A Theoretical Investigation of the Concept of Nemesis in Greek Tragedy and African Cosmological Justice Systems

The Greek concept of nemesis, divine retributive justice that corrects moral imbalance and punishes arrogant transgression (hybris), operates as a fundamental structuring principle in Greek tragic drama and religious thought. This study develops an original theoretical investigation of nemesis across Greek tragedy and selected African cosmological justice systems, using Yoruba (Nigeria), Akan (Ghana), and Buganda (Uganda) traditions as primary comparative cases. A philosophical-comparative methodology was adopted, drawing on theoretical analysis of nemesis in Greek literary and philosophical sources (Hesiod, Aeschylus, Plato, and Aristotle), current scholarship in Greek religion and ethics from 2018 to 2023, and field research involving interviews with 35 traditional title holders, indigenous priests, and cultural philosophers in Ondo, Ekiti, and Oyo States of South West Nigeria, complemented by analysis of existing ethnographic literature on Yoruba cosmological ethics. The theoretical investigation proposes an original concept, Transcosmological Retributive Justice (TRJ), as a theoretical category that captures the functional and structural parallels between nemesis and its African analogues without requiring claims of historical influence. The TRJ concept is developed through analysis of the figure of Nemesis herself, the role of chi and ori in Igbo and Yoruba cosmological justice, and the function of the concept in social regulation across both traditions. Original theoretical contributions include a typology of retributive justice forms and a model of transcultural moral cosmology.

Keywords: nemesis, Greek tragedy, Yoruba cosmology, retributive justice, theoretical investigation