Nemesis, the Goddess of Retribution.

【Humanities Series📚】

You must have heard of the Chinese idiom 身在福中不知福 describing a person who does not appreciate his or her happiness and takes it for granted. Surprisingly, the same concept exists in Greek Mythology. The main character of today’s Humanities Series, Nemesis, is the goddess of retribution who punishes arrogant people who ignore the gods’ blessing.

📖Nemesis is the one who punishes Narcissus for his arrogance. Narcissus, the son of the river god Cephissus and the nymph Liriope is known for his captivating beauty. According to the prophet Tiresias, Narcissus will be living a long life once he never “came to know himself”. Narcissus’s beauty gained him a lot of admirers, however, he never appreciated their affection, instead, he rejected all of them indifferently due to his arrogance. After listening to the request of Narcissus’ admirers, Nemesis decided to punish this cold-hearted person by letting him never be loved by the one he fell in love with. Nemesis guided Narcissus to a pool and made him see his reflection in the water. Narcissus immediately fell in love with his reflection, and after he realized that he could never be replied to by it, he was despairing and decided to end his own life.

📒The name of the goddess, Nemesis, later becomes an English word with two meanings. If we describe someone or something as our “nemesis”, it means that person or thing is very difficult for us to defeat. The second meaning of this word is a punishment or defeat that is deserved and cannot be avoided, just like the punishment of Narcissus.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissus_(mythology)

https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Mortals/Narcissus/narcissus.html

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/zht/%E8%A9%9E%E5%85%B8/%E8%8B%B1%E8%AA%9E-%E6%BC%A2%E8%AA%9E-%E7%B9%81%E9%AB%94/nemesis

Picture source:

https://useum.org/artwork/Nemesis-Alfred-Rethel-1837