Limos (;

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 p ...

: Λιμός means 'starvation'), Roman Fames , is the "sad" goddess or god of starvation, hunger and famine in ancient Greek religion. They were opposed by Demeter, goddess of grain and the harvest with whom

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

wrote Limos could never meet, and

Plutus In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Plutus (; grc-gre, Πλοῦτος, Ploûtos, wealth) is the god and the personification of wealth, and the son of the goddess of agriculture Demeter and the mortal Iasion. Family Plutus is most common ...

, the god of wealth and the bounty of rich harvests.

Family

According to

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 ...

'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 ...

'', Limos is the child of the goddess Eris ("Discord"), who was the daughter of Nyx ("Night"). Limos' siblings include Toil (

Ponos Ponos or Ponus (Ancient Greek: Πόνος ''Pónos'') is the personification of hardship or toil. Family Hesiod According to Hesiod's ''Theogony'' (226–232), "painful" Ponos was the child of Eris (Strife), with no father, and the brother of ...

), Forgetfulness (

Lethe In Greek mythology, Lethe (; Ancient Greek: ''Lḗthē''; , ), also referred to as Lemosyne, was one of the five rivers of the underworld of Hades. Also known as the ''Ameles potamos'' (river of unmindfulness), the Lethe flowed around the cav ...

), Stories (Logoi), Lies (Pseudea), Oaths (

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 ...

), Quarrels (

Neikea In Greek mythology, the Neikea (Ancient Greek: Νείκεα; singular: Neikos "quarrels") were spirits of arguments, feuds, quarrels and grievances. Their Roman counterpart was Altercatio. Family Hesiod's account In Hesiod's ''Theogony'' ...

), Disputes (

Amphillogiai In Greek mythology, the Amphillogiai (Ancient Greek: ; singular: Amphillogia) were goddesses of disputes and altercations. Their Roman counterpart was Altercatio. Family Hesiod's account In Hesiod's ''Theogony'' identifies the Amphillogiai ...

), Manslaughters (

Androktasiai In Greek mythology, the Androctasiae or Androktasiai (Ancient Greek: ; singular: Androktasia) were the female personifications of manslaughter. Family The Androctasiae were the daughters of the goddess of strife and discord, Eris, and siblings ...

), Battles (

Hysminai In Greek mythology, the Hysminae or Hysminai (Ancient Greek: Ὑσμίνας or ὑσμῖναι; singular: from hysmine means 'battle, conflict, combat') are the personifications of fighting. Family Hesiod's account The Hysminai are repr ...

) and Wars (

Makhai In Greek mythology, the Machae or Machai (; Ancient Greek: Μάχαι ''Mákhai'', "battles"; singular: ''Mákhē'') were the daemons (spirits) of battle and combat. Family The Machai were the children of Eris and siblings to other vicious ...

), Anarchy ( Dysnomia), Pains (

Algea {{Distinguish, Algae Algea is a Norwegian multinational company operating in the chemical industry and manufacturing seaweed-based fertilizer ingredients. History Algea Produckter As was founded in 1937 by Haakon Torgersen. The Neptune’s tr ...

), and Ruin (

Ate Ate or ATE may refer to: Organizations * Active Training and Education Trust, a not-for-profit organization providing "Superweeks", holidays for children in the United Kingdom * Association of Technical Employees, a trade union, now called the Nat ...

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

Sex

The gender of Limos is not consistent in surviving literature. The gender of Limos seems to have varied depending on dialect, as it was feminine in Doric Greek and masculine in Attic Greek, and accordingly was personified as a goddess in

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

. In a temple of

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label= Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label ...

Amyclae Amyclae or Amyklai ( grc, Ἀμύκλαι) was a city of ancient Laconia, situated on the right or western bank of the Eurotas, 20 stadia south of Sparta, in a district remarkable for the abundance of its trees and its fertility. Amyclae was one ...

, near Sparta, Limos was presented with a woman's form. as she was in the temple of

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded ...

Chalcioecus, in Sparta.

Callimachus Callimachus (; ) was an ancient Greek poet, scholar and librarian who was active in Alexandria during the 3rd century BC. A representative of Ancient Greek literature of the Hellenistic period, he wrote over 800 literary works in a wide varie ...

of Cyrene, who preserves one of the versions of Limos' only notable myth, has the deity as a male one.Hopkinson, p
135
/ref> What the gender of this deity would be to

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

is indeterminable. The Roman poets, who wrote in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, used the feminine noun ''Fames''.

Mythology

Sentinel of Hades

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 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: th ...

's ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of th ...

'', Limos is one of a number of spirits and monsters said to stand at the entrance to the Underworld.

Seneca the Younger Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (; 65 AD), usually known mononymously as Seneca, was a Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, dramatist, and, in one work, satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature. Seneca was born in ...

writes that she "lies with wasted jaw" by

Cocytus Cocytus or Kokytos ( grc, Κωκυτός, literally "lamentation") is the river of wailing in the underworld in Greek mythology. Cocytus flows into the river Acheron, on the other side of which lies Hades, the underworld, the mythological abo ...

, the Underworld river of lamentation.

Virgil's account

Aeneas In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas (, ; from ) was a Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy (both being grandsons ...

is guided by the

Sibyl The sibyls (, singular ) were prophetesses or oracles in Ancient Greece. The sibyls prophesied at holy sites. A sibyl at Delphi has been dated to as early as the eleventh century BC by PausaniasPausanias 10.12.1 when he described local tradi ...

through the

Underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underwor ...

They walked exploring the unpeopled night,
Through Pluto's vacuous realms, and regions void,
As when one's path in dreary woodlands winds
Beneath a misty moon's deceiving ray,
When Jove has mantled all his heaven in shade,
And night seals up the beauty of the world.
In the first courts and entrances of Hell
Luctus/ Penthus (Sorrows) and vengeful Curae (Cares) on couches lie:
There sad Senectus/
Geras In Greek mythology, Geras ( grc, Γῆρας, translit=Gễras), also written Gēras, was the god of old age. He was depicted as a tiny, shriveled old man. Gēras's opposite was Hebe, the goddess of youth. His Roman equivalent was Senectus. He ...
(Old Age) abides, Morbus/ Nosos (Diseases) pale,
And Metus/ Deimos (Fear), and Fames/ Limos (Hunger), temptress to all crime;
Egestas/ Aporia (Want), base and vile, and, two dread shapes to see,
Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...
/
Ponos Ponos or Ponus (Ancient Greek: Πόνος ''Pónos'') is the personification of hardship or toil. Family Hesiod According to Hesiod's ''Theogony'' (226–232), "painful" Ponos was the child of Eris (Strife), with no father, and the brother of ...
(Bondage) and Letum/
Thanatos In Greek mythology, Thanatos (; grc, Θάνατος, pronounced in "Death", from θνῄσκω ''thnēskō'' "(I) die, am dying") was the personification of death. He was a minor figure in Greek mythology, often referred to but rarely appea ...
(Death): then
Sopor Sopor may refer to: * Sopor (sleep) * Sopor Aeternus, musical project * Methaqualone, by the trade name ''Sopor'' See also * Sopore Sopore, known as Suyyapur in antiquity, is a city in the Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It i ...
/
Hypnos In Greek mythology, Hypnos (; Ancient Greek: means 'sleep') also spelled Hypnus is the personification of sleep; the Roman equivalent is known as Somnus. His name is the origin of the word hypnosis. Pausanias wrote that Hypnos was a dear ...
(Sleep), Death's next of kin;
And Gaudia (Dreams of Guilty Joy). Death-dealing Bellum/
Polemos In Greek mythology, Polemos or Polemus ( grc-gre, Πόλεμος ''Pólemos''; "war") was a daemon; a divine personification or embodiment of war. No cult practices or myths are known for him, and as an abstract representation he figures mai ...
(War)
Is ever at the doors, and hard thereby
The Eumenides'/ Furies' beds of steel, where wild-eyed
Discordia Eris (; grc-gre, Ἔρις ', "Strife") is the Greek goddess of strife and discord. Her Roman equivalent is Discordia, which means the same. Eris's Greek opposite is Harmonia, whose Roman counterpart is Concordia. Homer equated her with th ...
/ Eris (Strife)
Her snaky hair with blood-stained fillet binds.

Seneca's account

The foul pool of Cocytus' sluggish stream lies here;
here the vulture, there the dole-bringing owl utters its cry,
and the sad omen of the gruesome screech-owl sounds.
The leaves shudder, black with gloomy foliage
where sluggish
Sopor Sopor may refer to: * Sopor (sleep) * Sopor Aeternus, musical project * Methaqualone, by the trade name ''Sopor'' See also * Sopore Sopore, known as Suyyapur in antiquity, is a city in the Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It i ...
/
Hypnos In Greek mythology, Hypnos (; Ancient Greek: means 'sleep') also spelled Hypnus is the personification of sleep; the Roman equivalent is known as Somnus. His name is the origin of the word hypnosis. Pausanias wrote that Hypnos was a dear ...
(Sleep) clings to the overhanging yew,
where sad Fames/ Limos (Hunger) lies with wasted jaws,
and Pudor/ Aedos (Shame), too late, hides her guilt-burdened face.
Metus/ Deimos (Dread) stalks there, gloomy Pavor/ Phobos (Fear) and gnashing
Dolor Dolor may refer to: * Pain * Suffering Suffering, or pain in a broad sense, may be an experience of unpleasantness or aversion, possibly associated with the perception of harm or threat of harm in an individual. Suffering is the basic element ...
/
Algos In Greek mythology, Algea (Ancient Greek: Algos) is used by Hesiod in the plural as the personification of pain, both physical and mental. They were the bringers of weeping and tears. Their Roman counterpart was Dolor. Etymology ''Algos'' in ...
(Pain),
sable Luctus/ Penthus (Grief), tottering Morbus/ Nosos (Disease)
and iron-girt
Bella Bella is a feminine given name. It is a diminutive form of names ending in -bella. ''Bella'' is related to the Italian, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese and Latin words for beautiful, to the name Belle, meaning ''beautiful'' in French. It increased in ...
/
Enyo Enyo (; grc, Ἐνυώ, Enȳṓ) is a goddess of war in Greek mythology. She frequently is associated with the war god Ares. Description She is called the "sister of War" by Quintus Smyrnaeus, in a role closely resembling that of Eris, the ...
(War); and last of all slow
Senectus/ Geras (Old Age) supports his steps upon a staff.

King's punishment

In Ovid's ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the ...

'', Limos is said to make her home in a freezing and gloomy wasteland at the farthest edge of

Scythia Scythia (Scythian: ; Old Persian: ; Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) or Scythica (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ), also known as Pontic Scythia, was a kingdom created by the Scythians during the 6th to 3rd centuries BC in the Pontic–Caspian steppe. Hi ...

, where the soil is barren and nothing grows. Demeter seeks her opposite's help there after being angered by the

Thessalian Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thess ...

king Erysichthon, who cut down a grove that was sacred to the goddess. By way of an

oread In Greek mythology, an Oread (; grc, Ὀρειάς, Oreiás, stem grc, Ὀρειάδ-, Oreiád-, label=none, la, Oreas/Oread-, from grc, ὄρος, , mountain, label=none; french: Oréade) or Orestiad (; grc, Ὀρεστιάδες, Orest ...

nymph (as the two can never meet in person), Demeter bids Limos curse Erysichthon with never-ending hunger. The nymph beholds the fearsome spirit in a stony field:

Her hair was coarse, her face sallow, her eyes sunken; her lips crusted and white; her throat scaly with scurf. Her parchment skin revealed the bowels within; beneath her hollow loins jutted her withered hips; her sagging breasts seemed hardly fastened to her ribs; her stomach only a void; her joints wasted and huge, her knees like balls, her ankles grossly swollen.
Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
, ''
Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the ...
'' 8.791 ff.

Limos does as Demeter commands; at midnight she enters Erysichthon's chamber, wraps the king in her arms and breathes upon him, "filling with herself his mouth and throat and lungs, and hannelingthrough his hollow veins her craving emptiness". Thereafter, Erysichthon is filled with an unquenchable hunger which ultimately drives him to eat himself.

Notes

References

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

, ''Hymn to Demeter edited with an introduction and commentary by N. Hopkinson'',

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pre ...

, 1984, . *

, ''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
* Hodkinson, Stephen, and Anton Powell. 1999. ''Sparta: new perspectives''. London: Duckworth. . * Kilarski, Marcin, ''Nominal Classification: A History of its Study From the Classical pPeriod to the Present'', John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2013, . * Lucius Annaeus Seneca, ''Tragedies''. Translated by Miller, Frank Justus. Loeb Classical Library Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1917
Online version at theio.com.
* Lucius Annaeus Seneca, ''Tragoediae''. Rudolf Peiper. Gustav Richter. Leipzig. Teubner. 1921
Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
* Publius Ovidius Naso, ''Metamorphoses'' translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
* Publius Ovidius Naso, ''Metamorphoses.'' Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892
Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library
*

Publius Vergilius Maro Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 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: th ...

, ''Aeneid.'' Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
* Publius Vergilius Maro, ''Bucolics, Aeneid, and Georgics''. J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1900
Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* West, Martin, ''Theogony: Edited with Prolegomena and Commentary by M. L. West, 1966, Clarendon Press.

External links

LIMOS from the Theoi Project
{{Greek mythology (deities), state=collapsed Greek goddesses Personifications in Greek mythology Metamorphoses characters Greek gods Deeds of Demeter Children of Eris (mythology) Famines