Kakia (Ancient Greek:Κακία,lit. 'malice, wickedness')[1] is theGreekgoddess ofvice andmoral badness (presumably,sin orcrime). She was depicted as a vain and heavily made-up woman dressed in revealing clothes, and was presented as the opposite ofArete, goddess of excellence andvirtue.
Kakia tried to tempt many people to becomeevil, but her most famoustemptation was that ofHeracles, one of the most famousdivineheroes inGreek mythology. She offered him a pleasant and easy life, devoid of hardships whereas Arete offered a glorious life but where work and effort would be needed.[2][3]Heracles saw Kakia's true colours when she revealed her name and thus the meaning of it in the below conversation:
You shall have the fruits of others' toil, and refrain from nothing that can bring you gain. For to my companions I give authority to pluck advantage where they will."
Now when Heracles heard this, he asked, "Lady, pray what is your name?"
"My friends call me Happiness," she said, "but among those that hate me I am nicknamed Kakia.—Excerpt fromXenophon,Memorabilia 2.1.25-26 telling of her competition withArete to sway Heracles to her side (evil).
As the Greek for "evil"Kakia is also mentioned at various points of theNew Testament, e.g.Matthew 6:34. In theGnostic tradition, Kakia is personified as the child of the first angel and Authadia with siblingsZelos (emulation),Phthonus (envy),Erinnys (fury), and Epithymia (lust).[4]
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