Nyx
(Νύξ), Nox or Night personified. Homer (Hom. Il. 14.259, &c.) calls her the subduer of gods and men, and relates that Zeus himself stood in awe of her. In the ancient cosmogonies Night is one of the very first created beings, for she is described as the daughter of Chaos, and the sister of Erebus, by whom she became the mother of Aether and Hemera. (lies. Theog. 123, &c.) According to the Orphics (Argon. 14) she was the daughter of Eros. She is further said, without any husband, to have given birth to Moros, the Keres, Thanatos, Hypnos, Dreams, Momus, Oizys, the Hesperides, Moerae, Nemesis, and similar beings. (Hes. Th. 211, &c.; Cic. de Nat. Deor. 3.17.) In later poets, with whom she is merely the personification of the darkness of night, she is sometimes described as a winged goddess (Eur. Orest. 176), and sometimes as riding in a chariot, covered with a dark garment and accompanied by the stars in her course. (Eur. Ion 1150; Theocrit. ii. in fin.; Orph. Hymn. 2. 7; Verg. A. 5.721; Tib. 2.1. 87; V. Fl. 3.211.) Her residence was in the darkness of Hades. (Hes. Th. 748; Eurip. Orest. 175; Verg. A. 6.390.) A statue of Night, the work of Rhoecus, existed at Ephesus (Paus. 10.38.3). On the chest of Cypselus she was represented carrying in her arms the gods of Sleep and Death, as two boys (5.18.1). [L.S] O
(Νύξ), by the Romans called Nox. One of the most ancient deities, daughter of Chaos. From her union with her brother Erebus, she gave birth to the Day and the Light. She was also the mother of the Moerae, Hesperides, Hypnos, Nemesis, Discord, Thanatos, Momus, Fraus, etc. She is called by some of the poets the mother of all things, of gods as well as of men, and was worshipped with great solemnity. A black sheep and a cock, the latter as announcing the approach of day, were sacrificed to her.
Night was represented under various forms: as riding in a chariot preceded by the constellations, with wings, to denote the rapidity of her course; as traversing the firmament seated in her car, and covered with a black veil studded with stars. Sometimes her veil seems to be floating on the wind, while she approaches the earth to extinguish a flaming torch which she carries in her hand. She has often been confounded with Artemis, or the moon; and her statue was placed in the temple of that goddess at Ephesus ( Praef.; Serv. ad Verg. Aen. vi. 250; Tibull. iii. 4, 17; Verg. Aen. v. 721, etc.).
- Paus. 7.5.3
- nurse of Sleep and Death: Paus. 5.18.1
- oracle of: Paus. 1.40.6
- statue of: Paus. 10.38.6