THE ORPHIC COSMOGONYĪristophanes, Birds 685 ff (trans. 'Radiant daughter of Khronos (Chronos, Time) and Nyx (Night).' II. Greek Lyric IV) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) : and dim Tartaros (the Pit) in the depth of the wide-pathed Earth, and Eros (Love), fairest among the deathless gods, who unnerves the limbs and overcomes the mind and wise counsels of all gods and all men within them.įrom Khaos (Chaos) came forth Erebos (Erebus, Darkness) and black Nyx (Night) but of Nyx (Night) were born (Aether, Bright Upper Air) and Hemera (Day), whom she conceived and bore from union in love with Erebos.Īnd Gaia (Gaea, Earth) first bore starry Ouranos (Uranus, Heaven), equal to herself, to cover her on every side.'īacchylides, Fragment 7 (trans. 'Verily at first Khaos (Chaos, the Gap) came to be, but next wide-bosomed Gaia (Gaea, Earth). Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) : Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.ĬLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES NYX & THE BIRTH OF THE COSMOS I. On the chest of Cypselus she was represented carrying in her arms the gods of Sleep and Death, as two boys (v. 390.) A statue of Night, the work of Rhoecus, existed at Ephesus (Paus. 211.) Her residence was in the darkness of Hades. 176), and sometimes as riding in a chariot, covered with a dark garment and accompanied by the stars in her course. 17.) In later poets, with whom she is merely the personification of the darkness of night, she is sometimes described as a winged goddess (Eurip. She is further said, without any husband, to have given birth to Moros, the Keres, Thanatos, Hypnos, Dreams, Momus, Oizys, the Hesperides, Moerae, Nemesis, and similar beings. 123, &c.) According to the Orphics ( Argon. In the ancient cosmogonies Night is one of the very first created beings, for she is described as the daughter of Chaos, and the sister of Erebus, by whom she became the mother of Aether and Hemera. 259, &c.) calls her the subduer of gods and men, and relates that Zeus himself stood in awe of her. THE MOIRAI (by Khronos) (Tzetzes on Lycophron) THE ERINYES (Aeschyluls Eumenides 321, Lycophron 432, Virgil Aeneid 6.250, Ovid Metamorphoses 4.453) THE ERINYES, THE MOIRAI (Aeschyluls Eumenides 321 & 415 & 745 & 961) ? (OBSTINANCIA), THE MOIRAI (PARCAE), THE HESPERIDES, THE ONEIROI (SOMNAI) (by Erebos) (Cicero De Natura Deorum 3.17) EROS (AMOR), DOLOS (DOLUS), DEIMOS (METUS), PONOS (LABOR), NEMESIS (INVIDENTIA), MOROS (FATUM), GERAS (SENECTUS), THANATOS (MORS), KERES (TENEBRAE), OIZYS (MISERIA), MOMOS (QUERELLA), PHILOTES (GRATIA), APATE (FRAUS), MOROS (FATUM), GERAS (SENECTUS), THANATOS (MORS), KER (LETUM), SOPHROSYNE (CONTINENTIA), HYPNOS (SOMNUS), ONEIROI (SOMNIA), EROS (AMOR), EPIPHRON, PORPHYRION, EPAPHOS, ERIS (DISCORDIA), OIZYS (MISERIA), HYBRIS (PETULANTIA), NEMESIS, EUPHROSYNE, PHILOTES (AMICITIA), ELEOS (MISERICORDIA), STYX, MOIRAI (PARCAE), HESPERIDES (by Erebos) (Hyginus Preface) HYPNOS, THANATOS (Homer Iliad 14.231, Seneca Hercules Fur. MOROS, KER, THANATOS, HYPNOS, THE ONEIROI, MOMOS, OIZYS, HESPERIDES, THE KERES, THE MOIRAI, NEMESIS, APATE, PHILOTES, GERAS, ERIS (no father) (Hesiod Theogony 221) THE ASTRA (Orphic Hymn 7) OFFSPRING DAIMONES OURANOS (Orphic Argonautica 12, Orphic Frag Deveni Papyrus) AITHER, HEMERA, EROS (by Erebos) (Cicero De Natura Deorum 3.17) EROS, AITHER (Aristophanes Birds 685 & 1190) HEMERA (by Khronos) (Bacchylides Frag 7) AITHER, HEMERA (by Erebos) (Hesiod Theogony 124, Cicero De Natura Deum 3.17) PHANES (Orphic Argonautica 12, Orphic Fragment 101) OFFSPRING PROTOGENOI KHAOS (Hesiod Theogony 123, Nonnus Dionysiaca 31.115) In ancient art Nyx was depicted as a either a winged goddess or charioteer, sometimes crowned with an aureole of dark mists.

Her opposite number was Hemera (Day) who scattered the mists of night at dawn. Nyx was an ancient deity usually envisaged as the very substance of the night-a veil of dark mists drawn across the sky to obscure the light of Aither, the shining blue of the heavens. Alone she spawned a brood of dark spirits including the three Fates, Sleep, Death, Strife and Pain.

She was a child of Khaos (Chaos, Air), and coupling with Erebos (Darkness) she produced Aither (Aether, Light) and Hemera (Day).

NYX was the goddess of the night, one of the primordial gods ( protogenoi) who emerged as the dawn of creation. Night ( nyx, nyktos) Nyx goddess of night, Athenian black-figure lekythos C5th B.C., Metropolitan Museum of Art

Nyx and hemera