Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

, Poena or Poine () is the spirit of

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

and the attendant of punishment to

Nemesis In ancient Greek religion, Nemesis, also called Rhamnousia or Rhamnusia ( grc, Ῥαμνουσία, Rhamnousía, the goddess of Rhamnous), was the goddess who personifies retribution, a central concept in the Greek world view. Etymology The n ...

, the goddess of divine retribution. Sometimes mentioned as one being, and sometimes in the plural as Poenai (Ποιναί) and are akin to the

Erinyes The Erinyes ( ; sing. Erinys ; grc, Ἐρινύες, pl. of ), also known as the Furies, and the Eumenides, were female chthonic deities of vengeance in ancient Greek religion and mythology. A formulaic oath in the ''Iliad'' invokes ...

. Her Roman equivalent may have been

Ultio Ultio ("Vengeance") was an List of Roman deities, ancient Roman goddess whose ''Glossary of ancient Roman religion#cultus, cultus'' was associated with Mars (mythology), Mars. An altar and golden statue of Ultio were set up in the Temple of Mars ...

. The Greek word ''poinḗ'' (), is meaning as penalty. And from this word the

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 ...

''poena'' meaning "pain, punishment, penalty" derived, which in turn gave rise to English words such as " subpoena" and "pain".

References

External links

LacusCurtius – PoenaGeorg Autenrieth, A Homeric Dictionary
Greek goddesses Roman goddesses Vengeance goddesses Justice goddesses Personifications in Greek mythology Personifications in Roman mythology {{Greek-deity-stub