Ponos

For the medical condition, see kala-azar. For the video game company, see PONOS.

In Greek mythology, Ponos or Ponus (Ancient Greek: Πόνος, romanized: Pónos, lit. 'Toil, Labor, Hardship')^[1] is the personification of toil and stress.^[2] According to Hesiod's Theogony, "painful" Ponos was the son of Eris (Strife), with no father mentioned.^[3] Like all of the children of Eris given by Hesiod, Ponos is a personified abstraction, allegorizing the meaning of his name, and representing one of the many harmful things which might be thought to result from discord and strife, with no other identity.^[4]

Cicero has the equivalent personification of the meaning of the Latin word labor as the offspring of Erebus and Night (Erebo et Nocte).^[5] Although Ponos has a negative connotation in Hesiod, in a poem of Lucian (2nd century AD), he is seen as having the positive aspect of leading to a virtuous life.^[6]