Heimarmene

Heimarmene ( Greek  εἱμαρμένη ) is the embodiment of inevitable fate in Greek philosophy and mythology . As the goddess of fate , she is equated with Ananke .

The term Heimarmene already appears among the Ionic natural philosophers and centrally with Heraklit and was further developed by the older Stoa . The problem was always the contrast between the Heimarmene, the Providence , as a world law and inescapable fate on the one hand, and the action of the deity and the free will of the people on the other side.

The antagonism between providence and divine work was resolved by negating the possibility of divine work, which became one of the roots of ancient atheism .

The contrast between providence and human responsibility and free will was resolved in Poseidonios to the effect that the Heimarmene were considered to belong to the material world ( φύσις “physis”). The human body and the senses are subject to the physique, but not the soul, which results in the goal of freeing the soul from the influences of the physical world and the home poor.

Based on this point of view, the Heimarmene achieved great importance in ancient astrology , Neoplatonism and hermetics .

See also

• karma
• predestination
• fatalism

literature

• Wilhelm Gundel : Contributions to the development history of the terms Ananke and Heimarmene. Habilitation thesis, Giessen 1914
• Martin P. Nilsson : History of the Greek Religion. 2. Vol. Beck, Munich 1950. pp. 484f.
• Walter Pötscher : Heimarmene. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 2, Stuttgart 1967, Col. 972 f.