InGreek mythology,Limos (Ancient Greek:Λιμός,romanized: Līmós,lit. 'Famine, Hunger, Starvation')^[1] is the personification of famine or hunger. Of uncertain sex, Limos was, according to Hesiod'sTheogony, the offspring ofEris (Strife), with no father mentioned.^[2] Like all of the children of Eris given by Hesiod, Limos is a personified abstraction allegorizing the meaning of the Greek wordlimos, and represents one of the many harmful things which might be thought to result from discord and strife, with no other identity.^[3]

Limos was held in particular regard atSparta. The name ofFames, a figure inRoman mythology, is a translation ofLimos.^[4]

Ancient Greek is a gendered language, and the gender of the Greek wordlimos can be either masculine or feminine.^[5] The same gender uncertainty applied also to the personification, which could be considered as either a man or a woman. AtByzantium there was a statue of Limos as a man, while there was a painting of Limos as a woman atSparta.^[6]

In Hesiod'sWorks and Days, Limos is presented as the antithesis ofDemeter (the goddess of grain).^[7] According to Hesiod, in contrast to Demeter, who loves the hard-working man, filling his "granary with the means of life", Limos hates him, and "is ever the companion of a man who does not work".^[8] The GreekIambic poetSemonides (c. seventh century BC), describes Limos as "a hostile housemate, enemy of the gods".^[9] These archaic descriptions of Limos as a "companion" and "housemate" seemingly regard Limos as a being able to enter one's house and dwell there.^[10]

Limos was one of seven abstractions respected, and possibly deified, at Sparta. The other six werePhobos (Fear),Aidos (Modesty or Reserve),Hypnos (Sleep),Thanatos (Death),Gelos (Laughter), andEros (Love). These were all abstractions associated with physical states of the body, or psychological states with physical manifestations.^[11] Also at Sparta, there was a painting of Limos (as mentioned above) at the temple ofApollo^[12] "in the form of a woman"^[13] and described as "a woman pale, and emaciated, with her hands tied behind her."^[14]

• Athenaeus,The Learned Banqueters, Volume V: Books 10.420e-11, edited and translated by S. Douglas Olson,Loeb Classical Library No. 274, Cambridge, Massachusetts,Harvard University Press, 2009.ISBN 978-0-674-99632-8.Online version at Harvard University Press.
• Caldwell, Richard,Hesiod's Theogony, Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Company (June 1, 1987).ISBN 978-0-941051-00-2.Internet Archive.
• Codinus, George,De signis, Statius et Aliis spectatu dignis Constatinopoli inCorpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae:Georgius Codinus, edited byImmanuel Bekker, translated into Latin by Peter Lambeck, Bonn, Impensis Ed. Weberi, 1843.Internet Archive.
• Farone, Christopher, A., "Boubrôstis, Meat Eating and Comedy: Erysichthon as Famine Demon in Callimachus’ Hymn to Demeter" inGods and Religion in Hellenistic Poetry, edited by M.A. Harder, R.F. Recruit, G.C. Walker, Peeters Publishers, 2012.ISBN 978-9042924840.
• Gantz, Timothy,Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996. Two volumes:ISBN 978-0-8018-5360-9 (Vol. 1),ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3 (Vol. 2).
• Giuseppetti, Massimo, "Two Poets for a Goddess: Callimachus’ and Philicus’ Hymns to Demeter" inGods and Religion in Hellenistic Poetry, edited by M.A. Harder, R.F. Recruit, G.C. Walker, Peeters Publishers, 2012.ISBN 978-9042924840.
• Grimal, Pierre,The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996.ISBN 978-0-631-20102-1.Internet Archive.
• Hard, Robin (2004),The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004,ISBN 9780415186360.Google Books.
• Hesiod,Theogony, inHesiod, Theogony, Works and Days, Testimonia, Edited and translated by Glenn W. Most.Loeb Classical Library No. 57. Cambridge, Massachusetts,Harvard University Press, 2018.ISBN 978-0-674-99720-2.Online version at Harvard University Press.
• Hesiod,Works and Days, inHesiod, Theogony, Works and Days, Testimonia, Edited and translated by Glenn W. Most.Loeb Classical Library No. 57. Cambridge, Massachusetts,Harvard University Press, 2018.ISBN 978-0-674-99720-2.Online version at Harvard University Press.
• Hodkinson, Stephen, and Anton Powell. 1999.Sparta: new perspectives. London: Duckworth.ISBN 978-1-910589-32-8.
• Kilarski, Marcin,Nominal Classification: A History of its Study From the Classical Period to the Present,John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2013,ISBN 978-90-272-4612-7.
• Liddell, Henry George,Robert Scott,A Greek-English Lexicon, revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie,Clarendon Press Oxford, 1940.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Richer, Nicolas, "Aidōs at Sparta" inSparta: new perspectives, edited by Stephen Hodkinson, and Anton Powell, 1999, London: Duckworth.ISBN 978-1-910589-32-8.
• Semonides inGreek Iambic Poetry: From the Seventh to the Fifth Centuries BC, edited and translated by Douglas E. Gerber.Loeb Classical Library No. 259. Cambridge, Massachusetts:Harvard University Press, 1999.Online version at Harvard University Press.
• Shpherd, R.,Polyænus's Stratagems of war; translated from the original Greek, London, 1793.
• West, M. L. (1966),Hesiod: Theogony, Oxford University Press.ISBN 0-19-814169-6.

Look upLimos in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Greek deities
• Personifications in Greek mythology
• Children of Eris (mythology)
• Starvation

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• Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text