Themis is one of the six sons and six daughters of Gaia and Uranus, that is, of Earth with Sky.
Themis (meaning "law of nature" rather than "human ordinance"), she "of good counsel," was the embodiment of divine order, law and custom. When Themis is disregarded, Nemesis brings just and wrathful retribution.... Themis is not wrathful: she, "of the lovely cheeks"...
She built the Oracle at Delphi and was herself oracular. According to another legend, Themis received the Oracle at Delphi from Gaia and later gave it to Phoebe.
Children with Zeus: Horae: the Hours.
1. First Generation (other names are also known): Auxo (the Grower); Carpo (the Fruit-bringer); Thallo (the Plant-raiser).
2. Second Generation: Dike (Trial), known as Astraea in Roman mythology, the constellation Virgo; Eirene (Peace); Eunomia (Rule of Law).
A Roman equivalent of one aspect of Hellenic Themis, as the personification of the divine rightness of law, was Iustitia (Anglicized as Justitia). Her origins are in civic abstractions of a Roman mindset, rather than archaic mythology, so drawing comparisons is not fruitful. Portrayed as an impassive woman, blindfolded and holding scales and a cornucopia, the sculpted figure outside a county courthouse is Iustitia or Lady Justice, not Themis.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Themis
For you, Jarrad:
Who exactly Virgo was considered to represent is uncertain; in history, it has been associated with nearly every prominent goddess, including Ishtar, Isis, Cybele, Mary the Mother of Jesus, and Athena. Virgo may also feature, along with Ursa Major, and Ursa Minor, as part of the source of the myth of Callisto, either as Callisto herself, or as Hera. Persephone (who in some mythologies, notably the Eleusinian Mysteries, was considered to be a form of Demeter) is often mentioned as well, Virgo being visible mainly in the spring months when she was believed to have risen from the underworld.
According to one interpretation, the constellation depicts Astraea [aka Dike], the virgin daughter of the god Zeus and the goddess Themis. Astraea was known as the goddess of justice, and was identified as this constellation due to the presence of the scales of justice Libra nearby, and supposedly ruled the world at one point with her wise ways until mankind became so callous she returned to the skies disgusted.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgo_%28constellation%29#Mythology
And for you, Noah, Kait, and Kyle:
The best picture I could find in which Libra actually looks like something:
http://www.skyguide.org.uk/constellations/libra/libra.gif
Or, for Noah, (scroll down to see Libra):
http://illusionsetc.blogspot.com/2004/01/scales.html
The constellation, which had originally formed part of the claws of the scorpion (Scorpio), is the youngest of the Zodiac and the only one not to represent a living creature. In later Greek mythology, the constellation, which when considered on its own looks vaguely like a set of scales, was considered to depict the scales held by Astraea (identified as Virgo), the goddess of justice.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libra_%28constellation%29#Mythology
I'll look into Scorpio at a later point.
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2.) When Themis is disregarded, Nemesis brings just and wrathful retribution. Nemesis.
From later, of course (1837)
Nemesis...also called Rhamnousia/Rhamnusia ("the goddess of Rhamnous"), at her sanctuary at Rhamnous, north of Marathon, in Greek mythology was the spirit of divine retribution against those who succumb to hubris...
Inexorable divine retribution is a major theme in the Hellenic world view, providing the unifying theme of the tragedies of Sophocles and many other literary works. In some metaphysical mythology, Nemesis produced the egg from which hatched two sets of twins [i.e. from Zeus and Leda]: Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra, and the Dioscuri, Castor (Kástor) and Polydeukes (Polydeúkes).
The word Nemesis originally meant the distributor of fortune, neither good nor bad, simply in due proportion to each according to his deserts; then, nemesis came to suggest the resentment caused by any disturbance of this right proportion, the sense of justice which could not allow it to pass unpunished. O. Gruppe (1906) and others connect the name with "to feel just resentment". From the fourth century onwards, Nemesis, as the just balancer of Fortune's chance, could be associated with Tyche.
And then, the Romans (it certainly feels like something is lost here):
In Roman mythology, Invidia was the sense of envy or jealousy, who might be personified for strictly literary purposes, as a goddess, a Roman equivalent to Nemesis in Greek mythology. The Romans used one word, invidia to cover the range of two Greek words, Nemesis and Phthonos. Invidia is one of the Seven Deadly Sins, and becomes more concrete, invariably depicted as a woman, in Late Gothic and Renaissance iconography.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_%28mythology%29
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invidia
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3.) Nemesis would 'punish' those who succumb to hubris. Hubris.
In Ancient Greece, "hubris" referred to actions taken in order to shame and humiliate the victim, thereby making oneself seem superior.
Hubris was a crime in classical Athens. It was considered the greatest sin of the ancient Greek world. The category of acts constituting hubris for the ancient Greeks apparently broadened from the original specific reference to molestation of a corpse, or a humiliation of a defeated foe, to molestation, or irreverent, "outrageous treatment", in general. The meaning was further generalized in its modern English usage to apply to any outrageous act or exhibition of pride or disregard for basic moral law.
...it is now generally agreed that the Greeks did not generally think of hubris as a religious matter, still less that it was normally punished by the gods.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubris
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