying theme of the tragedies of [[Sophocles]] and many other literary works. In some metaphysical mythology, Nemesis produced the egg from which hatched two sets of twins: [[Helen]] of [[Troy]] and [[Clytemnestra]], and the [[Dioscuri]], [[Castor_and_Pollux|Castor]] (Kástor) and [[Castor_and_Pollux|Polydeukes]] (Polydeúkes).

The Only sense in which ''nemesis'' is used in [[Homer]] is as an abstract personification. [[Hesiod]] states: "Also deadly [[Nyx]] bore Nemesis to afflict mortal men." (''[[Theogony]]'', 223, though perhaps an interpolated line). Nemesis appears in a still more concrete form in a fragment of the epic ''[[Cypria]]''.

She is the executrix of justice — that of [[Zeus]] in the [[Mount Olympus|Olympian]] scheme of things, but it was clear she had preexisted him, for her images associate her with several goddesses who are manifestations of the former Great Goddess: Cybele-Rhea, Demeter and Artemis.

Nemesis, as the just balancer of [[Fortune]]'s chance, could be associated with [[Tyche]]. The word ''Nemesis'' originally meant the distributor of fortune, neither good nor bad, simply in due proportion to each according to his deserts; then, ''nemesis'' came to suggest the resentment caused by any disturbance of this right proportion, the sense of justice which could not allow it to pass unpunished. O. Gruppe (1906) and others prefer to connect the name with "to feel just resentment".

In the [[Greek tragedies]] Nemesis appears chiefly as the avenger of crime and the punisher of [[hubris]], and as such is akin to [[Ate]] and the [[Erinyes]]. She was sometimes called [[Adrasteia]], probably meaning "one from whom there is no escape"; her epithet ''Erinys'' ("implacable") is specially applied to Demeter and the Phrygian mother goddess, [[Cybele]].

As the "Goddess of Rhamnous", Nemesis was honoured and placated in an archaic sanctuary in the isolated district of [[Rhamnous]] in northeastern [[Attica]]. There she was a daughter of [[Oceanus]], the primeval river-ocean that encircles the world. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] noted her iconic statue there with a crown of stags and little [[Nike]]s, made by [[Pheidias]] after the [[Battle of Marathon]] ([[490 BC]]) using a block of [[Paros|Parian]] marble that the over-confident Persians had brought with them, to make a memorial stele after their expected victory.

A festival called [[Nemeseia]] (by some identified with the [[Genesia]]) was held at [[Athens]]. Its object was to avert the nemesis of the dead, who were supposed to have the power of punishing the living, if their cult had been in any way neglected ([[Sophocles]], ''[[Electra]],'' 792; [[E. Rohde]], ''Psyche,'' 1907, i. 236, note I).

At [[Smyrna]] there were two manifestations of Nemesis, more akin to [[Aphrodite]] than to Artemis. The reason for this duality is hard to explain, but may have to do with the same reasons why the virginal [[Artemis]] was worshipped more like a fertility goddess at her [[Temple of Artemis|temple]] at [[Ephesus]]; it is suggested that they represent two aspects of the goddess, the kindly and the implacable, or the goddesses of the old city and the new city refounded by Alexander. The martyrology ''Acts of Pionius'', set in the [[Decius|"Decian presecution"]] of AD 250–51, mentions a lapsed Smyrnan Christian who was attending to the sacrifices at the altar of the temple of these Nemeses.

Nemesis has been described as the daughter of [[Oceanus]] or [[Zeus]], but according to [[Hesiod]] she was a child of [[Erebus]] and [[Nyx]]. She has also been described as the daughter of Nyx alone. Her cult may have originated at [[Smyrna]].

In early times the representations of Nemesis resembled Aphrodite, who herself sometimes bears the epithet Nemesis. Later, as the maiden goddess of proportion and the avenger of crime, she has as attributes a measuring rod, a bridle, scales, a sword and a scourge, and rides in a chariot drawn by griffins.

==External links==

*[http://thanasis.com/modern/nemesis.htm Myth Man's Nemesis page]
*[http://www.logosjournal.net/papers/burns_2002.html Joshua Burns, "Perception and persecution in the Roman Empire: The Edict of Decius"], discusses the ''Acts of Pionius''
*Peter Aronoff, 2003. [http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2003/2003-12-28.html Review of David Konstan and Keith Rutter, ''Envy, Spite and Jealousy: The Rivalrous Emotions in Ancient Greece.''] (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press 2003; ISBN 0-7486-1603-9 ) in particular the chapter "Invidia, nemesis, phthonos and the Roman emotional economy"
*[http://www.theoi.com/Daimon/Nemesis.html Theoi.com: Nemesis] Anthology of quotes from Classical sources

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[[Category:Greek goddesses]]

Nemesis - Revision history

Irlandos at 09:51, October 9, 2006