Editing Momus (section)

==Political satire==
In [[Lucian]]'s 2nd-century social comedy ''[[The Gods in Council]]'', Momus takes a leading role in a discussion on how to purge Olympus of foreign gods and barbarian demi-gods who are lowering its heavenly tone.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/luc/wl4/wl430.htm|title=Works of Lucian, Vol. IV: The Gods in Council|website=www.sacred-texts.com|access-date=August 31, 2019}}</ref>

Renaissance author [[Leon Battista Alberti]] wrote the political work ''Momus, or The Prince'' (1446), which continued the god's story after his exile to earth. Since his continued criticism of the gods was destabilizing the divine establishment, Jupiter bound him to a rock and had him [[Castration|castrated]]. Later, however, missing his candor, Jupiter sought out a manuscript that Momus had left behind in which was described how a land could be ruled with strictly regulated justice.<ref>David Cast, "Marten van Heemskerck's 'Momus criticizing the work of the gods': a problem of Erasmian iconography. ''Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art'', Volume 7.1 (1974), [https://books.google.com/books?id=88_3CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA28 pp.25]</ref>

At the start of the 16th century, [[Erasmus]] also presented Momus as a champion of the legitimate criticism of authorities. Allowing that the god was "not quite as popular as others, because few people freely admit criticism, yet I dare say of the whole crowd of gods celebrated by the poets, none was more useful."<ref>Margaret Mann Phillips, ''The Adages of Erasmus: A Study with Translations'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=EDg9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA34 pp.34-5]</ref> [[Giordano Bruno]]'s philosophical treatise ''The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast'' (1584)<ref>{{cite book |title=Spaccio della bestia trionfante. Or the Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast |translator=William Morehead |location=London |year=1713 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ggJeAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP7|last1=Bruno |first1=Giordano }}</ref> also looks back to Lucian's example. Momus there plays an integral part in the series of dialogues conducted by the Olympian deities and Bruno's narrators as Jupiter seeks to purge the universe of evil.<ref>{{cite book |author=Richard Henry Popkin |title=The Columbia History of Western Philosophy |publisher=Columbia University |year=2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TE021UmMiAsC&pg=PA321 |pages=320–321|isbn=9780231500340 }}</ref>