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== 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 48.258–942 (III pp. 442–491)].</ref>
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