Dike (mythology)

Depiction

The sculptures of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia have as their unifying iconographical conception the dikē of Zeus, and in poetry she is often the attendant (πάρεδρος, paredros) of Zeus. In the philosophical climate of late 5th century Athens, dikē could be anthropomorphised as a goddess of moral justice. She was one of the three second-generation Horae, along with Eunomia (Order) and Eirene (Peace):

and Peace, steward of wealth for men, who was raised with them— the golden daughters of wise-counseling Themis.|Pindar, Olympian, 13.6–8; translation by William H. Race}}

She ruled over human justice, while her mother Themis ruled over divine justice. Her opposite was adikia ("injustice"); in reliefs on the archaic Chest of Cypselus preserved at Olympia, an attractive depiction Dikē throttled an ugly depiction of Adikia and beat her with a stick.

The later art of rhetoric treated the personification of abstract concepts as an artistic device, which devolved into the allegorizing that Late Antiquity bequeathed to patristic literature. In a further euhemerist interpretation, Dikē was born a mortal and Zeus placed her on Earth to keep mankind just. He quickly learned this was impossible and placed her next to him on Mount Olympus.

Mythology

One of her epithets was Astraea, referring to her appearance as the constellation Virgo. According to Aratus's account of the constellation's origin, Dike lived upon Earth during the Golden and Silver ages, when there were no wars or diseases, men raised fine crops and did not yet know how to sail. They grew greedy, however, and Dike was sickened. She proclaimed:

Dike left Earth for the sky, from which, as the constellation, she watched the despicable human race. After her departure, the human race declined into the Bronze Age, when diseases arose and humanity learned how to sail.

Another myth presents Dike as the avenger of Meletus, driven to suicide due to the rejection and torment he suffered at the hands of the youth Timagoras. Dike did not allow Timagoras to gloat after his suitor's fate, and as if compelled by divine forces, he threw himself from the same rock as Meletus and died.

In the New Testament

The consensus of most biblical scholars is that the Acts of the Apostles contains a reference to Dike in its final chapter. In Acts 27 and 28, the Apostle Paul is conducted toward Rome under guard after having appealed his legal case to Caesar. After getting caught in a storm, having their boat ran aground, and narrowly escaping death while making it to shore, they discover they have landed on Malta, where they are cared for by the local populace. While helping to fuel the fire, Paul is bitten by snake, and the locals conclude, "No doubt this man is a murderer! Although he has escaped from the sea, Justice herself has not allowed him to live!" (NET). Ben Witherington III writes of this incident,

It was common belief of the time that the sea was a place where the gods could exact vengeance, and the snakebite was likely perceived as Dike pursuing Paul after surviving the shipwreck.

Notes

References

• Athanassakis, Apostolos N., and Benjamin M. Wolkow, The Orphic Hymns, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013. . Internet Archive. Google Books.
• Brill’s New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Antiquity, Volume 4, Cyr-Epy, editors: Hubert Cancik, Helmuth Schneider, Brill, 2004. . Online version at Brill
• Pindar, Olympian Odes. Pythian Odes. Edited and translated by William H. Race. Loeb Classical Library No. 56. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1997. . Online version at Harvard University Press.
• Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.

References

1. (1880). "A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology". John Murray.
2. (1887). "Webster's Condensed Dictionary". George Routledge and Sons.
3. Hurwit, Jeffrey M.. (March 1987). "Narrative Resonance in the East Pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia". The Art Bulletin.
4. [[Sophocles]], ''[[Oedipus at Colonus]]'' 1377; [[Plutarch]], ''Life of Alexander'' 52; ''[[Orphic Hymn]] to Dike'' (61), 2 (Athanassakis and Wolkow, [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780891301196/page/50/mode/2up?view=theater p. 50]).
5. Burkert, Walter. (1985). "The special character of Greek anthropomorphism". Harvard University Press.
6. She is already given a genealogy, as daughter of [[Themis]], in [[Hesiod]], ''Theogony'' 901, and approaches the throne of Zeus with lamentation at human injustices in ''[[Works and Days]]'', 239f, both poems {{circa late 7th century BCE.
7. ''[[Brill's New Pauly]]'', [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/dike-e317890?s.num=0&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.brill-s-new-pauly&s.q=dike s.v. Dike].
8. [[#Pausanias_5_18_2. Minutely described by Pausanias]] in the later second century CE.
9. Aratus. (1921). "Callimachus, Hymns and Epigrams. Lycophron. Aratus.". William Heinemann.
10. Sudas. (June 17, 2009). "Meletos".
11. e.g., David Peterson ((2009). ''The Acts of the Apostles.'' In The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans.), John Pohill ((1992). ''Acts'' in The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman), and Ben Witherington ((1998). ''The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary''. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.)
12. Acts 25:11
13. Acts 27:1-44
14. Acts 28:1-2
15. {{Bibleverse. Acts. 28:4. NET
16. [[Novum Testamentum Graece. NA28]], [[SBL Greek New Testament. SBLGNT]], and UBS5 all agree with the reading Πάντως φονεύς ἐστιν ὁ ἄνθρωπος οὗτος ὃν διασωθέντα ἐκ τῆς θαλάσσης ἡ δίκη ζῆν οὐκ εἴασεν.
17. (1998). "The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary". [[Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing]].
18. (1980). "Hellenistic Preconceptions of Shipwreck and Pollution as a Concept for Acts 27–28.". Harvard Theological Review.