Nemesis (mythology)

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Muses Nemesis Moirae Cratos Zelus Nike Metis Charites Oneiroi	Adrasteia Horae Bia Eros Apate Themis Eris Thanatos Hypnos

Nemesis, by Alfred Rethel (1837)

Nemesis (in Greek, ÎÎÎ¼ÎµÏƒÎ¹Ï‚), also called Rhamnousia/Rhamnusia ("the goddess of Rhamnous"), at her sanctuary at Rhamnous, north of Marathon, in the Greek mythology was 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 word Î½ÎµÎ¯Î¼ÎµÎ¹Î½, meaning "to give what is due". The Romans equated one aspect of Greek Nemesis, which might be interpreted as "indignation at unmerited advantage", as Invidia (Aronoff 2003).

Nemesis is now used as a term used to describe one's worst enemy, normally someone or something that is the exact opposite of oneself but is also somehow similar. For example, Professor Moriarty is frequently described as the nemesis of Sherlock Holmes.

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1 Background
2 Rome
3 Nemesis in popular culture
4 External links

[edit] Background

Inexorable divine retribution 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 (KÃ¡stor) and Polydeukes (PolydeÃºkes).

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 implacable executrix of justiceâ€”that of Zeus in the Olympian scheme of thingsâ€”but it was clear she existed before him, for her images associate her with several goddesses who are manifestations of the former Great Goddess: Cybele, Rhea, Demeter and Artemis.

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 noted her iconic statue there. It included a crown of stags and little Nikes and was made by Pheidias after the Battle of Marathon (490 BC), crafted from a block of Parian marble brought by the over-confident Persians, who had intended to make a memorial stele after their expected victory.

The word Nemesis originally meant the distributor of fortune, neither good nor bad, simply in due proportion to each according to his desserts; 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 connect the name with "to feel just resentment". From the fourth century onwards, Nemesis, as the just balancer of Fortune's chance, could be associated with Tyche.

Nemesis, Roman marble from Egypt, 2nd century CE (Louvre)

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.

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; 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 "Decian presecution" of AD 250â€“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.

[edit] Rome

Nemesis (sometimes called Pax-Nemesis) was also worshipped at Rome by victorious generals, and in imperial times was the patroness of gladiators and of the venatores, who fought in the arena with wild beasts, and was one of the tutelary deities of the drilling-ground (Nemesis campestris). Nemesis was sometimes, but rarely, seen on imperial coining, mainly under Claudius and Hadrian. In the 3rd century AD there is evidence of the belief in an all-powerful Nemesis-Fortuna. She was worshipped by a society called Hadrian's freedman. The poet Mesomedes wrote a hymn to Nemesis in the early 2nd century CE, where he addressed her

Nemesis, winged balancer of life,

dark-faced goddess, daughter of Justice,

and mentioned her "adamantine bridles" that restrain "the frivolous insolences of mortals." [1].

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.

[edit] Nemesis in popular culture

See also: Nemesis

"Nemesis" is the name of a 1971 Agatha Christie's murder mystery in which a weathy businessman offers Miss Marple 20,000 pounds in his will to solve a crime that is left unnamed--making her the 'nemesis' of the criminal. In 1987 it was released as a movie.

Nemesis is a recurring character in the TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. The role was played by several different actresses, starting with Karen Witter in the seventh episode, "Pride Comes Before A Brawl."

Nemesis appears as the shapeshifting demi-goddess of vengeance in an episode of Hercules: The Animated Series. She has an obsession with smiting people. At the climax of the episode, the gods of Egypt arrive, and when Nemesis annoys them, Anubis threatens to smite her. This angers Nemesis, who then smites Anubis and all the other Egyptian gods.

Resident Evil 3 : Nemesis is the name of a computer game released in 1999, the name of the main enemy in the game is Nemesis.

In an episode of The Twilight Zone-2002 series, a man is convicted of a murder while maintaining his innocence. He is sent to death twice, but a major malfunction forces the executions to be cancelled. After a retrial, he is released. Before he makes his way out, he reveals to his lawyer that his did commit the murder. As he walks down the steps, a statue falls killing him-the statue of Nemises.

Nemesis was the name of the Spaceship which brought the Decepticons to Earth in the shows Transformers and Beast Wars

Nemesis is the name of a powerful boss in Spartan: Total Warrior, who looks like you, has your powers and carries the ultimate weapon: the Spear of Achilles. The player encounters him in the Ruins of Troy in Achille's burial chamber.

Nemesis was a character in the UK science fiction comic book 2000 AD. The Story appeared around in the early eighties, set in a futuristic time, Nemesis was a equine shaped alien worlock constantly engaged in combat with his mortal enemy Torquemeda. www.2000adonline

Nemesis is the name of an optional boss in the role-playing game Final Fantasy X. It is considered the most difficult enemy in the game to defeat.
Nemesis is title of the tenth Star Trek movie, released in 2002.