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Dike, a MythSource painting
Greek

Dike

Holy Justice · All-Seeing Justice · Virgin Daughter of Zeus

01Identity

Dike in Greek tradition

Dike was born to Zeus and Themis alongside Eunomia and Eirene, becoming one of the Horai who helped sustain Zeus’s ordered rule after Cronus’s defeat. She is a Greek deity of justice and righteousness, law, social order, judgement, arbitration, punishment, and moral balance. Dike brought human wrongdoing before Zeus, whose penalties could include damaged fields, hunger, plague, military defeat, collapsed walls, and lost ships.

Top questions

The quick answers

  • Who is Dike?

    Dike is a Greek deity associated with justice and righteousness; law and social order; judgment and arbitration; punishment of wrongdoing; and moral balance.
    Source

    Source

    • Greek Mythology and Poetics
    • Classical Mythology a to Z

  • What is Dike the goddess of?

    Dike is associated with justice and righteousness; law and social order; judgment and arbitration; punishment of wrongdoing; and moral balance.
    Source

    Source

    • Greek Mythology and Poetics

  • What family links are recorded for Dike?

    Father: Nomos, Mother: Eusebia, 2 siblings.
02Family

Dike’s family, at a glance

NomosZeusEusebiaThemis
DikeEireneEunomia
03The names

The names Dike answers to

Astraea

The star-maiden later identified with Dike

SourceClassical Mythology a to Z

Dikaiosyne

Justice or righteousness personified

SourceClassical Mythology a to Z

Dikē

The Greek form of her name, meaning justice

SourceClassical Mythology a to Z

04The myths

The myths of Dike

2 myths, with sources recorded for each.

The Birth of Dike

Zeus lay with Themis, and they brought forth Eunomia, Dike, and Eirene, the three Horai. Eunomia meant Good Order, Dike meant Justice, and Eirene meant Social Peace. Themis embodied divine law, custom, and ordinance. Their birth came after Zeus had defeated Cronus and established his rule among the gods.

The Horai formed part of that rule. Zeus had arranged the honours of the immortals, set laws and cherished customs in order, and brought competing parts into harmony. Eunomia’s presence first appeared in this ordered government on Olympus. Dike belonged to its justice, and Eirene belonged to its social peace.

Their order opposed the disorders linked with Eris. Eris had produced Dusnomia, or Bad Governance, and Ate, or Ruin. Eunomia therefore stood against bad government, while Dike and Eirene marked the justice and peace that supported Zeus’s rule. The daughters of Zeus and Themis answered the destructive powers born from Discord.

The name Horai also connected the goddesses with the works of mortal people. Hesiod played on their name and a verb that meant tending to or attending to human labour and activity. The Horai were therefore linked with the work of humankind and with the seasons of growth, whose social conditions favoured successful agriculture. Hesiod named them Eunomia, Dike, and Eirene in that order. Diodorus later gave the same three names in the same order and also called them children of Zeus.

The Birth of Dike, a MythSource painting of the scene

3 sources· checked 2026-08-19

  1. 1The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics)T1
  2. 2Hesiod, TheogonyT1

    Quote

    “Hesiod names Eunomia, Dike, and Eirene as the daughters of Zeus and Themis, the Horai who watch over the works of mortal people.”

    Hesiod, Theogony

  3. 3Greek Myths & TalesT1

Dike Reports Human Injustice

Dike, daughter of Zeus, came to her father when human beings offended her. She sat beside him and told him about the unjust minds and deeds of men. Zeus then brought punishment upon those who committed outrage. Their offences included adultery, harm done to orphans, insults against parents, the forcible taking of another person’s property, and crooked judgements in the marketplace.

When kings drove justice out and made unjust judgements, Zeus sent fierce rain from heaven and damaged the fields. Hunger and plague afflicted the guilty. An army was destroyed, a city wall collapsed, or ships were lost at sea. The same divine power reached unjust cities, so a city governed by hubris suffered for its treatment of justice.

Zeus saw and understood everything. Thrice a thousand immortal watchers moved unseen across the earth and observed human beings, justice, and wicked deeds. Dike brought each offence before Zeus, and punishment came with the passage of time. Human beings seized property or pronounced wrongful judgements, yet Zeus turned judgement towards justice and punished those who had made Dike crooked. Wrongdoing by rulers then brought harm upon the whole city.

Dike Reports Human Injustice, a MythSource painting of the scene

3 sources· checked 2026-08-19

  1. 1Greek religionT1
  2. 2Hesiod, TheogonyT1

    Quote

    “Dike, daughter of Zeus, reports the unjust deeds of mortals to her father, who eventually punishes those who drive justice away and make crooked judgements.”

    Hesiod, Theogony

  3. 3Greek Mythology and PoeticsT1

Also mentioned in

Stories elsewhere on MythSource that mention Dike, each on that figure’s page.

Continue the road

More of Dike’s family, sourced

ZeusFather