Nyx
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nyx was the goddess of the night in Greek mythology. She came out of Chaos.
Her Roman equivalent was Nox.
[edit] Hesiod's Theogony
In his theogony (How the gods came to be), Hesiod tells: Night is born of Chaos; her offspring are many, and telling. With her brother Erebus, Night gives birth to the following deities:
- Aether ("atmosphere") and Hemera ("day").
Later, on her own, Night gives birth to
- Momus "blame"
- Ponos "toil"
- Moros "fate"
- Thanatos "death"
- Hypnos "sleep",
- the Oneiroi "the tribe of dreams"
- the Hesperides
- the Keres and Fates
- Nemesis "retribution"
- Apate "deception"
- Philotes "friendship"
- Geras "age",
- and Eris "strife".
In his description of Tartarus, Hesiod says further that Hemera "day", who is now Night's sister rather than daughter, left Tartarus just as Nyx entered it; when Hemera returned, Nyx left. This mirrors the portrayal of Ratri "night" in the Rig-Veda, where she works in close cooperation but also tension with her sister Ushas "dawn".
[edit] Children
Nyx had other children on her own. These were:
- Apate - the god of deception.
- Eris - the god of stife.
- Geras - the god of age.
- Momus - the god of blame.
- Moros - the god of fat.
- Philotes - the god of friendship.
- Ponus - the god of toil.
[edit] See also
- Nox - Etruscan mythology version of Nyx.
