In Greek mythology, Dike (Ancient Greek: Δίκη, Díkē) is the goddess and personification of justice, fair judgment, and moral order. Born to Zeus and Themis, she is one of the three Horae alongside her sisters Eunomia (Order) and Eirene (Peace). Where her mother Themis presides over divine justice, Dike is associated with justice in the human world, and is often portrayed as Zeus's attendant who reports the wrongdoing of mortals to him. In later tradition she was identified with the maiden Astraea and with the constellation Virgo, into which she withdrew after abandoning a corrupted humanity.
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I.Family
According to Hesiod's Theogony, Dike was born to Zeus and his second consort Themis. Her mother Themis embodies divine justice, and the relationship between the two is often read as a division between heavenly justice, overseen by Themis, and the administration of justice among mortals, which falls to Dike.
She is one of the three second-generation Horae together with her sisters Eunomia (Order) and Eirene (Peace). Through Themis she is also counted a sister of the Moirai (the Fates), and through Zeus she has numerous divine half-siblings.
II.Mythology
Dike served as one of the three Horae, the goddesses of the seasons and of right order. In the account given by the poet Aratus, she dwelt upon the earth during the Golden and Silver Ages, living among human beings and witnessing the gradual decline of their morals.
Faced with mortal greed and wickedness, she warned that "wars and cruel bloodshed shall be unto men." Unable to maintain justice among them any longer, she withdrew to the heavens, where she came to be identified with the constellation Virgo. In this stellar role she received the epithet Astraea, associating her with innocence and purity.
III.Cult and Iconography
Dike appears in temples and poetry as an attendant of Zeus, and was given a prominent place in the sculptural program of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. In poetic tradition she sits beside her father and reports the unjust deeds of mortals to him.
She is typically depicted as a young, slender woman carrying a balance scale and wearing a laurel wreath. The constellation Libra, the Scales, was also associated with her, expressing the measured and balanced judgment she was held to administer in both the human and cosmic realms.