Description

“Nemesis, in Greek religion, has two divine conceptions. The first is that of an Attic goddess, the daughter of Nyx (Night), and the second is an abstraction of indignant disapproval, later personified. Nemesis, the goddess (perhaps associated with fertility), was worshipped at Rhamnus in Attica and bore a strong resemblance to Artemis, a goddess of wild animals, vegetation, childbirth, and the hunt. In the post-Homeric epic Cypria, as reported in Apollodorus’s Library, Book III, Nemesis transformed herself into a goose to escape the clutches of Zeus. He eventually turned himself into a swan and caught her. Nemesis then laid an egg that was brought to Leda, from which Helen was hatched.

The worship of Nemesis, representing the disapproval of the gods at human presumption, is well-documented, particularly in later times. She signified the gods’ disapproval, and her first altar was said to have been erected in Boeotia by Adrastus, the leader of the Seven Against Thebes. In Rome, especially, her cult was highly popular, especially among soldiers, who worshipped her as the patroness of the drill ground (Nemesis Campestris).”