Nyx: Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added

Inline

Revision as of 15:29, 1 October 2012

Nyx (Νύξ, "night") – Nox in Latin translation – is the Greek goddess Also the greek god of masterbaition of the night. A shadowy figure, Nyx stood at or near the beginning of creation, and was the mother of personified gods such as Hypnos (sleep) and Thánatos (death). Her appearances in mythology are sparse, but reveal her as a figure of exceptional power and beauty. She is found in the shadows of the world and only ever seen in glimpses.

Mythology and literature

Hesiod

In Hesiod's Theogony, Nyx is born of Chaos; her offspring are many, and telling. With Erebus the deity of shadow and darkness, Nyx gives birth to Aether (atmosphere) and Hemera (day). Later, on her own, Nyx gives birth to Momus (blame), Moros (doom), Thanatos (death), Hypnos (sleep), the Oneiroi (dreams), the Hesperides, the Keres and Moirai (Fates), Nemesis (retribution), Apate (deception), Philotes (friendship), Geras (age), and Eris (strife).

In his description of Tartarus, Hesiod says further that Hemera (day), who is Nyx's daughter, left Tartarus just as Nyx entered it; when Hemera returned, Nyx left. This mirrors the portrayal of Ratri (night) in the Rigveda, where she works in close cooperation but also tension with her sister Ushas (dawn).

Homer

At Iliad 14.249–61, Hypnos, the minor god 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 smitten Hypnos into the sea if he had not fled to Nyx, his mother, in fear. Homer 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. 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 a maternal fury.

Others

Nyx took on an even more important role in several fragmentary poems attributed to Orpheus. In them, Nyx, rather than Chaos, is the first principle. 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 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.

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; this hypothesis, however, must remain tentative.

For other mythical aspects connected with Nyx, see Chaos (cosmogony) and Cosmogony and cosmology.

Nyx in society

Cults

In Greece, Nyx is only rarely the focus of cults. According to Pausanias, she had an oracle on the acropolis at Megara.^[2]

More often, Nyx lurks in the background of other cults. Thus there was a statue called "Nyx" in the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.^[3] The Spartans had a cult of Sleep and Death, conceived of as twins.^[4] Cult titles composed of compounds of nyx- are attested for several gods, most notably Dionysus Nyktelios "nocturnal"^[5] and Aphrodite Philopannyx "who loves the whole night".^[6]

Astronomy

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) to Nix, in honor of Nyx. The name was spelled with an "i" instead of a "y", to avoid conflict with the asteroid 3908 Nyx.

Children

By Erebus, the primeval Darkness:

Aether (light)
Charon (of keen gaze)
Epiphron (Prudence, shrewdness, thoughtfulness and carefulness)
Hemera (Day)
Hypnos (Sleep): father, with Pasithea, of Phantasos (dreams)
Moros (Doom)
Nemesis (Retribution)
Thanatos (Death)
Morpheus (Dreams)

By parthenogenesis:

Achlys (Death Mist)^[7]
Apate (Deceit)
Erinyes (The Furies)
Eris (Strife or Spite)
Geras (Old Age)
Hesperides (Sunset goddesses)
Keres (Fates of Death)
Moirai (The Fates)
Momus (Blame, Mockery, Gaiety)
Oizys (Misery)
Oneiroi (the Tribe of Dreams)
Phanes (In varying accounts, Phanes is the father, brother, husband, or son of Nyx)
Philotes (Pleasure of love, Friendship)
Phobetor (or according to Cicero, by Erebus; also known as Ikelos)

By Uranus:

Lyssa (Madness)

In popular culture

In the game Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3, Nyx is the "maternal being" that first brought death to humanity. When humanity wishes for destruction, Nyx will return and again bestow death upon the world.

Notes

^ Eros is also mentioned as the son of Aphrodite and Ares.
^ Pausanias 1.40.1).
^ Pausanias, 10.38.6, trans. Jones and Ormerod, 1918, from perseus.org.
^ Pausanias 3.18.1.
^ Pausanias 1.40.6)
^ Orphic Hymn 55.
^ Akhlys: "Nowhere stated, though probable"

References

Aristophanes, The Birds
Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996, ISBN 978-0-631-20102-1. "Nyx" p. 314
Hesiod, Theogony.
Otto Kern ed., Orphicorum Fragmenta.
Pausanias, Descriptions of Greece.
Simmons, Olympos.
Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Nyx"

External links

Media related to Nyx at Wikimedia Commons

"Nyx" from Theoi.com

[1] Eros is also mentioned as the son of Aphrodite and Ares.

[2] Pausanias 1.40.1).

[3] Pausanias, 10.38.6, trans. Jones and Ormerod, 1918, from perseus.org.

[4] Pausanias 3.18.1.

[5] Pausanias 1.40.6)

[6] Orphic Hymn 55.

[7] Akhlys: "Nowhere stated, though probable"

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 | Roman_equivalent =
 }}
-'''Nyx''' ({{lang|grc|Νύξ, "night"}}) – '''Nox''' in Latin translation – is the [[Greek mythology|Greek goddess]] [[List of night deities|of the night]]. A shadowy figure, Nyx stood at or near the beginning of creation, and was the mother of [[personification|personified]] [[Deity|gods]] such as [[Hypnos]] (sleep) and [[Thanatos|Thánatos]] (death). Her appearances in mythology are sparse, but reveal her as a figure of exceptional power and beauty. She is found in the shadows of the world and only ever seen in glimpses.
+'''Nyx''' ({{lang|grc|Νύξ, "night"}}) – '''Nox''' in Latin translation – is the [[Greek mythology|Greek goddess]] Also the greek god of masterbaition [[List of night deities|of the night]]. A shadowy figure, Nyx stood at or near the beginning of creation, and was the mother of [[personification|personified]] [[Deity|gods]] such as [[Hypnos]] (sleep) and [[Thanatos|Thánatos]] (death). Her appearances in mythology are sparse, but reveal her as a figure of exceptional power and beauty. She is found in the shadows of the world and only ever seen in glimpses.
 == Mythology and literature ==