Nemesis

Also known as: Nemeses · Role: goddess · First appears: Book 1 · Chapter 33

At Marathon, Nemesis brought vengeance upon the Persians, who had presumed they had conquered Athens and brought Parian marble for a trophy. At Rhamnus, Phidias made that marble into a statue of her. The account names Oceanus as her father, and says she was the mother of Helen, whom Leda suckled and raised; it also gives Zeus, rather than Tyndareus, as Helen’s father.

In Book 7, the account presents another tradition in which Nemesis and her counterpart were daughters of Night, while the Athenians at Rhamnus held to Oceanus as her father. After hunting on Mount Pagus, Alexander (son of Philip) slept beneath a plane-tree by Nemesis’ temple; the goddesses appeared to him and bade him build a town there and move the people of Smyrna from old Smyrna.

Relationship record

Life events

• Nemesis brought vengeance upon the Persians who presumed they had conquered Athens.(Book 1 · Chapter 33 · 📍 Marathon)
  • “for despising the difficulty of capturing Athens, they brought Parian marble to make a trophy of, as if they had already conquered.”
• Phidias transformed Parian marble into a statue of Nemesis.(Book 1 · Chapter 33 · 📍 Rhamnus)
  • With: Phidias
  • “This marble Phidias made into a statue of Nemesis”
• The account identifies Nemesis as Helen’s mother, Leda as her foster mother, and Zeus rather than Tyndareus as her father.(Book 1 · Chapter 33 · 📍 Rhamnus)
  • With: Helen Leda Zeus Tyndareus
  • “They say Nemesis was the mother of Helen, but Leda suckled her and brought her up: but her father the Greeks generally think was Zeus and not Tyndareus.”
• Alexander built modern Smyrna after Nemesis instructed him in a dream.(Book 7 · Chapter 5 · 📍 Mount Pagus)
  • With: Alexander (son of Philip)
  • “But Alexander the son of Philip built the modern Smyrna in consequence of a dream he had. For on his return from hunting on Mount Pagus he went they say to the temple of Nemesis, and there found a well, and a plane-tree in front of the temple growing in the water. And they say he slept under this plane-tree and the goddesses of Nemesis appeared to him and bade him build a town on that site”

Book 1 · Chapter 33

• with Phidias (Phidias sculpted the statue of Nemesis.) “This marble Phidias made into a statue of Nemesis”
• parent: Oceanus “Oceanus was Nemesis’ father”
• child: Helen “They say Nemesis was the mother of Helen”

Book 7 · Chapter 5

• parent: Night “So they willingly removed, and they worship two Nemeses instead of one, and they say their mother was Night, but the Athenians who worship Nemesis at Rhamnus say that she was the daughter of Oceanus.”
• parent: Oceanus “So they willingly removed, and they worship two Nemeses instead of one, and they say their mother was Night, but the Athenians who worship Nemesis at Rhamnus say that she was the daughter of Oceanus.”
• with Alexander (son of Philip) (The goddesses of Nemesis appeared to Alexander and instructed him to build the town.) “And they say he slept under this plane-tree and the goddesses of Nemesis appeared to him and bade him build a town on that site, and remove the people of Smyrna there from the old Smyrna.”

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Extracted from the original text of Pausanias' Description of Greece. Made with Rho MD.