Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities o ...

, the Hysminae or Hysminai (

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 ...

: Ὑσμίνας or ὑσμῖναι; singular: from hysmine means 'battle, conflict, combat') are the

personification Personification occurs when a thing or abstraction is represented as a person, in literature or art, as a type of anthropomorphic metaphor. The type of personification discussed here excludes passing literary effects such as "Shadows hold their ...

s of fighting.

Family

Hesiod's account

The Hysminai are represented as the children of Eris, the goddess of strife. They were siblings to Lethe, Limos,

Horkos In Greek mythology, the figure of Horkos (; Ancient Greek: , ) personifies the curse that will be inflicted on any person who swears a false oath. He was the avenger of perjury and the punitive companion of the goddess Dike (Justice). In A ...

, Ponos and many other daemons. : And hateful Eris bore painful Ponos ("Hardship"), : Lethe ("Forgetfulness") and Limos ("Starvation") and the tearful Algea ("Pains"), : Hysminai ("Battles"), Makhai ("Wars"), Phonoi ("Murders"), and Androktasiai ("Manslaughters"); : Neikea ("Quarrels"), Pseudea ("Lies"), Logoi ("Stories"), Amphillogiai ("Disputes") : Dysnomia ("Anarchy") and Ate ("Ruin"), near one another, : and

("Oath"), who most afflicts men on earth, : Then willing swears a false oath.

Hyginus' account

In another account, Pugna/ Hysmine was called daughter of the primordial deities Aether and

Gaia In Greek mythology, Gaia (; from Ancient Greek , a poetical form of , 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea , is the personification of the Earth and one of the Greek primordial deities. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthen ...

. : From Aether (Air) and Terra/ Gaia (Earth) ere born Dolor/ Algos (Pain), Dolus (Guile), Ira/ Lyssa (Anger), Luctus/

Penthus In Greek mythology, Penthus (Πενθος) was the personification of grief. When Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= ...

(Lamentation), Mendacium/ Pseudologoi (Lies), Jusjurandum/ Horcus (Oath),

Ultio Ultio ("Vengeance") was an ancient Roman goddess whose ''cultus'' was associated with Mars. An altar and golden statue of Ultio were set up in the Temple of Mars Ultor, dedicated by Augustus in 2 BC as a center for cultivating Mars the Avenge ...

/ Poine (Vengeance), Intemperantia (Intemperance), Altercatio/ Amphillogiai (Altercation), Oblivio/ Lethe (Forgetfulness), Socordia/ Aergia (Sloth),

Timor Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western part. The Indonesian part, ...

/ Phobos (Fear), Superbia (Arrogance), Incestum (Sacrilege), Pugna/ Hysminai (Combat).

Mythology

Quintus Smyrnaeus Quintus Smyrnaeus (also Quintus of Smyrna; el, Κόϊντος Σμυρναῖος, ''Kointos Smyrnaios'') was a Greek epic poet whose '' Posthomerica'', following "after Homer", continues the narration of the Trojan War. The dates of Quintus S ...

depicted the Hysminae along with other daemons of war on the shield of Akhilleus.

And there were man-devouring wars, and all horrors of fight: slain men were falling down mid horse-hoofs; and the likeness of a plain blood-drenched was on that shield invincible. Phobos (Panic) was there, and
Deimos Deimos, a Greek word for ''dread'', may refer to: * Deimos (deity), one of the sons of Ares and Aphrodite in Greek mythology * Deimos (moon), the smaller and outermost of Mars' two natural satellites * Elecnor Deimos, a Spanish aerospace company * ...
(Dread), and ghastly Enyo with limbs all gore-bespattered hideously, and deadly Eris (Strife), and the
Erinyes The Erinyes ( ; sing. Erinys ; grc, Ἐρινύες, pl. of ), also known as the Furies, and the Eumenides, were female chthonic deities of vengeance in ancient Greek religion and mythology. A formulaic oath in the ''Iliad'' invokes the ...
(Avenging Spirits) fierce-hearted -- she, still goading warriors on to the onset they, outbreathing breath of fire. Around them hovered the relentless Keres (Fates); beside them Hysminai (Battle) incarnate onward pressed welling, and from their limbs streamed blood and sweat. There were the ruthless
Gorgons A Gorgon ( /ˈɡɔːrɡən/; plural: Gorgons, Ancient Greek: Γοργών/Γοργώ ''Gorgṓn/Gorgṓ'') is a creature in Greek mythology. Gorgons occur in the earliest examples of Greek literature. While descriptions of Gorgons vary, the ...
: through their hair horribly serpents coiled with flickering tongues. A measureless marvel was that cunning work of things that made men shudder to behold seeming as though they verily lived and moved.Quintus Smyrnaeus, ''Posthomerica'' 5.25–42

Notes

References

Gaius Julius Hyginus Gaius Julius Hyginus (; 64 BC – AD 17) was a Latin author, a pupil of the scholar Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Caesar Augustus. He was elected superintendent of the Palatine library by Augustus according to Suetonius' ''De Gramma ...

, ''Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus'' translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
*

Hesiod Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet i ...

, ''Theogony'' from ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica'' with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website
*