Ponos or Ponus (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...

: Πόνος ''Pónos'') is the personification of hardship or toil.

Family

Hesiod

According to Hesiod's ''

Theogony The ''Theogony'' (, , , i.e. "the genealogy or birth of the gods") is a poem by Hesiod (8th–7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods, composed . It is written in the Epic dialect of Ancient Greek and contain ...

'' (226–232), "painful" Ponos was the child of Eris (Strife), with no father, and the brother of many other personifications:

Cicero

According to

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

, Ponos's was called the son of the primordial gods,

Nyx Nyx (; , , "Night") is the Greek goddess and personification of night. A shadowy figure, Nyx stood at or near the beginning of creation and mothered other personified deities, such as Hypnos (Sleep) and Thanatos (Death), with Erebus (Darkn ...

(Night) and Erebus (Darkness) and brother to other personifications:Cicero, ''De Natura Deorum'' 3.17

Their Aether_and_ Aether_and_ Hemera's.html"_;"title="Hemera.html"_;"title="Aether_(mythology).html"_;"title="nowiki/>Aether_(mythology)">Aether_and_Hemera">Hemera's">Hemera.html"_;"title="Aether_(mythology).html"_;"title="nowiki/>Aether_(mythology)">Aether_and_Hemera">Hemera'sbrothers_and_sisters,_whom_the_ancient_genealogists_name_Cupid.html" ;"title="Hemera">Hemera's.html" ;"title="Hemera.html" ;"title="Aether_(mythology).html" ;"title="nowiki/>Aether (mythology)">Aether and Hemera">Hemera's">Hemera.html" ;"title="Aether_(mythology).html" ;"title="nowiki/>Aether (mythology)">Aether and Hemera">Hemera'sbrothers and sisters, whom the ancient genealogists name Cupid">Amor/ Eros (Love), Dolos (mythology), Dolus (Guile), Deimos (deity), Metus/ Deimos (deity), Deimos (Fear), Labor/ Ponus (Toil), Nemesis, Invidentia/ Nemesis (Envy), Moros, Fatum/ Moros (Fate), Senectus/ Geras (Old Age), Mors/ Thanatos (Death), Tenebrae/ Keres (Darkness), Miseria/ Oizys (Misery), Querella/ Momus (Complaint), Gratia/ Philotes (Favour), Fraus/
Apate In Greek mythology, Apate (; Ancient Greek: Απάτη ''Apátē'') is the goddess and personification of deceit. Her mother is Nyx, the personification of the night. In Roman mythology her equivalent is Fraus (i.e. "fraud"), while her male count ...
(Fraud), Pertinacia (Obstinacy), the Parcae/ Moirai (Fates), the
Hesperides In Greek mythology, the Hesperides (; , ) are the nymphs of evening and golden light of sunsets, who were the "Daughters of the Evening" or "Nymphs of the West". They were also called the Atlantides () from their reputed father, the Titan At ...
, the Somnia/ Oneiroi (Dreams): all of these are fabled to be the children of Erebus (Darkness) and Nox/ Nyx (Night).

Philosophy

The Cynics promoted living a life of ''ponos.'' For the Cynics, this did not seem to mean actual physical work. Diogenes of Sinope, for example, lived by begging, not by doing manual labor. Rather, it means deliberately choosing a hard life — for instance, wearing only that thin cloak and going barefoot in winter.

Notes

References

* Caldwell, Richard, ''Hesiod's Theogony'', Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Company (June 1, 1987). . *

Marcus Tullius Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

, ''Nature of the Gods from the Treatises of M.T. Cicero'' translated by Charles Duke Yonge (1812-1891), Bohn edition of 1878
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Greek gods Personifications in Greek mythology Cynicism Children of Nyx Children of Eris (mythology) {{Greek-deity-stub