Geras

In Greek mythology, Geras, also written Gēras, was the god of old age. He was depicted as a tiny, shriveled old man. Gēras's opposite was Hebe, the goddess of youth. His Roman equivalent was Senectus. He is known primarily from vase depictions that show him with the hero Heracles; the mythic story that inspired these depictions has been lost. Mythology According to Hesiod, Geras is one of the many sons and daughters that Nyx produced parthenogenetically. However, both Hyginus and Cicero add Erebus, Nyx's consort, as his father. In the myth of Tithonus, the mortal prince received immortality, but not agelessness, from the gods so when old age came to him he kept aging and shrinking but never dying. In the end Eos turned Tithonus into a cicada. In several ancient Greek vases Geras is depicted fighting Heracles, although no relevant written myth survives. Geras is presented as an old, wrinkled bald man begging for mercy. Philostratus claimed that the people of Gadeira set up altars to Geras and Thanatos.