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Momus or Momos (μῶμος), in Greek mythology the god of satire, mockery, writers, poets, a spirit of evil-spirited blame and unfair criticism. His name is related to μομφή, meaning 'blame' or 'censure'. He is depicted in classical art as lifting a mask from his face.

In Classical Literature

Hesiod said that Momus was a son of Night (Nyx), in Theogony, 214. He mocked Hephaestus, Lucian of Samosata recalled (in the extended dialogue Hermotimus, 20), for having made mankind without doors in their breast, through which their thoughts could be seen. He even mocked Aphrodite, though all he could find was that she was talkative and had creaky sandals (Philostratus, Epistles). Because of his constant criticism, he was exiled from Mt. Olympus.

Momos is featured in one of Aesop's fables, where he is to judge the handiwork of three gods (the gods vary depending on the version). However, he is jealous of what they have done and derides all of their creations. He is then banished from Olympus by Zeus for his jealousy.

Sophocles wrote a lost satyr play called, Momos.

Later Writers

When Sir Francis Bacon wrote an essay "Of Building," (XLV) he said that "He that builds a fair house upon an ill seat, committeth himself to prison... Neither is it ill air only that maketh an ill seat, but ill ways, ill markets, and, if you consult with Momus, ill neighbours."

Laurence Sterne ruminated on the possibilities of Momus' window into the soul in a typical rambling excursus in Tristram Shandy.

Mardi Gras

Inspired by the god, Momus was the name of a Mardi Gras society in Galveston, Texas, the Knights of Momus ("KOM"), founded in 1871.

It was also the name of the third-oldest New Orleans Mardi Gras krewe, founded in 1874. In 1991 the New Orleans city council passed an ordinance that required social organizations, including Mardi Gras Krewes, to certify publicly that they did not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation, in order to obtain parade permits and other public licensure. In effect, the ordinance required these, and other, private social groups to abandon their traditional code of secrecy and identify their members for the city's Human Relations Commission. The Knights of Momus was one of three historic krewes (with Comus of 1857 and Proteus of 1882) that withdrew from parading rather than identify their membership.

Two federal courts later declared that the ordinance was an unconstitutional infringement on First Amendment rights of free association, and an unwarranted intrusion on the privacy of the groups subject to the ordinance. The decision of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals appears at volume 42, page 1483 of the Federal Reporter (3rd Series), or 42 F.3d 1483 (5th Cir. 1995). The Supreme Court refused to hear the city's appeal from this decision.