Pseudologoi

The Pseudologoi, the “Lying Words”, are the personified lies of Greek mythology. In Hesiod’s Theogony they are children of Eris (Strife) and belong to a family of personified evils, among them Toil, Forgetfulness, Famine, Battles and Murders. The Greek name joins pseudos, “lie”, and logos, “word” or “tale” (Hesiod, Theogony 226–232).

Parentage and Siblings

Hesiod makes Eris the daughter of Night (Nyx), born after Nemesis, Apate (Deceit), Philotes (Love) and Old Age (Theogony 223–225). Eris in turn bore a long list of children, with no father named: Ponos (Toil), Lethe (Forgetfulness), Limos (Famine), the tearful Algea (Pains), the Hysminai (Fights), the Makhai (Battles), the Phonoi (Murders), the Androktasiai (Manslaughters), the Neikea (Quarrels), the “Lying Words”, the Amphillogiai (Disputes), Dysnomia (Lawlessness), Ate (Ruin) and Horkos (Oath), who is a plague to men whenever one swears a false oath willingly (Theogony 226–232).

In the Greek text of line 229, the words stand side by side as pseudeas logous, “lying words”. They are a plural group of beings, not a single god, and Hesiod gives them no individual names or stories.

Lies in Hesiod’s Other Poem

Lies and words of the same kind appear in the Works and Days, as part of the harm the gods send to men. When Zeus has the first woman made, Hermes puts into her breast “lies and coaxing words and a deceitful nature” (Hesiod, Works and Days 77–80). Hesiod does not call these the Pseudologoi.

Falsehood in the Fable of Prometheus and Dolus

A different story about Falsehood is told in a Latin fable of Phaedrus. Prometheus was shaping a figure of Truth, so that it could govern the dealings of men, when a summons from Jupiter called him away, and he left his apprentice Dolus (Guile) in the workshop. Dolus used the time to make a copy with the same face and size, but the clay ran out before he could add the feet. When Prometheus came back he was amazed at how alike the two were, fired both in the kiln and breathed life into them. Truth walked with a measured step, while the copy, which had no feet, stood fixed where it was; it became Falsehood (Phaedrus, Fables, Appendix 5). In this fable Falsehood is a single figure, not the group of Hesiod’s children of Eris.

Pseudologoi Sources

The family of Eris is listed in Hesiod, Theogony 211–232. Hesiod, Works and Days 77–80, shows lies as a gift of the gods to the first woman. The fable of Prometheus, Dolus, Truth and Falsehood is in Phaedrus, Fables, Appendix 5.

See Also: Eris, Nyx, Apate, Lethe, Ate, Horcus, Pandora, Prometheus