Editing Nemesis

{{Short description|Goddess of retribution in Greek mythology}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| deity_of = Goddess of retribution
| image = File:Nemesis of Rhamnous Type (Farnese Collection) 1.jpg
| alt = 
| other_names = [[Rhamnousia]]
| symbol = [[Sword]], [[Whip|lash]], [[dagger]], [[measuring rod]], [[Weighing scale|scale]]s, [[bridle]]
| height = 
| age = 
| tree = 
| day = 
| color = 
| number = 
| parents = [[Nyx]] and [[Erebus]]<br/>or [[Oceanus]]<br/>or [[Zeus]]
| offspring = [[Helen of Troy]]
| predecessor = 
| successor = 
| army = 
| mount = 
| texts = 
| Roman_equivalent = 
| Etruscan_equivalent = 
| region = 
| ethnic_group = 
| festivals = Nemeseia
| hinduism_equivalent = 
| animals = [[goose]]
| caption = Farnese Nemesis, [[National Archaeological Museum of Naples]]
}}

In [[ancient Greek religion]] and [[Greek mythology|myth]], '''Nemesis''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|n|ɛ|m|ə|s|ɪ|s|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-Nemesis.wav}}; {{langx|grc|Νέμεσις|Némesis}}) also called '''Rhamnousia''' (or '''Rhamnusia'''; {{langx|grc|Ῥαμνουσία|Rhamnousía|the [[goddess]] of [[Rhamnous]]}}<ref>[http://www.poesialatina.it/_ns/greek/testi/Suda/Lexicon.html Suda, rho, 33]</ref>), was the goddess who personified [[divine retribution|retribution]] for the sin of [[hubris]]: arrogance before the gods.

==Etymology==
The name ''Nemesis'' is derived from the [[Greek language|Greek]] word {{lang|grc|νέμειν}}, ''némein'', meaning "to give what is due",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=nemesis|title=Nemesis&nbsp;– Origin and history of nemesis by Online Etymology Dictionary|website=www.etymonline.com}}</ref> from [[Proto-Indo-European]] *''nem-'' "distribute".<ref>[[Robert S. P. Beekes|R. S. P. Beekes]], ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, pp. 1005–06.</ref>

== Family ==
According to [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Theogony]]'', Nemesis was one of the children of [[Nyx]] alone.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:207-239 223].</ref> Nemesis has been described as the daughter of [[Oceanus]], [[Erebus]], or [[Zeus]],{{cn|date=December 2024}} but according to [[De astronomia|Hyginus]] she was a child of [[Erebus]] and [[Nyx]]. Some made her the daughter of Zeus by an unnamed mother.<ref name=":stas" /> In several traditions, Nemesis was seen as the mother of [[Helen of Troy]] by [[Zeus]], adopted and raised by [[Leda (mythology)|Leda]] and [[Tyndareus]].<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D33%3Asection%3D7 1.33.7]–[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D33%3Asection%3D8 8]</ref> According to the Byzantine poet [[Tzetzes]], [[Bacchylides]] had Nemesis as the mother of the [[Telchines]] by [[Tartarus]].<ref>Gantz, p. 149; [[Bacchylides]] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/bacchylides-fragments/1992/pb_LCL461.299.xml fr. 52 Campbell, pp. 298, 299] [= [[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]] on [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Theogony]]'' 80&ndash;6 (Matranga, [https://books.google.com/books?id=xb4kAAAAMAAJ&pg=580 p. 580])].</ref>

== Mythology ==
=== Fortune and retribution ===
[[Image:ADurerFortunaengraving.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Albrecht Dürer]]'s engraving of ''Nemesis'', c 1502]]
[[File:The Abandoned Ariadne, ancient fresco from Pompeii, National Archaeological Museum.jpg|thumb|Ancient fresco from [[Pompeii]] depicting the abandoned [[Ariadne]], [[Cupid]], and probably Nemesis. [[National Archaeological Museum, Naples]]]]

The word ''nemesis'' originally meant the distributor of fortune, neither good nor bad, simply in due proportion to each according to what was deserved.{{Citation needed|date=May 2015}} Later, ''Nemesis'' came to suggest the resentment caused by any disturbance of this right proportion, the sense of justice that could not allow it to pass unpunished.{{Citation needed|date=May 2015}}

[[O. Gruppe]] (1906) and others connect the name with "to feel just resentment". From the fourth century onward, Nemesis, as the just balancer of [[Fortuna (mythology)|Fortune]]'s chance, could be associated with [[Tyche]].

Divine retribution is a major theme in the Greek world view, providing the unifying theme of the [[Greek tragedy|tragedies]] of [[Sophocles]] and many other literary works.<ref>{{citation | url = http://literarydevices.net/nemesis/| title = Examples of Nemesis in Literature | date = 19 August 2013 | access-date = October 12, 2013 }}</ref> [[Hesiod]] states: "Also deadly [[Nyx (mythology)|Nyx]] bore Nemesis an affliction to mortals subject to death" (''[[Theogony]]'', 223, though perhaps an interpolated line). Nemesis appears in a still more concrete form in a fragment of the epic ''[[Cypria]]''.

She is implacable justice: that of [[Zeus]] in the [[Twelve Olympians|Olympian]] scheme of things, although it is clear she existed prior to him, as her images look similar to several other goddesses, such as [[Cybele]], [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]], [[Demeter]], and [[Artemis]].<ref>The primeval concept of Nemesis is traced by Marcel Mauss (Mauss, ''The Gift: the form and reason for exchange in archaic societies'', 2002:23: "Generosity is an obligation, because Nemesis avenges the poor... This is the ancient morality of the gift, which has become a principle of justice". Jean Coman, in discussing Nemesis in [[Aeschylus]] (Coman, ''L'idée de la Némésis chez Eschyle'', Strasbourg, 1931:40–43) detected "traces of a less rational, and probably older, concept of deity and its relationship to man", as Michael B. Hornum observed in ''Nemesis, the Roman State and the Games'', 1993:9.</ref>

In the [[Greek tragedies]] Nemesis appears chiefly as the avenger of crime and the punisher of [[hubris]], and as such is akin to [[Atë]] 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 [[Phrygians|Phrygian]] mother goddess, [[Cybele]].

[[File: Pierre-Paul Prud'hon - Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime.JPG|thumb|Justice (Dike, on the left) and Divine Vengeance (Nemesis, right) pursuing a murderer, in a painting by [[Pierre-Paul Prud'hon]], 1808]]

=== Nemesis and Zeus ===
In some less common traditions, it is Nemesis, rather than the mortal Spartan queen [[Leda (mythology)|Leda]], who is the mother of [[Helen of Troy]]. This narrative is first found in the lost epic ''[[Cypria]]'', the prelude of the ''[[Iliad]]''. According to its author, [[Stasinus of Cyprus]], Helen was born from the rape of Nemesis by Zeus. Zeus fell in love with Nemesis, here possibly presented as his own daughter,{{efn|In his translation of the passage, [[Hugh Evelyn-White|Hugh G. Evelyn-White]] wrote that Nemesis tried to escape from "''her'' father Zeus", taking the ancient text to imply more than a casual usage of "father Zeus", which would provide an explanation for the shame and anger Nemesis feels. At the same time it has been argued that the impending rape is enough for Nemesis to react in such a manner, and it is rather far-fetched to suggest that incest (and the taboo against it) is the leading theme of the narrative.<ref>{{cite book | title = The Transformations of Helen: Indo-European Myth and the Roots of the Trojan Cycle | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tJaSTyuMmw4C | publisher = J.H.Röll Verlag | date = 2006 | isbn = 978-3-89754-260-0 | location = Germany | volume = 23 | first = Peter | last = Jackson | page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=tJaSTyuMmw4C&pg=PA37 37-38]}}</ref>}} and pursued her, only for her to flee in shame. She took several forms to escape Zeus, but he eventually captured her and forced himself on her.<ref name=":stas">[[Stasinus of Cyprus]] or Hegesias of [[Aegina]], ''[[Cypria]]'' Fragment [https://archive.org/details/hesiodhomerichym1914hesi/page/498/mode/2up?view=theater 8]</ref>

Apollodorus speaks of a single transformation, into a goose, while Zeus turned into a swan to hunt her down and raped her, producing an egg that was given to the queen of Sparta; Helen hatched from the egg, and was raised by Leda.<ref>Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.10.7&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022 3.10.7]</ref><ref>(Apollodorus) R. Scott Smith, Stephen Trzaskoma, and Hyginus. ''Apollodorus' Library and Hyginus' Fabulae: Two Handbooks of Greek Mythology''. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub., 2007:60.</ref> In another variation, Zeus desired Nemesis, but could not persuade her to sleep with him. So he tasked [[Aphrodite]] to transform into an eagle and mock-chase him, while he transformed into a swan. Nemesis, pitying the poor swan, offered it refuge in her arms, and fell into a deep sleep. While asleep, Zeus raped her and in time she bore an egg which was transported to Leda by [[Hermes]]. Leda then raised Helen as her own.<ref>Hyginus, ''Astronomica'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.8.1 2.8.1]</ref> According to [[Eratosthenes]] in his ''[[Catasterismi]]'', this version was presented by [[Cratinus]].{{sfn|Lamari|Montanari|Novokhatko|2020|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=B773DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA110 110–112]}}

=== Narcissus ===
In Ovid's [[Metamorphoses]], Nemesis enacted divine retribution on [[Narcissus (mythology)|Narcissus]] for his vanity.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ovid.lib.virginia.edu/trans/Metamorph3.htm#476975712|title=Metamorphoses (Kline) 3, the Ovid Collection, Univ. of Virginia E-Text Center|work=virginia.edu|access-date=21 January 2015}}</ref> After he rejected the advances of the nymph [[Echo (mythology)|Echo]], Nemesis lured him to a pool where he caught sight of his own reflection and fell in love with it, eventually dying.  His body was transformed by the nymphs into a narcissus flower.

=== Aura ===
In [[Nonnus]]' epic ''[[Dionysiaca]]'', [[Aura (mythology)|Aura]], one of [[Artemis]]' virgin attendants, questioned her mistress' virginity due to the feminine and curvaceous shape of her body; Aura claimed that no goddess or woman with that sort of figure would be a virgin, and asserted her own superiority over the goddess thanks to her own lean and boyish silhouette. Artemis, enraged, went to Nemesis and asked for revenge. Nemesis promised to the goddess that Aura would have her punishment, and that the punishment would be to lose the virginity she took such pride in. Nemesis then contacted [[Eros]], the god of love, and he struck [[Dionysus]] with one of his arrows. Dionysus fell madly in love with Aura, and when she rebuffed his advances, he got her drunk, tied her up and raped her as she lay unconscious, bringing Nemesis' plan to a success.<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca03nonnuoft#page/442/mode/2up 48.258&ndash;942 (III pp. 442&ndash;491)].</ref>

==Iconography==
She is portrayed as a winged goddess wielding a whip or a dagger.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}} In early times the representations of Nemesis resembled Aphrodite, who sometimes bears the epithet Nemesis.{{citation needed|date=September 2017}}

As the goddess of proportion and the [[Retributive justice|avenger of crime]], she is often depicted wielding a [[measuring rod]] ([[tally stick]]), a [[bridle]], [[Weighing scale#Symbolism|scales]], a [[sword]], and a [[scourge]], and she rides in a [[chariot]] drawn by [[griffin]]s.

The poet [[Mesomedes]] wrote a hymn to Nemesis in the early second century AD, where he addressed her:
<blockquote>Nemesis, winged balancer of life, dark-faced goddess, daughter of Justice</blockquote>
and mentioned her "adamantine bridles" that restrain "the frivolous insolences of mortals".

==Local cult==
[[File:RO HD Sarmizegetusa Nemesis temple.jpg|thumb|right|Temple of Nemesis in [[Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa]]]]
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 (Sophocles)|Electra]],'' 792; [[E. Rohde]], ''Psyche,'' 1907, i. 236, note I).

===Rhamnous===
As the "Goddess of Rhamnous", Nemesis was honored and placated in an archaic sanctuary in the 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. It included a crown of stags and little [[Nike (mythology)|Nikes]] and was made by [[Pheidias]] after the [[Battle of Marathon]] (490 BC), crafted from a block of [[Parian marble]] brought by the overconfident Persians, who had intended to make a memorial [[stele]] after their expected victory.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''[[Description of Greece]]'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D33%3Asection%3D2 1.33.2–3].</ref>

===Smyrna===
At [[Smyrna]], there were two manifestations of Nemesis, more akin to [[Aphrodite]] than to Artemis. The reason for this duality is hard to explain. 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 persecution]]" of AD 250–51, mentions a lapsed Smyrnan Christian who was attending to the sacrifices at the altar of the temple of these Nemeses.

===Rome===
[[File:HadrianNemesis.jpg|thumb|''Nemesis'' on a brass [[sestertius]] of [[Hadrian]], struck at [[Rome]] AD 136]]
Nemesis was one of several [[tutelary deity|tutelary deities]] of the drill-ground (as ''Nemesis campestris''). Modern scholarship offers little support for the once-prevalent notion that arena personnel such as [[gladiator]]s, ''venatores'' and ''bestiarii'' were personally or professionally dedicated to her cult. Rather, she seems to have represented a kind of "Imperial [[Fortuna]]" who dispensed Imperial retribution on the one hand, and Imperially subsidized gifts on the other; both were functions of the popular gladiatorial [[Ludi]] held in Roman arenas.<ref>Nemesis, her devotees and her place in the Roman world are fully discussed, with examples, in Hornum, Michael B., ''Nemesis, the Roman state and the games'', Brill, 1993.</ref> She is shown on a few examples of Imperial coinage as ''Nemesis-Pax'', mainly under [[Claudius]] and [[Hadrian]]. In the third century AD, there is evidence of the belief in an all-powerful ''Nemesis-Fortuna''. She was worshipped by a society called Hadrian's freedmen.

[[Ammianus Marcellinus]] includes her in a digression on Justice following his description of the death of [[Constantius Gallus|Gallus Caesar]].<ref name="auto">Ammianus Marcellinus 14.11.25</ref>

== See also ==
{{portal|ancient greece|mythology|religion}}
* (''Goddesses of Justice''): [[Astraea (mythology)|Astraea]], [[Dike (mythology)|Dike]], [[Themis]], [[Prudentia]]
* (''Goddesses of Injustice''): [[Adikia]]
* (''Aspects of Justice''):  (see also: [[Triple deity]]/[[Triple Goddess (neopaganism)]])
** (''Justice'') [[Themis]]/[[Dike (mythology)|Dike]]/[[Justitia]] ([[Lady Justice]]), [[Raguel (angel)|Raguel (the Angel of Justice)]]
** (''Retribution'') Nemesis/Rhamnousia/Rhamnusia/[[Adrestia|Adrasteia]]/[[Invidia]]
** (''Redemption'') [[Eleos]]/[[Soteria (mythology)|Soteria]]/[[Clementia]], [[Zadkiel]]/[[Zerachiel]] (the Angel of Mercy)
* [[Sekhmet]]
* [[Kali]]

== Footnotes ==
{{notelist}}

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==
* Campbell, David A., ''Greek Lyric, Volume IV: Bacchylides, Corinna'', [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 461, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 1992. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99508-6}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL461/1992/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* [[Timothy Gantz|Gantz, Timothy]], ''Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5360-9}} (Vol. 1), {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5362-3}} (Vol. 2).
* ''[[Hesiod]]'', ''[https://archive.org/details/hesiodhomerichym00hesi/ The Homeric Hymns, and Homerica]'', with an English Translation by [[Hugh Evelyn-White|Hugh G. Evelyn-White]]'', Cambridge, MA., [[Harvard University Press]]; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. 
* {{cite book |last1 = Lamari|last2 = Montanari |last3 = Novokhatko |first1 = Anna A. |first2 = Franco |first3= Anna | title = Fragmentation in Ancient Greek Drama | isbn = 978-3-11-0621020| publisher = [[De Gruyter]] | date = 2020 }}
* Matranga, Pietro, ''Anecdota Graeca'', Volume II, Typis C. A. Bertinelli, Rome, 1850. [https://books.google.com/books?id=xb4kAAAAMAAJ Google Books].
* [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+1.1.1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].

== Further reading ==
*{{cite book |last1=Bonanno |first1=Daniela |title=Nemesis: rappresentazioni e pratiche cultuali nella Grecia antica |date=2023 |publisher=Franz Steiner Verlag |location=Stuttgart |isbn=9783515134927}}
* [[Emma Stafford|Stafford, Emma]], ''Worshipping Virtues: Personification and the Divine in Ancient Greece'', London, Duckworth, 2000. {{ISBN|0715630466}}. [https://archive.org/details/worshippingvirtu0000staf/page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive].

== External links ==
{{wiktionary|Nemesis}}
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Nemesis|volume=19|page=369}}

{{Greek religion}}
{{Greek mythology (deities)}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nemesis}}
[[Category:Justice goddesses]]
[[Category:Justice deities]]
[[Category:Vengeance goddesses]]
[[Category:Greek goddesses]]
[[Category:Personifications in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Oceanids]]
[[Category:Divine women of Zeus]]
[[Category:Children of Zeus]]
[[Category:Children of Nyx]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses characters]]
[[Category:Mythological rape victims]]
[[Category:Avian humanoids]]
[[Category:Shapeshifters in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Retribution]]