Momus

A son of Nyx, the personification of censure, mockery, blame, ridicule, and stinging criticism.1 He mocked Zeus for being a violent god who lusts after women. Aphrodite was censured for the noise made by her feet, although he could no fault with her body.2 He also censured the man, formed by Hephaestus, for not putting a window or lattice in the breast for discerning secret thoughts.3 Momus constantly ridiculed and criticized the gods, and eventually Zeus exiled him from Olympus.

In a fable by Aesop, Momus acted as arbiter in a contest between Athena, Poseidon, and Zeus to see who could make the most useful item (the first house, the first bull, and the first man, respectively), but found fault in the works of all three.

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References

Notes

  1. Hesiod. Theogony, 214.
  2. Philostratus. Epistles, 21.
  3. Lucian. Hermotimus, 20.

Source

  • Aken, Dr. A.R.A. van. (1961). Elseviers Mythologische Encyclopedie. Amsterdam: Elsevier.