Irlandos at 09:46, October 9, 2006

2006-10-09T09:46:47Z

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In [[Greek mythology]], '''Nyx''' (Νύξ) was the primordial goddess of the night.

==Nyx in Hesiod==

In [[Hesiod]]'s [[Theogony]], Night is born of [[Chaos]]; her offspring are many, and telling. With her brother [[Erebus]], Night gives birth to [[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]], [[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.

==Nyx in Homer==
In Book 14 of [[Homer|Homer's]] [[Iliad]], there is an interesting quote by [[Hypnos]], the minor god of sleep, in which he 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 [[Herakles]] (who was returning by sea from [[Laomedon|Laomedon's]] Troy) great misfortune. Zeus was furious and would have smote Hypnos into the sea if he had not fled to Nyx, his mother, in fear. Hypnos goes on to say that Zeus, fearing to anger Nyx, held his fury at bay, and in this way Hypnos escaped the wrath of Zeus.

==Nyx in Orphic Poetry==
Night took on an even more important role in several fragmentary poems attributed to [[Orpheus]]. In them, Night, rather than [[Chaos]], is the first principle. Night occupies a cave or adyton, in which she gives oracles. [[Cronus|Kronos]] - who is chained within, asleep and drunk on honey - dreams and prophesies. Outside the cave, [[Adrastea (mythology)|Adrastea]] clashes cymbals and beats upon her tympanon, moving the entire universe in an ecstatic dance to the rhythm of Nyx's chanting.

==Other Greek texts==
Night is also the first principle in the opening chorus of [[Aristophanes]]'s ''Birds'', which may be Orphic in inspiration. Here she is also the mother of [[Eros]]. In other texts she may be the mother of [[Charon]] (with [[Erebus]]), and [[Phthonus]] "envy" (with [[Dionysus]]?).

The theme of Night's cave or house, 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 Night; this hypothesis, however, must remain tentative.

===Cults of Night===
In Greece, Night is only rarely the recipient of cult. According to [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], she had an oracle on the acropolis at [[Megara]] (Paus. 1.40.1).

More often, Nyx lurks in the background of other cults. Thus there was a statue called Night in the temple of [[Artemis]] at [[Ephesus]]. The [[Sparta|Spartans]] had a cult of Sleep and Death, conceived of as twins (Paus. 3.18.1) - no doubt with Night as their mother. Cult titles composed of compounds of nyx- are attested for several gods, most notably [[Dionysus]] ''Nyktelios'' "nocturnal" (Paus. 1.40.6) and [[Aphrodite]] ''Philopannyx'' "who loves the whole night" (Orphic Hymn 55).

==References==
* [[Aristophanes]], ''Birds.''
* [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]].''
* Otto Kern ed., ''Orphicorum Fragmenta.''
* [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Descriptions of Greece.''

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[[Category:Greek goddesses]]
[[Category:Classical oracles]]
[[Category:Night goddesses]]

Nyx - Revision history

Irlandos at 09:46, October 9, 2006