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Nemesis

Mythology
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

The Greek goddess who personifies divine retribution against hubris, ensuring moral balance through punishment.

Detailed Definition
Nemesis ensures that hubris and excessive good fortune are balanced by downfall. She pursues those who commit crimes against natural order. In poetry, she symbolizes inevitable justice, the leveling force of fate, and the moral equilibrium of the cosmos.
Example
Example in poetry:
Nemesis, goddess of retribution, pursues those guilty of hubris in Hesiod’s Works and Days; In Aeschylus’s Agamemnon, she ensures divine balance; Ovid describes Nemesis as Adrasteia in Metamorphoses; Virgil alludes to Nemesis in Aeneid as cosmic justice; Renaissance moral poetry uses Nemesis to symbolize inevitable consequence; Modern verse employs Nemesis as a metaphor for karma.
Additional Notes
Nemesis, goddess of retribution against hubris, ensures balance by punishing excessive fortune; her name means “distribution” or “due measure”—often paired with Tyche (luck)—ideal for poetry on justice, downfall, or cosmic equilibrium; Adrasteia is sometimes an epithet for her.
Also Known As
Goddess of Retribution Avenger of Hubris Rhamnousia
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