Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, ''invidia'' is the sense of

envy Envy is an emotion which occurs when a person lacks another's quality, skill, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it. Envy can also refer to the wish for another person to lack something one already ...

, a "looking upon" associated with the

evil eye The evil eye is a supernatural belief in a curse brought about by a malevolent glaring, glare, usually inspired by envy. Amulets to Apotropaic, protect against it have been found dating to around 5,000 years ago. It is found in many cultures i ...

, from ''invidere'', "to look against, to look in a hostile manner." ''Invidia'' ("Envy") is one of the

Seven Deadly Sins The seven deadly sins (also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins) function as a grouping of major vices within the teachings of Christianity. In the standard list, the seven deadly sins according to the Catholic Church are pride, greed ...

in Christian belief.

''Invidia'' and magic

The

material culture Material culture is culture manifested by the Artifact (archaeology), physical objects and architecture of a society. The term is primarily used in archaeology and anthropology, but is also of interest to sociology, geography and history. The fie ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

offer numerous examples of

ritual A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...

s and

magic spell An incantation, spell, charm, enchantment, or bewitchery is a magical formula intended to trigger a magical effect on a person or objects. The formula can be spoken, sung, or chanted. An incantation can also be performed during ceremonial ri ...

s intended to avert ''invidia'' and the evil eye. When a Roman general celebrated a triumph, the

Vestal Virgin In ancient Rome, the Vestal Virgins or Vestals (, singular ) were priestesses of Vesta, virgin goddess of Rome's sacred hearth and its flame. The Vestals were unlike any other public priesthood. They were chosen before puberty from several s ...

s suspended a '' fascinus'', or

phallic A phallus (: phalli or phalluses) is a penis (especially when erect), an object that resembles a penis, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. In art history, a figure with an erect penis is described as ''ithyphallic''. Any object that symbo ...

effigy, under the

chariot A chariot is a type of vehicle similar to a cart, driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid Propulsion, motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk O ...

to ward off ''invidia''. Envy is the vice most associated with

witch Witchcraft is the use of magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to ''Enc ...

es and magic. The witch's protruding tongue alludes to

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

's Invidia who has a poisoned tongue. The witch and Invidia share a significant feature – the

Evil eye The evil eye is a supernatural belief in a curse brought about by a malevolent glaring, glare, usually inspired by envy. Amulets to Apotropaic, protect against it have been found dating to around 5,000 years ago. It is found in many cultures i ...

. The term ''invidia'' stems from the Latin ''invidere'', "to look too closely". One type of the aggressive gaze is the "biting eye", often associated with envy, and reflects the ancient belief that envy originates from the eyes. Ovid feared that a witch who possessed eyes with double pupils would cast a burning fascination over his love affair. ''Fascinare'' means to bewitch.

Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus (; ), known as Catullus (), was a Latin neoteric poet of the late Roman Republic. His surviving works remain widely read due to their popularity as teaching tools and because of their personal or sexual themes. Life ...

in one of his love poems jokes nervously about ill wishers who might count the kisses he gives to his beloved and thus be able to "fascinate" the lovers with an evil, envious spell. A shepherd in one of

Vergil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: the ''Eclogues'' ...

's poems looks at his lambs, all skin and bones, and concludes, "some eye or other is bewitching them fascinat''">wiktionary:fascinat">fascinat'' – to which the commentator Servius adds " he shepherdobliquely indicates that he has a handsome flock, since it was worth afflicting with the evil eye fascinari''">wiktionary:fascinari">fascinari''. Any unusual felicity or success was felt to be subject to the unspecific but powerful force of envy invidia''">wiktionary:invidia">invidia'' That is why everyone from soldiers to infants to triumphing generals needed a '' fascinum'', a remedy against the evil eye, an antidote, something that would make the evil wisher look away.

''Invidia'' as emotion

The experience of ''invidia'', as Robert A. Kaster notes, is invariably an unpleasant one, whether feeling ''invidia'' or finding oneself its object. ''Invidia'' at the thought of another's good may be merely begrudging, Kaster observes, or begrudging and covetous at the same time: "I can feel ''dolor'' pain, sorrow, heartache"at seeing your good, just because it is your good, period, or I can feel that way because the good is yours and not mine." Such ''invidia'' is morally indefensible: compare the Aesop fable " The Dog in the Manger". But by far the most common usage in Latin of ''invidia'' occurs in contexts where the sense of justice has been offended, and pain is experienced at the sight of ''undeserved'' wealth, prestige or authority, exercised without shame (''pudor''); this is the close parallel with Greek ''

nemesis In ancient Greek religion and myth, Nemesis (; ) also called Rhamnousia (or Rhamnusia; ), was the goddess who personified retribution for the sin of hubris: arrogance before the gods. Etymology The name ''Nemesis'' is derived from the Greek ...

'' (νέμεσις).

Latin literature

''Invidia'', defined as uneasy emotion denied by the shepherd Melipoeus in

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

's Eclogue 1. In Latin, ''invidia'' is the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

personification Personification is the representation of a thing or abstraction as a person, often as an embodiment or incarnation. In the arts, many things are commonly personified, including: places, especially cities, National personification, countries, an ...

Nemesis In ancient Greek religion and myth, Nemesis (; ) also called Rhamnousia (or Rhamnusia; ), was the goddess who personified retribution for the sin of hubris: arrogance before the gods. Etymology The name ''Nemesis'' is derived from the Greek ...

and Phthonus. ''Invidia'' can be for literary purposes a goddess and Roman equivalent to Nemesis in

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

as it received '' cultus'', notably at her sanctuary around Rhamnous north of

Marathon, Greece Marathon (Demotic Greek: Μαραθώνας, ''Marathónas''; Ancient Greek, Attic/Katharevousa: , ''Marathṓn'') is a town in Greece and the site of the Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE, in which the heavily outnumbered Classical Athens, Athenia ...

describes the personification of Invidia at length in the ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' (, , ) is a Latin Narrative poetry, narrative poem from 8 Common Era, CE by the Ancient Rome, Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''Masterpiece, magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the world from its Cre ...

'' (2.760-832):

Her face was sickly pale, her whole body lean and wasted, and she squinted horribly; her teeth were discoloured and decayed, her poisonous breast of a greenish hue, and her tongue dripped venom. … Gnawing at others, and being gnawed, she was herself her own torment.

Allegorical ''invidia''

Among

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

, ''Invidia'' is one of the

. In the allegorical

mythography Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

, the three heads of

Cerberus In Greek mythology, Cerberus ( or ; ''Kérberos'' ), often referred to as the hound of Hades, is a polycephaly, multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Greek underworld, underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. He was the offspring o ...

sometimes represent three kinds of ''invidia''. In Late Gothic and Renaissance

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

, ''Invidia'' is

personified Personification is the representation of a thing or abstraction as a person, often as an embodiment or incarnation. In the arts, many things are commonly personified, including: places, especially cities, countries, and continents; elements of ...

invariably as a woman.

Cesare Ripa Cesare Ripa (, Perugia – Rome) was an Italian Renaissance scholar and iconography, iconographer. Life Little is known about his life. The scant biographical information that exists derives from his one very successful work: the ''Iconologia ...

's influential '' Iconologia'' (Rome, 1603) represented ''Invidia'' with a serpent coiled round her breast and biting her heart, "to signify her self-devouring bitterness; she also raises one hand to her mouth to show she cares only for herself". The representational tradition drew on Latin authors such as

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...

, and Pliny, as well as Andrea Alciato's

emblem book An emblem book is a book collecting emblems (allegorical illustrations) with accompanying explanatory text, typically morals or poems. This category of books was popular in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries. Emblem books are collection ...

and

Jacopo Sannazaro Jacopo Sannazaro (; 28 July 1458 – 6 August 1530) was an Italian poet, Renaissance humanism, humanist, member and head of the Accademia Pontaniana from Kingdom of Naples, Naples. He wrote easily in Latin language, Latin, in Italian and in Neap ...

. Alciato portrayed her devouring her own heart in her anguish. ''Invidia'' is the fatal flaw of Iago in Shakespeare's ''Othello'': "O you are well tuned now; but I'll set down the pegs that make this music." (''Othello'' II.i).Kaster 2002 illustrates the process of ''invidia'' with a number of utterances of Iago, "the most fully rounded representative of such scripts" (p. 281).

Modern usage of the term

The name of the Nvidia Corporation comes from Invidia in

Roman mythology Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans, and is a form of Roman folklore. "Roman mythology" may also refer to the modern study of these representations, and to th ...

.Nvidia, How The Company Got Its Name & Its Origins In Roman Mythology
(accessed 9 October 2016) Invidia is also the name of a battle theme in '' Final Fantasy XV''.

Notes

References

Peter Aronoff, 2003. (Bryn Mawr Classical Review 20)
Review of David Konstan and Keith Rutter, eds. ''Envy, Spite and Jealousy: The Rivalrous Emotions in Ancient Greece.'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press 2003; ).

External links

* {{Roman religion Roman goddesses Ancient Roman religion Justice goddesses Justice deities Vengeance goddesses Personifications in Roman mythology Seven deadly sins Emotions