Némésis

In the Greek Mythology, Némésis (in Greek old Νέμεσις /Némesis) is the goddess of Revenge, with the service of Héra. It is generally given for the girl of Nyx (the Night) only (Théogonie, 224) or more rarely of the Nuit and the Érèbe (Hygin and Cicéron), but of innumerable sources (Pausanias, Nonnos de Panopolis and Tzétzes) present it like born Océan without the name of his/her mother (Téthys?) is not mentioned by only one of these authors. In the orphic Texts and fragments, it is generally presented under the name of Adrastée and is given for the girl born without father of the Nécessité.

The name of Némésis derives from the Greek term νείμειν , meaning “the gift of what is due”. The Roman Mythologie takes again of it an aspect in the form of Invidia, that is to say “indignation in front of an unjust advantage”.

Myth

It represents distributive justice and the rate/rhythm of the destiny. For example, she punishes those which live an excess of happiness in the mortals, or excessive pride in the kings. She was liked of Zeus and to escape its pressure, she transformed herself into goose; but him changed into swan. She laid an egg which she entrusted to Léda, and of which was born two pairs from twins: Helene and Clytemnestre like Beaver and Pollux.

At Homère, the only direction in which Némésis is used is as a personification of an abstract thing. In the Théogonie of Hésiode one can read (v.  223):

“Also the Nyx mortal carried Némésis to afflict the men mortals. ”

Némésis appears in a form even more concrete in a fragment of the Chants cypriens .

Némésis is the executer of justice, the justice of Zeus, retransmise by Mercure according to the Olympian organization of the world, but it is clear that she preexisted to him because its images associate it with several goddesses who are manifestations of old the Grande Goddess: Cybèle - Rhéa, Déméter and Artémis.

Némésis, as a principle opposed to good fortune, could be associated with Tyché. The word Némésis , in the beginning, meant “which exempts fortune, neither good nor bad, simply in the proportion due to each one according to its merits”; then, resentment caused by any disturbance of this proportion. O.  Gruppe (1906) and others prefer to connect the name to the “right resentment”.

In the Greek tragedies Némésis seems mainly avenger crimes and that which punishes the Hybris , and is then related with Até and the Érinyes. It was sometimes called Adrastée, meaning probably “which one cannot escape”; its epithet Érinys (“Relentless”) is particularly applied to Déméter and Cybèle.

Worship

Némésis was honoured in an antiquated sanctuary in the zone with Rhamnus in Attique, where it was a girl of Océan. She is then called there Rhamnusia , the goddess of Rhamnus. Pausanias noticed its iconic statue with a crown of stags and small Nike, manufactured by Phidias after the Bataille of Marathon (490 av. J. - C.) starting from a block of marble of Paros that the Perse S presumptuous had brought with them, to make a commemorative stele of it after their victory which they regarded as acquired.

A festival called Nemeseia (identified by some with the Genesia ) was held with Athens. Its object was to avoid the némésis deaths, which were supposed to have the power to punish the life if their worship had been neglected in some way (Sophocle, Electra ).

With Smyrna there were two demonstrations of Némésis, more related with Aphrodite than with Artémis. It is difficult to explain the reason of this duality; it is suggested that they represent two aspects of the goddess: the pleasant one and the relentless, or goddesses of the old city and that of the new city rebuilt by Alexandre Large the.

With Rome, Némésis was révérée by the victorious generals, the gladiators of which it was the owner and appeared one of the guardian deities of the drilling of the ground ( Nemesis campestris ). At third century BC, there are indices of a worship towards Némésis- Fortuna very powerful. It was révérée by a company called Nemesiaci .

The first representations of Némésis resembled Aphrodite, who itself carries sometimes the epithet Nemesis . Later, like goddess of the proportion and avenger of the crimes, its attributes are a stem of measurement, a support, a balance, a sword and a plague and goes up in a carriage led by griffon S.

Popular culture

  • “You are my Nemesis” wants to say “you are the person responsible for my misfortune, my concern…”. The expression initially appeared in English.

  • Nemesis is the name of a monster in the video game " Resident Evil 3" , the purpose of which is to continue without slackening of the members of the S.T.A.R.S. to kill them.

  • Némésis is the name of a major Horror of the roleplay " Earthdawn ", described in the books " Horreurs" and more recently in the " Gamemaster Compendium" published at Redbrick limited

  • "Nemesis" is the title of a song of Cradle off Filth, English group of metal extreme, available on the album " Nymphetamine " left in 2004.

  • "Nemesis" is the title of a song of Arch Enemy, group Swedish of Death Métal, available on the album " Doomsday Machine " left in 2005.

  • "Nemesis" is the title of a video game of horizontal shooting published by Konami in 1990 on the portable console Game Boy of Nintendo.

  • "Nemesis" is the title of before last novel written by Isaac Asimov, between February 1988 and March 1989.

Sources

  • (3, 17).

  • (v. 223-224).
  • ( Foreword ).
  • (XLVIII, 375).
  • (VII, 5,3).
  • (v. 792).
  • .
  • Tzétzes with Lycophron (88).

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