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In Greek mythology, Ponos or Ponus (Ancient Greek: Πόνος, romanized: Pónos, lit. 'Toil, Labor, Hardship')[1] is the personification of toil and stress.[2] According to Hesiod's Theogony, "painful" Ponos was the son of Eris (Strife), with no father mentioned.[3] Like all of the children of Eris given by Hesiod, Ponos is a personified abstraction, allegorizing the meaning of his name, and representing one of the many harmful things which might be thought to result from discord and strife, with no other identity.[4]
Cicero has the equivalent personification of the meaning of the Latin word labor as the offspring of Erebus and Night (Erebo et Nocte).[5] Although Ponos has a negative connotation in Hesiod, in a poem of Lucian (2nd century AD), he is seen as having the positive aspect of leading to a virtuous life.[6]
- ^ 'Ponos' is variously translated as 'Toil' (The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, s.v. πόνος 6; Most, p. 21; Hard, p. 31), 'Labor' (Gantz, p. 10), or 'Hardship' (Caldwell, p. 42 on 212–232). In ancient Greek the word ponos which meant 'hard work' could also mean 'hardship, 'suffering', 'distress' or 'trouble', see The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, s.v. πόνος 1, 3; compare LSJ, s.v. πόνος. For the ancient Greeks' negative associations regarding ponos, see Millett, s.v. labour; Cartledge, s.v. industry, Greek and Roman.
- ^ Thurmann, s.v. Ponos.
- ^ Hesiod, Theogony 226 (Caldwell, p. 43).
- ^ Hard, p. 31; Gantz, p. 10.
- ^ Thurmann, s.v. Ponos; Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3.44; compare Sophocles, The Women of Trachis 29–30.
- ^ Thurmann, s.v. Ponos; Lucian, Timon 31–33.
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