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Ponos
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In Greek mythology, Ponos or Ponus (Ancient Greek: Πόνος, romanized: Pónos, lit. 'Toil, Labor, Hardship')[1] is the personification of toil and stress.[2] According to Hesiod's Theogony, "painful" Ponos was the son of Eris (Strife), with no father mentioned.[3] Like all of the children of Eris given by Hesiod, Ponos is a personified abstraction, allegorizing the meaning of his name, and representing one of the many harmful things which might be thought to result from discord and strife, with no other identity.[4]
Cicero has the equivalent personification of the meaning of the Latin word labor as the offspring of Erebus and Night (Erebo et Nocte).[5] Although Ponos has a negative connotation in Hesiod, in a poem of Lucian (2nd century AD), he is seen as having the positive aspect of leading to a virtuous life.[6]
Notes
[edit]- ^ 'Ponos' is variously translated as 'Toil' (The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, s.v. πόνος 6; Most, p. 21; Hard, p. 31), 'Labor' (Gantz, p. 10), or 'Hardship' (Caldwell, p. 42 on 212–232). In ancient Greek the word ponos which meant 'hard work' could also mean 'hardship, 'suffering', 'distress' or 'trouble', see The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, s.v. πόνος 1, 3; compare LSJ, s.v. πόνος. For the ancient Greeks' negative associations regarding ponos, see Millett, s.v. labour; Cartledge, s.v. industry, Greek and Roman.
- ^ Thurmann, s.v. Ponos.
- ^ Hesiod, Theogony 226 (Caldwell, p. 43).
- ^ Hard, p. 31; Gantz, p. 10.
- ^ Thurmann, s.v. Ponos; Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3.44; compare Sophocles, The Women of Trachis 29–30.
- ^ Thurmann, s.v. Ponos; Lucian, Timon 31–33.
References
[edit]- Caldwell, Richard, Hesiod's Theogony, Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Company (June 1, 1987). ISBN 978-0-941051-00-2. Internet Archive.
- The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, edited by J. Diggle et al, Cambridge University Press, 2021 ISBN 978-0-521-82680-8.
- Cartledge, Paul, s.v. industry, Greek and Roman, published online 07 March 2016, in the Oxford Classical Dictionary, edited by Tim Whitmarsh, digital ed, New York, Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-938113-5.
- Cicero, Marcus Tullius, De Natura Deorum in Cicero: On the Nature of the Gods. Academics, translated by H. Rackham, Loeb Classical Library No. 268, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, first published 1933, revised 1951. ISBN 978-0-674-99296-2. Online version at Harvard University Press. Internet Archive.
- Gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: ISBN 978-0-8018-5360-9 (Vol. 1), ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3 (Vol. 2).
- Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004, ISBN 9780415186360. Google Books.
- Liddell, Henry George, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie, Clarendon Press Oxford, 1940. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Lucian, The Downward Journey or The Tyrant. Zeus Catechized. Zeus Rants. The Dream or The Cock. Prometheus. Icaromenippus or The Sky-man. Timon or The Misanthrope. Charon or The Inspectors. Philosophies for Sale, translated by A. M. Harmon. Loeb Classical Library No. 54. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1915. ISBN 978-0-674-99060-9. Online version at Harvard University Press.
- Millett, Paul C., s.v. labour, published online 30 July 2015, in the Oxford Classical Dictionary, edited by Tim Whitmarsh, digital ed, New York, Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-938113-5.
- Most, G.W., Hesiod, Theogony, Works and Days, Testimonia, Edited and translated by Glenn W. Most, Loeb Classical Library No. 57, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2018. ISBN 978-0-674-99720-2. Online version at Harvard University Press.
- Sophocles, The Women of Trachis in Sophocles: Antigone. The Women of Trachis. Philoctetes. Oedipus at Colonus Edited and translated by Hugh Lloyd-Jones, Loeb Classical Library No. 21, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1994. ISBN 978-0-674-99558-1. Online version at Harvard University Press.
- Thurmann, Stephanie, s.v. Ponos, in Brill’s New Pauly Online, Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and, Helmuth Schneider, English Edition by: Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes edited by: Manfred Landfester, English Edition by: Francis G. Gentry, published online: 2006.
Ponos
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In Greek mythology, Ponos (Ancient Greek: Πόνος, romanized: Pónos; lit. "toil" or "labor") is the daimon or personified spirit representing hard physical labor, extreme toil, and the anguish of strenuous effort, particularly in contexts like subsistence farming or grueling manual work.[1] He embodies the burdensome aspect of human endeavor that brings pain and stress, distinguishing him from mere diligence by emphasizing suffering and exhaustion.[1]
Ponos is most prominently attested as a son of Eris, the goddess of strife and discord, making him a sibling to other malevolent personifications such as the Algea (pains), Makhai (battles), and Phonoi (murders), all born from her without a father in the primordial lineage.[2] An alternative genealogy, recorded by the Roman author Cicero, positions Ponos as an offspring of Erebos (darkness) and Nyx (night), aligning him with the shadowy, primordial forces of the cosmos.[1] This parentage underscores his role among the kakoi daimones (evil spirits), a family of deities symbolizing societal and personal afflictions that arise from chaos and discord.[2]
Classical literature provides sparse but evocative depictions of Ponos, often in underworld or apocalyptic scenes. In Hesiod's Theogony (c. 8th–7th century BCE), he is listed among Eris's brood as a harbinger of hardship, evoking the relentless grind of ancient agrarian life.[1] Later Roman adaptations, such as Virgil's Aeneid (c. 1st century BCE) and Statius's Thebaid (c. 1st century CE), portray Ponos as a grim companion to death and punishment, lurking in Hades or accompanying figures like the Furies to amplify torment through unending labor.[1] Seneca's Oedipus (c. 1st century CE) further invokes him as a force of inevitable suffering, reinforcing his abstract yet visceral presence in Greco-Roman cosmology.[1] Though not a major deity with temples or cults, Ponos embodies the negative aspects of toil in ancient mythology.[1]