Nemesis, a minor goddess in Greek mythology, was a personification of the spirit of vengeance. Nemesis made sure that no wrong-doer escaped punishment. As the one who avenged evil deeds, she was an instrument of justice in all matters. Today, the word "nemesis" means "retribution", or an instrument of retribution.

Nemesis the daughter of Nyx, was also called Adrasteia and Rhamnusia. She was a personification of the vengeance with appeared to overtake every act of wrong. She was the goddess of punishment, and as such a figure of her was placed beside the bench of the judges. A mysterious power, she was conceived as shaping the demeanour of men in their times of prosperity, punishing crime, taking luck away from the unworthy, and tracking every wrong to its doer. Her name is usually translated as "Righteous Anger."

To execute her commands she had three attendants, Dike (justice), Poena (punishment), and Erinys ( vengeance).

In Greek mythology, Nemesis is the goddess of divine justice and vengeance. Her anger is directed toward human transgression of the natural, right order of things and of the arrogance causing it. Nemesis pursues the insolent and the wicked with inflexible vengeance. Her cult probably originated from Smyrna. She is regarded as the daughter of Oceanus or Zeus, but according to Hesiod she is a child of Erebus and Nyx.

She is portrayed as serious looking woman with in her left hand a whip, a rein, a sword, or a pair of scales. In the Hellenistic period she was portrayed with a steering wheel. Also called Rhamnusia, from a temple and statue of her in Rhamnus, a village in the northern part of Attica. The epithet Adrasteia “she whom none can escape”, properly of the those of the Phrygian Cybele, was later applied to her.

Nemesis, the messenger of Justice, is Retribution or Divine Vengeance. Therefore she is feared; but some artists, being persuaded that Nemesis manifests herself as a consequence of love, have given wings to Nemesis as they do to Eros, who also appears winged.

This goddess is implacable to men of violence, but she is best known for deeply disliking the absence of moderation, and for being zealous in re-establishing order and proportion through the punishment of excesses of pride and undeserved happiness. Nemesis puts to sleep presumptuous boasting and checks offensive words, exacting a heavy penalty for them. Accordingly, those who, feeling the nearness of Fortune, abuse others are sooner or later fated to meet Nemesis, when Fortune, who ignores constancy, has departed.

Not long from Marathon, where the Athenians defeated the Persian army in historical times (490 BC), there was a sanctuary and statue of Nemesis. It is told that the Persians’ pride was such that they believed that nothing stood in the way of their taking Athens. Accordingly, they brought a piece of Parian marble to make a trophy to celebrate their victory; being persuaded that their task was already accomplished. But as it happened, they met defeat, and of this same piece of marble, the Athenian sculptor Phidias made a statue of Nemesis, the goddess who punishes the proud.

It is told that when Zeus attempted to consort with Nemesis, she changed into a fish and other dread creatures in order to escape him. But when she turned into a goose, the god, turning himself into a swan, consorted with her. As the fruit of their love, she laid an egg that was found by a shepherd who in turn gave it to Leda. From this egg, Helen (the curse of both Achaeans and Trojans) was hatched in due time, being brought up as Leda’s daughter.

Hymn to Nemesis. “Thee, Nemesis, I call, almighty queen, by whom the deeds of mortal life are seen: eternal, much revered, of boundless sight, alone rejoicing in the just and right: changing the counsels of the human breast forever various, rolling without rest. To every mortal is thy influence known, and men beneath thy righteous bondage groan; for every thought within the mind concealed is to thy sight perspicuously revealed. The soul unwilling reason to obey, by lawless passion ruled, thine eyes survey. All to see, hear, and rule, O power divine, whose nature equity contains, is thine. Come, blessed, holy Goddess, hear my prayer, and make thy mystics’ life thy constant care: give aid benignant in the needful hour, and strength abundant to the reasoning power; and far avert the dire, unfriendly race of counsels impious, arrogant, and base.” -Orphic Hymn 61 to Nemesis

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