Aidonian's blog

In my earlier posts, I wrote a hymn to Nyx & Erebos each respectfully. Now, I want to go into detail in these deities. While Khaos, the progenitor of the Protogenoi was seen as the personification of the gap between Earth and Heaven, and not chaos as it is known today. Basicly Khaos is the vaccuum of space. Most of the Protogenoi are personifications of something, but also individual deities as well. Nyx is the Goddess of the Night, but also the personification of it as well. Same as with Erebos, the God of Darkness.

Nyx, Goddess of Night

Nyx is the primordial goddess of the Night, and progenitor of many deities and spirits. She is the wife of Erebos, the God of Darkness. From them, came forth the Hemera (Day) and Aether (Light). When the sun sets, Nyx and Erebos came from the Underworld to bring forth night and darkness and They go back to the Underworld when the sun is about the rise again. Nyx was worshipped by early Orphici and She even had statues in temples of other Godes as well, but no temple dedicated to Her is mentioned. Since She is part of the primordial deities, its rare to find temples to Them. She is also associated with withcraft. Its because of Her that we can rest during the night, that we can find peace and sleep. She brought forth the Oneiroi, the personifications of dreams, but also terrors as well. She send them to mankind to help us process the events of the day. I always found that the night is quieter, tranquility. In myth she doesn’t play a significant role, but sailors prayed to Her to find their way home. However when Hera asked Hypnos to send Zeus in a deep sleep so She could wreak havoc to Herakles, Zeus was angry and chased Hypnos. When He found him, he immediately backed off. He sought refuge with His mother Nyx. Even Zeus, who is the most powerful God of the Hellenic pantheon didn’t dare to go against Her. Which says alot. If even the King of the Gods is affraid of Her, what does it say? In my opinion, this means that Nyx was held in high regard, higher than Hekate, that even Zeus wouldn’t dare to anger Her. While some authors regard Her as a dangerous deity, She has other facets. While the night hold many terrors and dangers, its also brings calm, peace, tranquility, sleep.

Children of Nyx & Erebos

• Hypnos – The personification of sleep. He lived in his father’s land, Erebus, at the edge of the world but came out each night as part of his mother’s retinue.
• The Oneiroi – Also denizens of Erebus, the Oneiroi were the personifications of dreams. Numbering in the thousands, they were sometimes described as children of Hypnos instead.
• Thanatos – Usually considered a twin of Hypnos, Thanatos was the personification of death. He specifically represented a peaceful and painless death that was closer to his twin’s domain than a violent end.
• Momos – Momos was also a personification of death. Unlike Thanatos, he embodied a violent or sudden end and was often accompanied by pain and fear.
• Moros – Moros represented doom and the forces that drove man toward either Thanatos or Momos. He was often associated with the Moirai, the Fates.
• The Moirai – There was no agreement over the parentage of the Fates. Even Hesiod called them both daughters of Nyx and of Themis. Nyx was a commonly given mother, however.
• The Keres – Sometimes a singular goddess, Ker, they were the personifications of the necessity of death. They were often shown on battlefields where they were fearsome but inescapable spirits.
• Nemesis – The goddess of resentment, she took retribution against those who gained undeserved wealth, had an excess of good fortune, or committed crimes without punishment.
• Philotes – She was the personification of affection and friendship. Her name could also be used as a term for sexual intercourse, which happened under her mother’s power.
• Apate – The personification of deception and fraud, she often worked at night.
• Eris – The goddess of strife and discord was named by Homer as a child of Zeus, but other sources said she was a child of Nyx and Erebus.
• Geras – The spirit of old age, he was usually depicted as a frail and withered man.
• Oizys – One of the most malevolent children of Nyx, she was the embodiment of misery and suffering.
• The Erinyes – According to Aeschylus and Virgil, the Furies were the daughters of night while Hesiodos lists them as beings who came into being after the castration of Ouranos. AITHER, HEMERA (by Erebos) (Hesiod Theogony 124, Cicero De Natura Deum 3.17)
  HEMERA (by Khronos) (Bacchylides Frag 7)
  EROS, AITHER (Aristophanes Birds 685 & 1190)
  EROS (by Erebos) (Hyginus Preface)
  AITHER, HEMERA, EROS (by Erebos) (Cicero De Natura Deorum 3.17)
  EOS-HEMERA (Quintus Smyrnaeus 2.549)
  OURANOS (Orphic Argonautica 12, Orphic Frag Deveni Papyrus)
  THE ASTRA (Orphic Hymn 7)

Erebos, God of the Darkness

Since most of the things overlap with Nyx, I will not write them down here.

Erebos is the God of Darkness. By that I don\”t mean the evil kind. There were no real “evil” Gods. Evil is something that is a human invention to describe the unpleasant things of life like to kill to live.

He\”s married to Nyx and they have many childeren among the famous ones: Morpheus, Thanatos, Hemera, Aether, Nemesis, etc… In fact most of the childeren Nyx gave birth to are fathered by Erebos.

His thick mists of darkness were said to envelop the edges of the world where the domed sky met the earth and fill the hollow caverns beneath the earth. These dark mists his wife Nyx drew up across the heavens each night to bring darkness to the world and his daughter Hemera (Day) scattered each morning to bring day – the one blocking out the glowing light of Aither (the glowing upper air and son of Erebos) and the other clearing the darkness to let his light shine again upon the earth. Erebos\” name was often used to describe the underworld of Hades. Hesiod mentions Khaos/ Chaos as his parent. I say parent because the gender of Khaos is undetermined. One source says Khaos is male, another female. Erebos is not only the God of Darkness but also the personification of darkness that surrounded the Underworld or Tartarus but like I said before. It was also used to describe the Underworld. The union between Erebos and Nyx is special because even though Nyx is the Night, the Night is nothing without the Darkness. In my opinion Erebos doesn\”t just represent the darkness of the night but also of space where again is always night can be said that wherever Darkness can be found, it will unite again with the Night when the Day (Hemera) leaves. Hyginus gives us the names of both the parents as his siblings in his preface of his Latin Mythography. He calls his parents Chaos and Caligine, which is also Darkness. He says from Chaos and Caligine Nox (Nyx- Night), ), Dies (Day), Erebus, Aether.
From Nox (Night) and Erebus: Fatum (Fate), Senectus (Old Age), Mors (Death), Letum (Dissolution), Continentia (Continence), Somnus (Sleep), Somnia (Dreams), Amor – that is Lysimeles, Epiphron, Porphyrion, Epaphus, Discordia (Discord), Miseria (Wretchedness), Petulantia (Wantonness), Nemesis, Euphrosyne, Amicitia (Friendship), Misericordia (Compassion), Styx; the three Parcae (Fates), namely Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos; the Hesperides Aegle, Hesperie and Aerica. One sources calls Erebos Skotos, Gaia Tekmor and Chaos Poros who came after Thetis (Creation). Moon is called Melana and Day Amar that was created to differentiate matter. Both Homeros and Hesiodos use Erebos to describe the Underworld. But his name is never use as another name for the Underworld. Erebos\” name was only used at most as another name for Tartarus or the darkness that separated Tartarus from the rest of the Underworld.

Names:

Erebos has another name: Skotos. Both names mean Darkness. In Latin it is Erebus Scotus.

Erebos, God of Darkness

For me, Erebos is also not a dangerous deity like Nyx (Nox). While it also true that night and darkness bring forth many terrors and dangers, it also brings tranquility and peace. The old addage says that when you look long enough into the Darkness, the Darkness looks back at you. This has many meanings. One that things that go bump into the night can find you, but also that when you look into darkness, you see nothing and you are confronted with yourself. So by looking into the darkness, one is confronted with himself. So basicly what Nyx and Erebos do is forcing you to confront the real you, not the one society and upbringing has thought you, how you should be. I think that Dionysos builds upon that.