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Nemesis |
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Nemesis (nĕm`ĭsĭs), in Greek religion and mythology, personification of the gods' retribution for violation of sacred law; the avenger. Sometimes she was said to be the goddess of good and ill fortune. NemesisGreek goddess of retribution. In the earliest Greek religion she was worshiped as a fertility goddess. Later legends told how Zeus, in the form of a swan, coupled with her in the form of a goose. Nemesis then laid the egg from which Helen of Troy was born (in other versions Leda was said to be Helen's mother). Nemesis dealt out punishments that expressed the gods' disapproval of human presumption. Her cult was also popular in Rome, particularly among soldiers. Nemesis goddess of vengeance. [Gk. Myth.: Zimmerman, 173] See : Anger Nemesis goddess of vengeance and retribution; nemesis has come to mean that which one cannot achieve. [Gr. Myth.: WB, 14: 116; Pop. Culture: Misc.] See : Fate Nemesis daughter of Night, brought retribution upon haughty. [Gk. Myth.: Hall, 221] See : Vengeance |
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| ) with its catalogue of wrongdoings and violence ever increasing until Aidos and Nemesis are forced to leave mankind who thenceforward shall have `no remedy against evil'. But there is the terrible Nemesis following on some errors, that it is always possible for those who like it to interpret them into a crime: there is no proof in favor of the man outside his own consciousness and assertion. For which reason the antients used, on such occasions, to sacrifice to the goddess Nemesis, a deity who was thought by them to look with an invidious eye on human felicity, and to have a peculiar delight in overturning it. |
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Nemesis
