In Greek mythology, Eunomia (Ancient Greek: Εὐνομία) is a minor but significant goddess of law and legislation, her name meaning "good order" or "governance according to good laws." She was by most accounts a daughter of Zeus and Themis, and one of the second generation of the Horae alongside her sisters Dike (Justice) and Eirene (Peace). Together these goddesses upheld the stability of society, and Eunomia also carried associations with springtime green pastures. Her direct counterpart was Dysnomia (Lawlessness).
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I.Family
Eunomia was by most accounts the daughter of Zeus and the Titaness Themis, the goddess of divine order and law. Through this parentage she belonged to the second generation of the Horae.
Her sisters among the Horae were Dike, the personification of justice, and Eirene, the personification of peace. The three were grouped together as goddesses of law and order who maintained the stability of human society.
II.Role and mythology
As a personified abstraction, Eunomia embodied lawful order and proper governance, the condition of a community living under sound laws. Her opposite number was Dysnomia, the personification of lawlessness, and the Athenian lawgiver Solon set the two in pointed contrast in his political verse.
Eunomia also bore a secondary aspect as a springtime deity associated with green pastures, a sense preserved in the relationship between her name and the term for grazing land.
III.Worship and depiction
Together with her sisters Dike and Eirene, Eunomia was worshipped chiefly in the cities of Athens, Argos, and Olympia, where the Horae were honored as guardians of social order.
In Athenian vase painting she was frequently depicted among the companions of Aphrodite, where she represented the lawful and obedient conduct expected of women in marriage.
IV.Legacy
Eunomia's name survives in modern astronomy: the large main-belt asteroid Eunomia and the Eunomia family of asteroids associated with it are named after the goddess.