Nyx: Goddess of Night in Greek Mythology

27/05/2022

Meet the Goddess of Night: Nix and her relevant role within Greek Mythology. Nix was also known to be a primordial and very powerful Titaness. Check everything about this goddess.

Nyx in Greek Mythology:

Nyx, in Greek Mythology, is the personification of Night. One of the best sources of information about this goddess comes from Hesiod's theogony. Many references are made to Nix in that poem describing the birth of the Greek gods. Night played an important role in the myth as one of the first and most powerful beings to come into existence. Hesiod affirms that Nix is the daughter of Chaos, being the second creature, followed by his twin brother Erebus, the darkness, emerging from the emptiness, shortly thereafter Gaia, mother Earth, Tartarus, the abysmal darkness, Eros, the love of creation, who are considered brothers of Chaos. From these primordial forces came the others from the Greek deities.

In his Theogony, Hesiod also describes the forbidden residence of the Night:

"There is also the melancholy house of Night; pale clouds envelop it in the darkness; Before them, Atlas behaves upright, and on his head, with his tireless arms, firmly supports the wide sky, where Night and Day cross a bronze landing and then approach each other. "

Nyx, the Goddess:

Nyx is the patron of witches and witches, she is the Goddess of night secrets and mysteries, queen of night stars. Nix is worshiped by witches and witches, who believed that she gives the land fertility to sprout enchanted herbs. It was also believed that Nix has complete control over life and death, both for men and for Gods. Homer refers to Nix with the epithet "The Tamer of Men and Gods", demonstrating how other Gods respected and feared this most powerful Deity. Nix, like Hades, has a hood that makes it invisible to everyone, thus watching the universe without being noticed. It was Nix who placed Hélio among his sons (Hemera, Ether and Hespérides), when the other Titans tried to assassinate him.

Zeus has enormous respect and fearsome dread of Nix, the Night Goddess. The children of Nix are the Hierarchy in power for the Gods, most of them are deities that inhabit the underworld and represent indomitable forces that no other god could contain. In one version, the Erinias are the daughters of Nix (Aeschylus).

Nyx appears at times as a beneficial Goddess who symbolizes the beauty of the night, at times as the cruel Deity that curses and punishes with night terror (Hecate and Asteria). Nix is also a Goddess of Death, the first queen of the world of Darkness. She also has prophetic gifts, and she was the one who created the weapon that Gaia gave Cronos to dethrone Uranus. Nix knows the secret of the immortality of the gods, being able to take it away and turn a god into a mortal, as he did with Cronos, after he was dethroned by Zeus.

Sometimes, following the example of Hades, whose name was avoided to be pronounced, they give to Nix Greek names of Euphrone and Eulalia, that is to say, Mother of the good advice. There are those who mark their empire north of Ponto Euxino, in the country of the Cimmerians; but the situation generally accepted is in the part of Spain, Hespéria, in the region of the west, near the columns of Hercules, limits of the world known to the ancients.

Sons of Nyx:

Nyx joined his twin brother Érebo, with whom he had two children, also Primordial Gods: Ether and Hemera. She also begat many children spontaneously, that is, without union with another deity. These are:

Moros, who is the personification of luck and destiny;
Queres, who are Daemones and who are the personification of violent death and fatality;
Thanatos, who is the personification of death and has a twin brother named Hipnos;
Hypnos is the personification of drowsiness and the god of sleep, Thanatos' twin brother;
The Oniros, who were the thousand personifications of dreams;

Momos, who is the embodiment of sarcasm and irony;
Oizus, who embodies sadness, anguish and misery;
Hesperides, which are primitive goddesses and represent spring the spirit of nature's fertility;
The Moiras, who are the three merciless sisters and goddesses of destiny;
Nemesis, who personifies divine destiny and vengeance;
Apáte, who personifies fraud and deception;
Filotes, who was a Daemon who personified friendship and affection;
Geras, who is also a Daemon who personifies old age;
Éris, who was the goddess of discord;

Lyssa, who is the personification of anger and madness produced by anger;
Epifron, who is a Daemon who personified prudence, attention and care;
Hécate (in some versions), who is the goddess of black magic and witchcraft;
Ether, Primordial God of heaven above heaven and the pure air breathed by the deities;
The Erínias, which are the three sisters who personify revenge, also known as The Furies;
Hemera, who is the Primordial Goddess of light;
Caronte, the boatman from the world of the dead;
Morpheus, who is the god of dreams.

A LITTLE MORE ABOUT NYX AND ITS REPRESENTATIONS:

Nyx and his brother Erebus were the only Primordial Gods capable of generating human children. Also according to Greek mythology, Hesperides and Hemera were born so that she could rest. This is just another symbolism that gives rise to the cycle that we know as day. That's because Hemera brings the day, related to Eos, which represents the dawn and Helium which represents the Sun. Then, the Hespérides bring the afternoon, related to Selene, which represents the Moon. Soon after, Nix brings the darkness of the absolute night.

Almost all the peoples of Italy saw Nyx, sometimes with a flying mantle covered with stars over his head and a fallen torch, sometimes they represented her as a naked woman, with long bat wings and a fanal in her hand. They also represent her crowned with poppies and wrapped in a large black mantle, with stars. In Greek mythology, the poppy is related to Hypnos who had it as a favorite plant and, therefore, was represented with the fruits of this plant in his hand.

It is often depicted crowned with poppies and draped in a large, starry black cloak. Sometimes in a cart dragged by black horses or by two owls, and the goddess covers her head with a vast veil dotted with stars and with a waning moon on her forehead or as earrings.

Check: Primordial God: Chaos