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 ...

, Poena or Poine () is the spirit of

punishment Punishment, commonly, is the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon an individual or group, meted out by an authority—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal law—as a deterrent to a particular action or beh ...

and the attendant of punishment to

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 ...

, the goddess of divine retribution. Some depictions are of a single being, and some depictions are of multiple beings—in the plural, the name is Poenai (); the Poenai are akin to the

Erinyes The Erinyes ( ; , ), also known as the Eumenides (, the "Gracious ones"), are chthonic goddesses of vengeance in ancient Greek religion and mythology. A formulaic oath in the ''Iliad'' invokes them as "the Erinyes, that under earth tak ...

. The Greek word ' () means "a recompense or a punishment". From this word is derived the

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 ...

word ''poena'' meaning "pain, punishment, penalty", which in turn gave rise to English words such as ''

subpoena A subpoena (; also subpœna, supenna or subpena) or witness summons is a writ issued by a government agency, most often a court, to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of ...

'' and ''pain''.

References

External links

LacusCurtius – PoenaGeorg Autenrieth, A Homeric DictionaryPoine: a study in ancient Greek blood-vengeance
By Hubert Joseph Treston, published in the United Kingdom, by Longmans, Green and Co., in 1923. Greek goddesses Roman goddesses Vengeance goddesses Justice goddesses Personifications in Greek mythology Personifications in Roman mythology {{Greek-deity-stub