:Hysminai
{{Short description|Personifications of fighting in Greek mythology}}
File:Hesiod,_Theogony,_Venice,_Gr._464.jpg
In Greek mythology, the Hysminai or Hysminae ({{langx|grc|Ὑσμῖναι||Combats, Fights, Battles}}, from the plural of {{lang|grc|ὑσμίνη}})'Hysminai' is variously translated as 'Combats' (Most 2018a, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.21.xml p. 21]; Gantz, p. 10), 'Fights' (Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA31 p. 31]), 'Battles' (Caldwell, [https://archive.org/details/hesiodstheogony00hesi/page/42/mode/2up?view=theater p. 42 on 212–232]); compare with LSJ [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Du(smi%2Fnh s.v. ὑσμίνη]. are collectively the personification of combat. In Hesiod's Theogony, the Hysminai are listed among the children of Eris (Strife).Hesiod, Theogony 228 (Caldwell, [https://archive.org/details/hesiodstheogony00hesi/page/42/mode/2up?view=theater p. 43]). Like all of the children of Eris given by Hesiod, the Hysminai are a personified abstraction, allegorizing the meaning of their name, and representing one of the many harmful things which might be thought to result from discord and strife, with no other identity.Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA31 p. 31]; Gantz, p. 10.
The Posthomerica of Quintus Smyrnaeus describes the images decorating the shield of Achilles, which, among others such as Eris, the Furies, and the war-goddess Enyo, also included the Hysminai, alongside Thanatos (Death):
{{blockquote|Around him [Death] could be seen the ill-sounding goddesses of Combat [Hysminai] whose limbs dripped blood and sweat to the ground.Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/quintus_smyrnaeus-fall_troy/2018/pb_LCL019.245.xml 5.36].}}
The Roman mythographer Hyginus has "Fighting", the similar singular personification of the meaning of the Latin word pugna (fight, battle, combat)The Pocket Oxford Latin Dictionary, s.v. pugna. as the offspring of Ether [Aether] and Earth [Terra].Hyginus, Fabulae [https://latin.packhum.org/loc/1263/1/0#0 pr. 3.3] (Smith and Trzaskoma, p. 95 Theogony 3).
Associations
Hesiod's Theogony, line 228, lists four personified plural abstractions, the Hysminai (Combats), the Machai (Battles), the Phonoi (Murders), and the Androktasiai (Slaughters), as being among the offspring of Eris (Strife):
:Ὑσμίνας τε Μάχας τε Φόνους τ’ Ἀνδροκτασίας τεHesiod, Theogony
[https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.21.xml 228].
These four abstractions were associated in other ancient poetry. The nearly identical line, listing the same four (without capitalizations, and with different case endings), in the same order, occurs in Homer's Odyssey, where Odysseus describes the decorations on Heracles' golden belt:
:ὑσμῖναί τε μάχαι τε φόνοι τ᾿ ἀνδροκτασίαι τε.West, p. 231 on 228; Homer, Odyssey [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/homer-odyssey/1919/pb_LCL104.445.xml 11.612].
The abstraction ὑσμῖναί (combats) was also associated with μάχαι (battles) in the Homeric Hymn 5 To Aphrodite.Homeric Hymn 5 To Aphrodite, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/homeric_hymns_5_aphrodite/2003/pb_LCL496.161.xml 11]. For the association between Φόνος (Murder) and Ἀνδροκτασίη (Slaughter), see Shield of Heracles [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-shield/2018/pb_LCL503.15.xml 155], and between μάχαι (battles) and ἀνδροκτασίαι (manslaughters), see Homer, Iliad [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/homer-iliad/1924/pb_LCL170.331.xml 7.237], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/homer-iliad/1924/pb_LCL171.603.xml 24.548].
Notes
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References
- Caldwell, Richard, Hesiod's Theogony, Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Company (June 1, 1987). {{ISBN|978-0-941051-00-2}}. [https://archive.org/details/hesiodstheogony00hesi/mode/2up 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}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC Google Books].
- Homer, Iliad, Volume I: Books 1-12, translated by A. T. Murray, revised by William F. Wyatt, Loeb Classical Library No. 170, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1999. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL170/1924/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press]. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99579-6}}.
- Homer, Iliad, Volume II: Books 13-24, translated by A. T. Murray, revised by William F. Wyatt, Loeb Classical Library No. 171, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1999. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL171/1925/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press]. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99580-2}}.
- Homer, Odyssey, Volume I: Books 1-12, translated by A. T. Murray, revised by George E. Dimock, Loeb Classical Library No. 104, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1998 (first published 1919). {{ISBN|978-0-674-99561-1}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL104/1919/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
- Homeric Hymn 5 To Aphrodite, in Homeric Hymns. Homeric Apocrypha. Lives of Homer, edited and translated by Martin L. West, Loeb Classical Library No. 496, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2003. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99606-9}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL496/2003/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
- Hyginus, Gaius Julius, Fabulae in Apollodorus' Library and Hyginus' Fabulae: Two Handbooks of Greek Mythology, Translated, with Introductions by R. Scott Smith and Stephen M. Trzaskoma, Hackett Publishing Company, 2007. {{ISBN|978-0-87220-821-6}}.
- Hyginus, Gaius Julius, Fabulae. [https://latin.packhum.org/loc/1263/1/0#0 Latin text at packhum.org].
- 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. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=E61EDD48E4F1A22F839AA4DC149C0955?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.04.0057 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
- Most, G.W. (2018a), 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}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL057/2018/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
- Most, G.W. (2018b), Hesiod: The Shield, Catalogue of Women, Other Fragments, Loeb Classical Library, No. 503, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2007, 2018. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99721-9}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL503/2018/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
- Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica, edited and translated by Neil Hopkinson, Loeb Classical Library No. 19, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2018. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99716-5}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL019/2018/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
- West, M. L. (1966), Hesiod: Theogony, Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-814169-6}}.
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