Nyx

In Greek mythology, Nyx ( ; , , "Night") is the goddess and personification of the night. In Hesiod's Theogony, she is the offspring of Chaos, and the mother of Aether and Hemera (Day) by Erebus (Darkness). By herself, she produces a brood of children which are personifications of primarily negative forces. She features in a number of early cosmogonies, which place her as one of the first deities to exist. In the works of poets and playwrights, she lives at the ends of the Earth, and is often described as a black-robed goddess who drives through the sky in a chariot pulled by horses. In the Iliad, Homer relates that even Zeus fears to displease her. Night is a prominent figure in several theogonies of Orphic literature, in which she is often described as the mother of Uranus and Gaia. In the earliest Orphic cosmogonies, she is the first deity to exist, while in the later Orphic Rhapsodies, she is the daughter and consort of Phanes, and the second ruler of the gods. She delivers prophecies to Zeus from an adyton, and is described as the nurse of the gods. In the Rhapsodies, there may have been three separate figures named Night. In ancient Greek art, Nyx often appears alongside other celestial deities such as Selene, Helios and Eos, as a winged figure driving a horse-pulled chariot. Though of little cultic importance, she was also associated with several oracles. The name of her Roman equivalent is Nox. Genealogy According to Hesiod's Theogony, Nyx is the offspring of Chaos, alongside Erebus (Darkness), by whom she becomes the mother of Aether and Hemera (Day). Without the assistance of a father, Nyx produces Moros (Doom, Destiny), Ker (Destruction, Death), Thanatos (Death), Hypnos (Sleep), the Oneiroi (Dreams), Momus (Blame), Oizys (Pain, Distress), the Hesperides, the Moirai (Fates), the Keres, Nemesis (Indignation, Retribution), Apate (Deceit), Philotes (Love), Geras (Old Age), and Eris (Strife). A number of these offspring are similarly described as her children by later authors. Other early sources, however, give genealogies which differ from Hesiod's. According to one such account, she is the mother of Tartarus by Aether, while in others, she is described as the mother of Eros by Aether, or the mother of Aether, Eros, and Metis by Erebus. The poet Bacchylides apparently considered Nyx to be the mother of Hemera by Chronos (Time), and elsewhere mentions Hecate as her daughter.