Dysnomia

Dysnomia (Lawlessness) was a spirit of lawlessness in Greek mythology, a daughter of Eris (Strife). She appears in Hesiod’s Theogony in the list of Eris’ children, beside her sister Ate (Ruin). Her name is the opposite of that of Eunomia, the goddess of good order, and no myth is told about her.

Family

Hesiod says that Night bore Eris, strife with the stubborn heart (Theogony 225). Eris in turn bore Ponos (Toil), Lethe (Forgetfulness), Limos (Famine) and tearful Algea (Pains), then the Hysminai (Battles), Machai (Fights), Phonoi (Murders), Androktasiai (Manslaughters), Neikea (Quarrels), Pseudologoi (Lies), Amphillogiai (Disputes), Dysnomia and Ate, who are intimate companions of one another, and Horkos (Oath), who most harms men on earth when someone swears a false oath on purpose (Hesiod, Theogony 226–232). Hesiod names no father for Eris or for her children, and gives Dysnomia no consort or offspring. She is therefore a granddaughter of Night.

The Name

Dysnomia means “bad law” or lawlessness, from the Greek words for “bad” and “law” or “custom” (nomos). It is the opposite of Eunomia, “good order,” whom Hesiod names as one of the Horae, the daughters of Zeus and Themis, together with Dike (Justice) and Eirene (Peace), who “mind the works of mortal men” (Hesiod, Theogony 901–903). Pindar likewise calls Eunomia, with her sisters Dike and Eirene, the sure foundation of cities (Pindar, Olympian 13.6–8). Dysnomia is the condition of a city or a people in which this good order is missing.

Dysnomia and Ate

In Hesiod’s list Dysnomia comes immediately before Ate and is named with her: both are described as synetheas allelesin, familiar or intimate with one another (Theogony 230). Ate is the ruin that blinds people and leads them to disaster. Homer calls her the eldest daughter of Zeus, who walks on the heads of men and harms them, and tells how Zeus, in anger, seized her by the hair and flung her from heaven to the world of men (Homer, Iliad 19.91–131); in Hesiod she is instead a child of Eris. Hesiod tells no story about Dysnomia and Ate together.

Dysnomia Sources

Hesiod, Theogony 225–232, 901–903; Pindar, Olympian 13.6–8; Homer, Iliad 19.91–131.

See Also: Eris, Ate, Eunomia, Dike, Eirene, Horae, Nyx, Horcus