Featured Mesomedes' "Hymn to Nemesis" numismatically illustrated

The Greek goddess Nemesis appears on numerous ancient coins. On Roman imperial coins, she is typically depicted as winged, holding a caduceus or olive-branch and sometimes with a snake at her feet. On Roman provincial coins, she often appears without wings, wearing a chiton, holding a bridle, scales, or cubit-rule, and with a wheel at her feet.

Post your coins that portray her!

In ancient Greek religion, Nemesis was the goddess who enacted retribution against those who succumb to hubris. The best description of her role and attributes, in my opinion, is a hymn to the goddess written by Mesomedes.

Mesomedes of Crete was a Roman-era Greek kitharode and lyric poet. He was a freedman and favorite of Emperor Hadrian, who made him his chief musician; he also served under Hadrian's successor, Antoninus Pius.

Only 15 of his poems have come down to us, but four of them have survived along with musical notation! His "Hymn to Nemesis" is one of of these. As such, modern musicologists are able to recreate what it may have sounded like:



Here's another interpretation (instrumental):



Here is the full Greek text[1] It's in a Doric accent, so long alpha is used where Attic would use eta. It's not hard to follow along with the singer in the first video:

Ύμνος εις Νέμεσιν
Μεσομήδης ὁ Κρής

Νέμεσι πτερόεσσα βίου ῥοπά,
κυανῶπι θεά, θύγατερ Δίκας,
ἃ κοῦφα φρυάγματα θνατῶν,
ἐπέχεις ἀδάμαντι χαλινῷ,
ἔχθουσα δ’ ὕβριν ὀλοὰν βροτῶν,
μέλανα φθόνον ἐκτὸς ἐλαύνεις.
ὑπὸ σὸν τροχὸν ἄστατον ἀστιβῆ
χαροπὰ[2] μερόπων στρέφεται τύχα,
λήθουσα δὲ πὰρ πόδα βαίνεις,
γαυρούμενον αὐχένα κλίνεις.
ὑπὸ πῆχυν[3] ἀεὶ βίοτον μετρεῖς,
νεύεις δ’ ὑπὸ κόλπον ὀφρῦν ἀεὶ[4]
ζυγὸν μετὰ χεῖρα κρατοῦσα.
ἵλαθι μάκαιρα δικασπόλε
Νέμεσι πτερόεσσα βίου ῥοπά.

Νέμεσιν θεὸν ᾄδομεν ἄφθιτον,
Νίκην τανυσίπτερον ὀμβρίμαν
νημερτέα καὶ πάρεδρον Δίκας,
ἃ τὰν μεγαλανορίαν βροτῶν
νεμεσῶσα φέρεις κατὰ Ταρτάρου.

Here is my translation, illustrated with coins:

Hymn to Nemesis
Mesomedes of Crete

Nemesis, winged tipper of the scale of life ...


Nemesis holding scale and short staff (cubit rule?); (torture) wheel at her feet. Julia Domna, AD 193-211, Thrace, Pautalia, Æ 22.3 mm, 5.97 g; Ruzicka 482, Moushmov 4222.

... dark-faced goddess, daughter of Justice
who bridles with an adamantine bit
the vain whinnying of mortals,
and hating the destructive hubris of humans,
you drive out dark resentment.


Nemesis holding arshin (cubit rule?) and bridle; (torture) wheel at feet. Gordian III and Tranquillina, A.D. 238-244, Moesia Inferior, Tomis, Æ 4.5 assaria, 28.92 mm, 15.89 g, 7 h; AMNG I 3537, Varbanov 5701, Moushmov 2279, Cf. SNG Cop 305.

By your unceasing torture-wheel, leaving no tracks,
mankind's grim fortune turns
and, unnoticed, you come in an instant,
bending the haughty neck.
With your cubit-rule you always measure the lifespan
and you nod always with a furrowed brow,
seizing the yoke with your hand.
Be gracious, blessed dispenser of justice,
Nemesis, winged tipper of the scale of life.


Winged Nemesis advancing right, hand bent and plucking chiton at her neck, holding bridle in left hand. Pseudo-autonomous issue, time of Septimius Severus, AD 193-211, Ionia, Smyrna, Æ 26.5 mm, 8.03 g, 6 h; SNG Cop 1304.

Of Nemesis we sing, imperishable goddess,
mighty Victory with long wings,
infallable and sharing the throne with Justice,
Who, with righteous anger at the haughtiness of humans,
casts them down into Tartarus.

~~~

Notes:

1. E. Heitsch: Die griechischen Dichterfragmente der römischen Kaiserzeit, i (Göttingen, 1961, 2/1963), 24ff

2. χαροπός ή όν nom.sg.f. grim?, fierce?; blue-grey, grey; the meaning of this word is uncertain.

3. πῆχυς εος ὁ forearm; cubit. However, when used as an epithet of Nemesis it means "cubit-rule" (s.v. πῆχυς εος ὁ V. 2, Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by. Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1940).

4. νεύω incline; nod, nod assent. κόλπος ὁ lap, bosom; fold of a garment. ὀφρῦς ύος ἡ eyebrow, brow; with νεύω often to nod as a sign. The text of this line makes no sense if taken literally. From context, and taking κόλπος metaphorically in the sense of "furrow" (it can mean fold of a garment or any grooved or hollowed out thing; s.v. κόλπος ὁ II and III, Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott, ibid), I have translated as "nod with a furrowed brow."

 

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Great post. Thanks very much for this. I only have one coin with nemesis.

Vespasian, 69-79 A.D. AR Denarius, 3.16g. 21.41mm. Rome, 73 A.D.

Obv: IMP CAES VESP AVG CENS. Laureate head of Vespasian to right.

Rev: MAXIM PONTIF. Nemesis walking to right holding caduceus over snake.

C 385, RIC 544. SRCV I (2000) 2304

Ex: E. E. Clain-Stefanelli collection. Ex: Numismatica Ars Classica - Auction 92 Part 2, Lot 2133 May 24, 2016 275 CHF ; Ex: Ed waddell September 7, 2016

Coin depicted in the Wildwinds.com database.

 

Very cool! Thanks for the translation. Not the most easygoing of goddesses, that Nemesis. I suspect a death metal version of the Hymn might please her.

 

Excellent post

 

Good job, RC. Not only tracking down those musical interpretations, but also doing the homework on the text yourself. Most impressive, and very interesting to hear what might have been.

 

Thank you @Roman Collector ... you are bringing History to life! Very nice work, and a very fun read (and a fun listen while reading along!)

 

What an interesting post! I'm a bit scared of Nemesis now ("torture wheel"? )

Those were some interesting and diverse musical interpretations. Although rather foreign to my ear, I preferred the second (instrumental) version.

I have no Nemesis coins. Definitely going on the list though, thanks to the spate of Nemesis coins shown recently!

 

Brilliant post, sir!

 

@Roman Collector - glad to see this post surfacing as a featured post. I have none to share but enjoyed the post and especially like the last coin with "Nemesis, winged tipper of the scale of life".

 

Love the connection, poetry and coins! Nice work on a cool poem! Another provincial depiction is the two Nemeses.

Aeolis, Temnos. Pseudo-autonomous Ae25. Senate/Nemeses

Nemesis holding cubit.

Bithynia, Prusias ad Hypium. Diadumenian AE20

 

Cool write up and cool ancient tunes @Roman Collector !

I picked this coin up for the Nemesis reverse!



Postumus Antoninianus, 260-269 AD

O:Obv: IMP C POSTVMVS P F AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right. R: Rev: IMP X COS V, Nemesis with palm branch in left hand. 20 mm, 3.3g.

 

I decided to revive this wonderful thread by @Roman Collector from 2019, rather than starting a new one, because the ancient Greek Hymn to Nemesis that he presents -- with his own translation! -- explains better than I ever could several of that goddess's attributes depicted on my new Roman Provincial coin of Philip I and Otacilia Severa.

Philip I & Otacilia Severa, AE 26, 244-249 AD, Mesembria, Thrace [Nessebar, Bulgaria]. Obv. Confronted busts of Philip I, right, laureate, draped, and cuirassed, and Otacilia Severa, left, wearing diadem (or stephane), ΑΥΤ Μ ΙΟΥΛ ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟC Μ WΤ; in exergue (in two lines) ϹƐΒΗΡΑ-ϹƐ / Rev. Nemesis standing facing, head left, holding marked cubit rule with extended right hand and bridle with left hand, wheel at her feet left, ΜΕ-ϹΑΜ-ΒΡΙΑΝΩΝ. RPC [Roman Provincial Coinage] Vol. VIII Online 48407 [temporary ID number] (see https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/type/48407); SNG Cop. 664 [Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, Copenhagen, The Royal Collection of Coins and Medals, Danish National Museum, Part 6: Thrace 1: The Tauric Chersonese-Thrace (Mesembria) (Copenhagen 1942); Varbanov 4254 [Ivan Varbanov, Greek Imperial Coins And Their Values, Volume II: Thrace (from Abdera to Pautalia) (Bourgas, 2005)]. [Obv. Die match: Naumann Auction 49, Lot 354, Jan. 8, 2017 (RPC VIII Online ID 48407, Specimen 17; see https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/obv/333697/high.] 26 mm., 10.5 g.



Before one gets to the symbolism of what Nemesis holds, it's necessary to identify the objects. The dealer described her as holding a “cubit rule and ribbon.” It's easy enough to tell that the object she holds in her extended right hand must be the "cubit rule" -- especially because one can see the ruled markings on it, like on a modern ruler -- but even I can see that the diamond-shaped object in her left hand isn't a ribbon! Some examples of similar types I looked at were described as Nemesis holding a “cubit rule and rod,” which makes no sense at all, because they're the same thing, except that the former has markings for measurement. RPC describes Nemesis as holding a cubit rule and (horse) bridle on this type, so that's what I went with, even though it was strange-looking for a horse bridle and wasn't shaped much like any bridle I've seen on other coin types.

But then I found this thread, and saw that the bridle on @Roman Collector's Nemesis coin of Gordian III and Tranquillina from Tomis is shaped in exactly the same way. In fact, the design of the two reverses is very similar in general, and both have the conjoined busts of the reigning emperor and empress on the obverse. Note that Mesembria [now Nessebar, Bulgaria] and Tomis [now Constanta, Romania] were in different provinces, one in Thrace and the other in Moesia Inferior, but a map shows that Mesembria was right on Thrace's northern border with Moesia Inferior, and both were on the Black Sea coast. According to Google Maps, if one drives up the coast, Tomis is 247 km. north of Mesembria. So perhaps the similarity in the two coins shouldn't be surprising.*

As for the symbolism of the objects shown with Nemesis -- the bridle, the cubit-rule, and the wheel -- the explanation is provided by the following lines from @Roman Collector's translation of the ancient hymn, as elaborated in the rest of his post:

"... dark-faced goddess, daughter of Justice
who bridles with an adamantine bit
the vain whinnying of mortals, . . .

By your unceasing torture-wheel, leaving no tracks,
mankind's grim fortune turns . . .

With your cubit-rule you always measure the lifespan . . . ."

* My coin showing a griffin representing Nemesis -- complete with wheel -- is also from Tomis. See the discussion of griffins as Nemesis at https://www.cointalk.com/threads/griffins-as-representations-of-nemesis.374292/#post-5581847:


***
This isn't my thread, of course, but I hope that @Roman Collector won't mind if I suggest that people post their own coins depicting Nemesis, their coins from Mesembria or Tomis, and/or any other Roman Provincial coins with confronted busts of an emperor and empress (or an augustus with his caesar). My only other one showing a confronted emperor and empress is my coin of Gordian III and Tranquillina, also from Thrace, specifically from Anchialus [now Pomorie, Bulgaria]. also on the Black Sea coast, just 19.3 km south of Mesembria/Nessebar:


Plus I have a Pentasssarion with confronted busts of Macrinus and Diadumenian from Moesia Inferior, specifically Marcianopolis (now Devnya, Bulgaria, about 25 km. from the Black Sea coast):



Almost all the Roman Provincial confronted emperor and empress busts (or other confronted busts) I've seen are from that region (Thrace, Moesia Inferior, etc.). As is true for the "lathe dimples" visible on all four of my coins in this post, as well as @Roman Collector's Gordian III & Tranquillina/Nemesis coin from Tomis. See the discussion in the thread at https://www.cointalk.com/threads/finally-a-diadumenian.361348/. See also Butcher, Kevin, Roman Provincial Coins: An Introduction to the Greek Imperials (Seaby, London, 1988) at p, 67: "The coins [of Moesia Inferior] frequently have a small circular depression in the centre of the obverse and reverse, possibly the result of being clamped in a sort of lathe device used to smooth off the edges of the coin."

 

Wonderful, @DonnaM! I'm glad you found this article to be so helpful! Beautiful coins you have!