Nyx - Goddesses

Nyx Goddess of Night

Greek Values

Nyx represents the night, beauty, and power. She represents the night because when the sunsets, she sets out on her chariot, with the darkness trailing behind. She represents beauty because she was beautiful and portrayed as one of the most beautiful goddesses on the face of the earth. And power is one of her values because both gods and men feared her greatly. She is said to be one of the first creatures to come into existence. According to some myths, she was daughter of Chaos, which means that she is a sister to some of the oldest deities in Greek myths, including Erubus (darkness), Gaia (the Earth), and Tartarus (the Underworld).

Children:

Aether:upper air and light
Charon:wealth
Styx:also said to be the daughter of Oceanus & Tethys
Epiphron: prudence
Apate: deciet
Ker,Keris: fates of death
Momos: blame, mockery
Moros:doom
Oizys: misery
Oneiroi: dreams
Philotes: pleasure of love, and frienship
Thanatos: death
Eris: strife or spite
Geras: old age
Hypnos: sleep
Nemesis:retribution
Hesperides: war
Lyssa:madness

Skills and Strengths

Beauty- Her beauty has a rather large affect on mortal men and gods, and as a result, she was said to have her own large share of divine children.
Power- She is daughter of Chaos, who was said to be the foundation of the creation of the gods. By being born into his family,
this alone gave her the quality to be feared by many. She could be helpful or harmful to mankind, bringing either sleep or death. Nyx had prophetic powers, and gave oracles from a cave. She was older and more powerful then Zeus.

Greeks Associated With

Chaos- Father
Kronos- Nyx chained him in her cave
Zeus- Feared Nyx
Dionysus- Boyfriend
Hemera, Hypnos, Moros- Children (full list below)
Erebos- Brother
Gaia- Sister

Facts

She is the Goddess of night, dreams. sleep, darkness, sexual pleasure, and death
She rides a dark chariot across the sky, trailing darkness and dropping stars.
She has nineteen children total.
She can bring either death or sleep.
She is feared by both men and gods.
Daughter of Chaos.
Her symbols: egg, moon, owl
Had an affair with Dionysus
She was a figure of exceptional power and beauty.
She lives in the depths of Tartarus.
There is a statue of her in Eleusis.
She is said to wear a dark dress with stars shining through it.

Myths

In the fourteenth book of Homer's Iliad, there is a quote by Hypnos, Nyx's son and 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 put Zeus to sleep once before at the bidding of Hera, allowing Hera to cause Hercules (who was returning by sea from Laomedon's Troy) great misfortune. Zeus was furious and would have cast Hypnos into the sea if Hypnos had not ran to Nyx, in fear. Hypnos goes to say that Zeus in fear of angering Nyx, held his fury at bay, and this is how Hypnos escaped the wrath of Zeus.

Nyx lives in a cave in the depths of Tartarus, in which she gives oracles. Kronos- who is chained within the cave, asleep and drunk on honey- dreams and prophesies. Outside the cave, Adrastea clashes cymbals and beats her tympanon, moving the entire universe in ecstatic dance to the rhythm of Nyx's chanting.

One of the best sources for other myths about Nyx is the Theogony of Hesiod.In one of the passages, Hesiod talks about where Nyx lives:

"There also stands the gloomy house of Night;
ghastly clouds shroud it in darkness.
Before it Atlas stands erect and on his head
and unwearying arms firmly supports the broad sky,
where Night and Day cross a bronze threshold
and then come close and great each other."
(Hesiod, Theogony, 744 ff.)

Every night, Nyx and her sister/daughter (Hemera-Goddess of day) pass each other in there chariots. While Hemera is returning to her home, Nyx is just about to make her trip around the world and bring the night and stars.

Symbols

-Owl
-Egg
-Birth
-Moon

Modern Day Allusions

Nyx Cosmectics- A makeup store, somewhat like Sephora.
Nyx Golf Sunglasses- They sell polarized and photochromic prescription sunglasses.
Nyx Inc.- A fancy company that is the "business provider of automotive interior and under hood solutions."
Nyx- A Marvel comic book.

Places

The one dreaded place Nyx calls home is the dreaded Underworld. She lives in the worst part of the Underworld, the depths of Tartarus. She was believed to live in a cave, dark and gloomy, just the way she liked it. She was also said to give oracles from cave. This is also where she raised Hemera (day) and Aether (air). IN one of the many myths about her, she kept Kronos imprissoned in her cave and drunk on honey. Adastrea also lives in this cave, but most of the time she is standing outside and clashing symbols.

There is a statue of Nyx in Eleuses.
There is also a statue of her in the Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Germany.
On the chest of Cypselus, she was represented carrying in her arms the gods of Sleep and Death.
The night sky. Nyx is here every night, and she is so familiar with everything up there.

Goddesses