# Polemos

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{{Short description|Daemon in Greek mythology, a divine personification or embodiment of war}}

In [Greek mythology](/source/Greek_mythology), '''Polemos''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|ɒ|l|ɪ|ˌ|m|ɒ|s}} or '''Polemus''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|ɒ|l|ɪ|m|ə|s}} ({{langx|grc|Πόλεμος}} ''Pólemos''; "war") was a [daemon](/source/Daemon_(classical_mythology)); a divine [personification](/source/personification) or embodiment of [war](/source/war).<ref>Niall W. Slater, ''Spectator Politics: Metatheatre and Performance in Aristophanes'' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002), p. 119.</ref> No [cult practices](/source/Religion_in_ancient_Greece) or [myth](/source/myth)s are known for him, and as an abstract representation he figures mainly in allegory and philosophical discourse.<ref>William Kendrick Pritchett, ''The Greek State at War'' (University of California Press, 1979), vol. 3, p. 161.</ref>  The [Roman](/source/Roman_mythology) counterpart of this figure was Bellum. 

==Literature==
[Pindar](/source/Pindar) says that Polemos is the father of [Alala](/source/Alala), goddess of the [war-cry](/source/Battle_cry).<ref>[Pindar](/source/Pindar), Dithyrambs fragment 78.</ref> According to [Quintus Smyrnaeus](/source/Quintus_Smyrnaeus), Polemos was the brother of the war goddess [Enyo](/source/Enyo).<ref>Quintus Smyrnaeus, ''Fall of Troy'' 8. 424 ff</ref>
Other Greek personifications of war and the battlefield include [Ares](/source/Ares), [Eris](/source/Eris_(mythology)), the [Makhai](/source/Makhai), the [Hysminai](/source/Hysminai), the [Androktasiai](/source/Androktasiai), the [Phonoi](/source/Phonoi) and the [Keres](/source/Keres_(mythology)). In [Aesop](/source/Aesop's_Fables)'s fable of "War and his Bride", told by [Babrius](/source/Babrius) and numbered 367 in the [Perry Index](/source/Perry_Index),<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mythfolklore.net/aesopica/perry/367.htm|title=War and His Bride |website=mythfolklore.net|access-date=2024-08-25|archive-date=2019-08-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190810233203/http://www.mythfolklore.net/aesopica/perry/367.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> it is related how Polemos drew [Hubris](/source/Hubris) (insolent arrogance) as his wife in a marriage lottery. So fond has he become of her that the two are now inseparable. Therefore, Babrius warns, "Let not Insolence ever come among the nations or cities of men, finding favour with the crowd; for after her straightway War will be at hand".<ref>Loeb Classics Library, [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/babrius-fables/1965/pb_LCL436.87.xml?readMode=recto Babrius I.70] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223042501/http://www.loebclassics.com/view/babrius-fables/1965/pb_LCL436.87.xml?readMode=recto |date=2017-02-23 }}</ref>

In [Aristophanes](/source/Aristophanes)' ''[Acharnians](/source/The_Acharnians)'', it is reported that Polemos is banned from parties for burning vineyards, emptying the wine and disrupting the singing. He is set in opposition to [Dicaeopolis](/source/Dicaeopolis), who profitably champions peace and longs for marriage with Diallage, "Reconciliation". [Dionysos](/source/Dionysos), god of the life force, uses a vine stake as a weapon to wound the soldier Lamachus for neglecting him in favor of Polemos, but overall Aristophanes seem to be advocating a balance between Dionysos and Polemos, since the interests of the [polis](/source/polis) are served at times by peace and other times by war.<ref>Richard F. Moorton, Jr., "Dionysus or Polemos? The Double Message of Aristophanes' ''Acharnians''," in ''The Eye Expanded: Life and the Arts in Greco-Roman Antiquity'' (University of California Press, 1999), pp. 24, 39, 42, 45.</ref>

Polemos even makes a brief speaking appearance at the end of the prologue to Aristophanes' ''[Peace](/source/Peace_(Aristophanes))''. With Tumult ''(Kudoimos)'' as his henchman, he has buried Peace under stones in a cave. Now he makes a speech in which he announces that he is going to grind all the cities of Greece in a mortar, having plagued them for ten years. However, a series of puns on the names of the cities undermines his fearsome threat, making it appear as if he is preparing a relish for a feast.<ref>Carroll Moulton, ''Aristophanic poetry'', Göttingen 1981, [https://books.google.com/books?id=zdJ6OQ_JeeUC&dq=polemos+++poem&pg=PA87 p. 87] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240825215810/https://books.google.com/books?id=zdJ6OQ_JeeUC&dq=polemos+++poem&pg=PA87 |date=2024-08-25 }}</ref> Sending Tumult to obtain a [pestle](/source/pestle) sufficient for the task, he withdraws to the "house of [Zeus](/source/Zeus)" and does not reappear, though his potential return is a threat throughout the play. The scenario seems to be an original invention of Aristophanes.<ref>Carlo Ferdinando Russo, ''Aristophanes: An Author for the Stage'' (Routledge, 1962, 1994), pp. 135, 139, 143, 145; Slater, ''Spectator Politics,'' pp. 120, 280.</ref>

==Philosophy==
The [pre-Socratic](/source/pre-Socratic) philosopher [Heraclitus](/source/Heraclitus) described Polemos as "both the king and father of all", with the capacity to bring all into existence and to annihilate.<ref>Daniel Chapelle, ''Nietzsche and Psychoanalysis'' (State University of New York Press, 1993), p. 53, citing ''NER'' 19, frg. 53.</ref> For Heraclitus, Polemos "reveals the gods on the one hand and humans on the other, makes slaves on the one hand, the free on the other".<ref>Gregory Fried, ''Heidegger's Polemos: From Being to Politics'' (Yale University Press, 2000), p. 21.</ref> The fragment leaves it unclear as to whether Heraclitus thought of Polemos as an abstraction, a god, or a generalization of war, and this ambiguity is perhaps intentional.<ref>Fried, ''Heidegger's Polemos,'' p. 23.</ref> [Heidegger](/source/Heidegger) interpreted the ''polemos'' of Heraclitus as the principle of differentiation or "setting apart" (German ''Auseinandersetzung'').<ref>Fried, ''Heidegger's Polemos,'' p. 17.</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{wiktionary-inline}}
* Theoi Project, literary passages mentioning [http://www.theoi.com/Daimon/Polemos.html Polemos]

{{Ancient Greek personifications}}
{{Greek mythology (deities)}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Greek gods
Category:War gods
Category:Greek war deities
Category:Personifications in Greek mythology
Category:Daimons

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Polemos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polemos) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polemos?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.