Women, Weird and Wonderful: Invidia, Inspirational Goddess of Jealousy

When the goddess Athena had taken little baby Erichthonios into her care, she handed him over to three Athenian princesses. But she didn’t tell them, just presented them with a lidded basket: “Watch over it and don’t peak!” The sisters of course, opened the basket as soon as Athena had turned her back and screamed at what they found: a giggling little boy, intertwined with snakes. Athena was livid, put the child elsewhere and took revenge years later, when Hermes fell in love with one of the girls, Herse. He wrote her a heartfelt letter, to be delivered by her sister Aglauros. But Aglauros suddenly realised she wanted Hermes for herself and obstructed the god’s entrance to Herse’s room. An angered Hermes changed her into a marble statue and after that, decided Herse wasn’t worth the effort after all. Now, all of this happened because Athena had called on the goddess Invidia to intervene, the powerful and influencial goddess of jealousy. Note that this ancient goddess is still among us, even inspiring the most modern big tech companies.

The Discovery of the child Erichthonius, P.P. Rubens,

Gartenpalais Liechtenstein, Vienna, Austria

Invidia (from "The seven deadly sins"), Jacob de Backer,

Museo di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy

Did you know...

• The firm Nvidia wasn’t just inspired by the goddess of envy, they also chose the colour green, associated with jealousy, for their logo.

• The goddess Invidia is the Roman version of the Greek goddess of envy, Phtonos, and is also associated with Nemesis, goddess of retribution.