Nemesis: A Concept of Retribution in Ancient Greek Thought and Cult

Abstract

This thesis is a study of the phenomenon of the abstract concept of nemesis together with its later personification, the goddess Nemesis, in the Archaic and Classical periods of ancient Greece. It seeks to ascertain how and why it was that an abstract concept of 'righteous indignation', later becoming 'divine retribution', would ever have been thought of as an appropriate concept to personify and worship as a deity.