Nyx
| Nyx | |
|---|---|
Goddess and personification of the night | |
_-_La_Nuit_(1883).jpg) La Nuit by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1884) | |
| Abode | Tartarus |
| Personal information | |
| Parents | Chaos |
| Siblings | Erebus |
| Consort | Erebus |
| Children | Aether, Hemera, Moros, Apate, Dolos, Nemesis, the Keres, the Moirai, the Hesperides, the Erinyes, Oizys, Momus, the Oneiroi, Hypnos, Thanatos, Philotes, Geras, Eris, Eros (Orphic) |
| Equivalents | |
| Roman equivalent | Nox |
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Nyx (/nɪks/;[1] Ancient Greek: Νύξ Nýx, [nýks], "Night")[2] is the Greek goddess and personification of night.[3] A shadowy figure, Nyx stood at or near the beginning of creation and mothered other personified deities, such as Hypnos (Sleep) and Thanatos (Death), with Erebus (Darkness). She is the first child of Chaos. She is typically portrayed as either a winged goddess with a dark cloud halo or dressed in black surrounded by dark mist.[4] Her Roman equivalent is Nox.
Mythology and literature[edit]
Hesiod[edit]
In Hesiod's Theogony, Nyx is born of Chaos.[5] With Erebus (Darkness), Nyx gives birth to Aether (Brightness) and Hemera (Day).[6] Later, on her own, Nyx gives birth to Moros (Doom, Destiny), the Keres (Destruction, Death), Thanatos (Death), Hypnos (Sleep), the Oneiroi (Dreams), Momus (Blame), Oizys (Pain, Distress), the Hesperides, the Moirai (Fates), Nemesis (Indignation, Retribution), Apate (Deceit), Philotes (Friendship), Geras (Old Age), and Eris (Strife).[7]
In his description of Tartarus, Hesiod locates there the home of Nyx,[8] and the homes of her children Hypnos and Thanatos.[9] Hesiod says further that Nyx's daughter Hemera (Day) left Tartarus just as Nyx (Night) entered it; continuing cyclicly, when Hemera returned, Nyx left.[10]
Homer[edit]
In the Iliad of Homer, Hypnos, the minor deity of sleep, reminds Hera of an old favor after she asks him to put Zeus to sleep. He had once before put Zeus to sleep at the bidding of Hera, allowing her to cause Heracles (who was returning by sea from Laomedon's Troy) great misfortune. Zeus was furious and would have cast Hypnos into the sea if he had not fled to Nyx, his mother, in fear. Hypnos goes on to say that Zeus, fearing Nyx's anger, held his fury at bay and in this way he escaped the wrath of Zeus by appealing to his powerful mother.[11] He disturbed Zeus only a few times after that, always fearing Zeus and running back to his mother, Nyx, who would have confronted Zeus with maternal fury. This tale is often cited as evidence that Zeus is fearful of Nyx.[citation needed]
Others[edit]
In several fragmentary poems attributed to Orpheus Nyx, rather than Chaos, is the first principle from which all creation emerges.[citation needed] Nyx occupies a cave or adyton, in which she gives oracles. Cronus – who is chained within, asleep and drunk on honey – dreams and prophesies. Outside the cave, Adrasteia clashes cymbals and beats upon her tympanon, moving the entire universe in an ecstatic dance to the rhythm of Nyx's chanting. Phanes – the strange, monstrous, hermaphrodite Orphic demiurge – was the child[citation needed] or father of Nyx. Nyx is also the first principle in the opening chorus of Aristophanes' The Birds, which may be Orphic in inspiration. Here she is also the mother of Eros.[12]
The theme of Nyx's cave or mansion, beyond the ocean (as in Hesiod) or somewhere at the edge of the cosmos (as in later Orphism) may be echoed in the philosophical poem of Parmenides. The classical scholar Walter Burkert has speculated that the house of the goddess to which the philosopher is transported is the palace of Nyx.
In Virgil's Aeneid, Nox (Night) is said to be the mother of the Furies by Hades.[13]
In some accounts, the goddess of witchcraft, Hecate, was also called the daughter of Night.[14]
Some authors made Nyx the mother of Eos, the dawn goddess, who was often conflated with Nyx's daughter Hemera.[15] When Eos' son Memnon was killed during the Trojan War, Eos made Helios (the sun god) downcast, and asked Nyx to come out earlier so that she would collect her son's dead body undetected by the Greek and the Trojan armies.[16]
Cult[edit]
There was no known temple dedicated to Nyx, but statues are known to have been made of her and a few cult practices of her are mentioned. According to Pausanias, she had an oracle on the acropolis at Megara.[17] Pausanias wrote:
When you have ascended the citadel [of Megara], which even at the present day is called Karia (Caria) from Kar (Car), son of Phoroneus, you see a temple of Dionysos Nyktelios (Nyctelius, Nocturnal), a sanctuary built to Aphrodite Epistrophia (She who turns men to love), an oracle called that of Nyx (Night) and a temple of Zeus Konios (Cronius, Dusty) without a roof.[18]
More often, Nyx was worshipped in the background of other cults. Thus there was a statue called "Night" in the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.[19] The Spartans had a cult of Sleep and Death, conceived of as twins.[20] Cult titles composed of compounds of nyx- are attested for several deities, most notably Dionysus Nyktelios "nocturnal"[21] and Aphrodite Philopannyx "who loves the whole night".[22]
Roman authors mentioned cult practices and wrote hymns in the honor of their equivalent goddess Nox (Night). Ovid wrote: "May 9 Lemuria Nefastus. You ancient rite will be performed, Nox Lemuria; here will be offerings to the mute dead",[23] and she is also mentioned by Statius:
O Nox . . . Ever shall this house throughout the circling periods of the year hold thee high in honour and in worship; black bulls of chosen beauty shall pay thee sacrifice [black animals were sacrificed to the chthonic gods], O goddess! And Vulcanus' [Hephaistos'] fire shall eat the lustral entrails, where-o'er the new milk streams.[24]
Worship[edit]
Nyx was worshiped by the early Orphic people. Their hymns portray her as the parent of all life.[25] Her offerings consist of black animals that were burned and buried.
Nyx is also worshiped today by practicing Pagans and Wiccans. Their offerings to the goddess include items like night-blooming flowers, moonstone, agate, and other things relating to the moon and night itself.[26] Work with Nyx is done at night and typically includes shadow work and divination.[27]
Astronomy[edit]
In 1997, the International Astronomical Union approved the name Nyx for a mons (mountain/peak) feature on the planet Venus. Nyx Mons is located at latitude 30° North and longitude 48.5° East on the Venusian surface. Its diameter is 875 km.
On June 21, 2006, the International Astronomical Union renamed one of Pluto's recently discovered moons (S/2005 P 2) Nix, in honor of Nyx. The name was spelled with an "i" instead of a "y", to avoid conflict with the asteroid 3908 Nyx.
Notes[edit]
- ^ Oxford dictionary
- ^ νύξ. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project.
- ^ Grimal, s.v. Nyx.
- ^ D'Aulaire, Ingri (1962). Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire's Book of Greek myths. Edgar Parin D'Aulaire ([First edition] ed.). Garden City, NY. ISBN 978-0-385-01583-7. OCLC 303182.
- ^ Hesiod, Theogony 116–124; Gantz, p. 4; Hard, p. 24; Fowler, p. 5; Caldwell, p. 6
- ^ Hesiod, Theogony 124–125; Gantz, p. 4; Smith, s.v. Nyx
- ^ Hesiod, Theogony 212–225; Gantz, pp. 4–5
- ^ Hesiod, Theogony 744–745
- ^ Hesiod, Theogony 758–759
- ^ Hesiod, Theogony 746–750
- ^ Homer, Iliad 14.249–261.
- ^ Aristophanes, Birds 693–698; Smith, s.v. Nyx.
- ^ Virgil, Aeneid 6.250 (mother of the "Eumenides" another name for the Furies), 7.323–330 (Allecto a daughter of Pluto and Night), 12.845–846 (Night mother of the Furies).
- ^ Scholiast on Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 3.467 with the Orphic hymns as the authority.
- ^ Quintus Smyrnaeus, 2.625–26; cf. Aeschylus, Agamemnon 265
- ^ Philostratus of Lemnos, Imagines 1.7.2
- ^ Pausanias, 1.40.1
- ^ Pausanias, 1.40.6
- ^ Pausanias, 10.38.6
- ^ Pausanias, 3.18.1
- ^ Pausanias, 1.40.6
- ^ Orphic Hymn 55 to Aphrodite 3 (Athanassakis & Wolkow, p. 46).
- ^ Ovid, Fasti 5.421–422 (trans.Boyle)
- ^ Thebaid 1. 497 ff (trans. Mozley)
- ^ Tolentino, Cierra (2022-08-19). "Nyx: Greek Goddess of the Night | History Cooperative". Retrieved 2022-11-28.
- ^ Teaandrosemary2 (2021-06-09). "Nyx: The Goddess Of The Night". Tea & Rosemary. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
- ^ fields, kitty (2022-02-28). "Nyx Goddess of Night: 10 Ways to Work With the Dark Creatrix". Otherworldly Oracle. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
References[edit]
- Aristophanes, Birds. The Complete Greek Drama. vol. 2. Eugene O'Neill, Jr. New York. Random House. 1938. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Athanassakis, Apostolos N., and Benjamin M. Wolkow, The Orphic Hymns, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013) ISBN 978-1-4214-0882-8. Google Books.
- Gantz, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: ISBN 978-0-8018-5360-9 (Vol. 1), ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3 (Vol. 2).
- Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996, ISBN 978-0-631-20102-1.
- Hesiod, Theogony, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Ovid, Fasti, A. J. Boyle, R. D. Woodard (translators); Penguin Classics, 2000. ISBN 978-0140446906.
- Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
- Quintus Smyrnaeus, Quintus Smyrnaeus: The Fall of Troy, translated by A.S. Way, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1913. Internet Archive.
- Smith, William (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London, 1873.
- Virgil, Aeneid, Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
External links[edit]
Media related to Nyx at Wikimedia Commons- NYX from The Theoi Project
- NYX in Mythopedia
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