We explain what nemesis is, what is the origin of this term in Greek culture and some examples of its use.
What is nemesis?
The word nemesis comes from ancient Greek culture, in which it gave its name to the goddess also known as Ramnusia (from Ramnon, an ancient Greek settlement near the city of Attica, today an archaeological site), and which represented solidarity, retribution, vengeful justice, balance and fortune.
She was depicted as a winged figure, often wearing a veil or crown, holding a wheel and a sword, torch or serpent, as instruments to carry out her punishment.
Being a primal deity, the goddess Nemesis was above the Olympian gods and his actions were considered inevitable and implacable. She was in charge of punishing disobedient children, those who ignored the hierarchy of command, and unfaithful lovers.
She was also in charge of measuring the happiness or misfortune of mortals, although her vengeful character prevailed over time and she ended up being one of the furiesdeities closely linked to tribal and bloody passions.
Given that Greek culture did not tolerate pride and excess, considering them the only “sins” punishable by the gods, their vision of justice had to do precisely with what was proportional, what was corresponding.
The goddess Nemesis could punish those favored by fortune for example, taking away what they recently earned. Its practically equivalent Roman version was the goddess Invy (envy).
This explains why the word Nemesis today has the meaning of a just or divine retribution, a long-postponed or expected punishment or a form of poetic justice. It is also common to see it used as a synonym for enemy or of end.
In the first case it is because we tend to associate enmity with the desire for revenge; and in the second because the action of justice used to be the end of the tragic representations of antiquity, or even of many contemporary stories, in which regaining balance is, in some way, the moral.
Some examples of use of this word are:
- “Superman is Lex Luthor's nemesis”
- “Your nemesis has arrived, now you will pay for your misdeeds!”
- “I don't believe it: the day of my nemesis is still far away”
- “Sooner or later, the powerful find their nemesis.”
- “I will be the nemesis of corrupt politicians”
See also: Greek mythology
