Nyx

Mother Night  “ And again the goddess murky Night, though she lay with none, bare Blame and painful Woe. . .”  (The Theogony of Hesiod; 11. 211-225) In Ancient Greece, the gods really did rule the “world” and were responsible for its creation. One of the original goddesses is Nyx, the Night. Nyx was a rather ambivalent goddess and was respected by everyone, even Zeus.

There are many different beliefs and theories about how Nyx came to be. All theories involve Khaos. A very common belief is that before the world, there was only Khaos (Goddess of Air), a vast nothingness. From Khaos came her children, Erebus (God of Darkness), Nyx (Goddess of the Night), (Goddess of Light), and Hemera (Goddess of the Day). (Bolton 76) These are five of the twelve Protogenoi of ancient Greece. (Atsma) Other stories say that she was born to Eros while others say he is her and Erebus’s son. (GreekGods.info) Though it is believed that she is the sister to Aither and Hemera, some believe that she is the mother to them. (Leadbetter) Nyx is a very dark, shadowy character, well at least physically! She is often portrayed as a beautiful pale woman cloaked in shadows and mist. Her hair is long, straight, and black and it usually has the night stars in them. In many drawings and paintings, she is a charioteer with stars trailing behind her. Nyx is also often  robed or dressed in black cloth . Some believe that she had marvelous black wings. (Bryant 26)

Nyx’s mother is Khaos, the goddess of air. Nyx has three main siblings that are well known, Erebus, Aither, and Hemera. (Atsma) She is also a mother to many, supposedly having more than twenty offspring. Her mate, or consort, who fathered most of her children, was Erebus, her brother. Some of her most famous children include Thantos, Eris, and Hypnos. Most of Nyx’s children are gods, goddesses and personifications of very “dark” elements like death, strife, and sleep. (Bolton 74) However, the dark and light balance out in the world, without each of the “dark” elements our world wouldn’t be the same. No matter how dark Nyx seems to be, she wasn’t considered evil.

As the goddess of the night, Nyx mainly did her routines under the moon. She brought the night, cloaking the world in the dark. This is when the chariot makes its appearance. It is believed that Nyx rode her chariot around with Hypnos and Thanatos. She would drag her darkness behind her so that Hypnos could put the people to sleep while Thanatos would claim the ones that needed to move on into the afterlife. Some other poets said that Nyx, Hesperos, the night star, and Selene, the goddess of the moon, brought the night. In these stories, Nyx would come first, arms raised, summoning the darkness to cloak the lands. Next Hesperos would come shining into the night, [|Selene], mounted on her steed, following him. (Theoi.com)

Nyx mothered many, death, strife, deceit, death (both violent and non-violent), doom, misery, and many more. (Bolton 74) However, Nyx was never really affiliated with being good or bad. She brought good and bad, happy and sad. There are stories that she once helped thieves, fugitives, even the spies during the Trojan war. Once, Nyx and Apate (Goddess of deceit) disguised Smyrna (Adonis’ mother) so that Smyrna’s father didn’t know that he was sleeping with his own daughter. However, Nyx was also the mother of happy things such as procreation, friendship, and sleep. She is also the personification of night, which is when the muses sing and inspiration is born. (GreekGods.info) So Nyx really isn’t good or bad, she keeps a balance of both, which is probably why she was so respected.

Nyx was an important character in Greek mythology because she is a Protogenoi. Since she was one of the first elements to be, she was rather important in the creation of the world. Going with Greek mythology, if it weren’t for Nyx, we wouldn’t have any of her children. Without having grief, despair, anger, where would we be? Life wouldn’t be the same without these elements in our world. We would be sheltered from the parts of our lives that make us who we are. (Atsma) Nyx was also responsible for bringing the night, as explained in paragraph three. She lived in a home she shared with Aether in Tartarus. Neither would be home at the same time though. As Nyx would enter the house, Aether would leave, and vice versa. (Allen)

Through research it can be determined that Nyx either came from Khaos or born from Eros and is depicted as a lovely, pale, curvy woman with long dark hair shrouded with mist. She has a large family, having at least twenty kids and she brings the night with her chariot. She was not really considered good or bad, she was rather ambivalent. Without Nyx, our world would be very different. So in conclusion, Nyx was a very important goddess, though she is not really mentioned often in myths.

__**Works Cited**__

Allen, Peter J., and Chas Saunders. "NYX : The Deity from Greek Mythology." //Godchecker.com - Your Guide To The Gods//. 1999. Web. 20 Nov. 2011. <http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/greek-mythology.php?deity=NYX>.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Atsma, Aaron J. "NYX : Greek Protogenos Goddess of Night ; Mythology ; Pictures : NOX." //THEOI GREEK MYTHOLOGY, Exploring Mythology & the Greek Gods in Classical Literature & Art//. Theoi Project, 2000. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. <http://www.theoi.com/Protogenos/Nyx.html>.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Bolton, Lesley. //The Everything Classical Mythology Book: Greek and Roman Gods, Goddesses, Heroes, and Monsters from Ares to Zeus//. Avon, MA: Adams Media, 2002. Print.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Bryant, Megan E. //She's All That!: a Look-it-up Guide to the Goddesses of Mythology//. New York: Franklin Watts/Scholastic, 2010. Print.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">"GreekGods.info - Nyx - The Goddess of Night." //GreekGods.info - Greek Gods & Goddesses of Ancient Greece//. 2008. Web. 20 Nov. 2011. <http://www.greekgods.info/nyx.html>.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Leadbetter, Ron. "Nyx." //Encyclopedia Mythica: Mythology, Folklore, and Religion.// 3 Mar. 1997. Web. 20 Nov. 2011. <http://www.pantheon.org/articles/n/nyx.html>.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">"Nyx, Greek Goddess of the Night | Goddess A Day." //Goddess A Day - My Quest for the Ten Thousand Names of the Goddess//. 2007. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. <http://www.goddessaday.com/greek/nyx>.