Nyx#Early sources

According to Hesiod's Theogony, Nyx is the offspring of Chaos, alongside Erebus (Darkness), by whom she becomes the mother of Aether and Hemera (Day).Gantz, p. 4; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA23 pp. 23–4]; Hesiod, Theogony [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:104-138 123–5]. Without the assistance of a father, Nyx produces Moros (Doom, Destiny), Ker (Destruction, Death), Thanatos (Death), Hypnos (Sleep), the Oneiroi (Dreams), Momus (Blame), Oizys (Pain, Distress), the Hesperides, the Moirai (Fates), the Keres, Nemesis (Indignation, Retribution), Apate (Deceit), Philotes (Love), Geras (Old Age), and Eris (Strife).Gantz, pp. 4–5; Hesiod, Theogony [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:207-239 211–25]. The translations used here are those given by Gantz. A number of these offspring are similarly described as her children by later authors.Hesiod, Works and Days [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-works_days/2018/pb_LCL057.87.xml 17 (pp. 86, 87)] (two Strifes, one a daughter of Night); Pausanias, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:7.5.3 7.5.3] (two Nemeses daughters of Night); PMG 1018 (Page, p. 536) (Fates daughters of Nyx; see Gantz, p. 8); Seneca, Hercules [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-hercules/2018/pb_LCL062.103.xml 1066–9 (pp. 102, 103)] (Sleep and Death sons of Night); Orphic Hymn to the Fates (59), [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780891301196/page/48/mode/2up?view=theater 1 (Athanassakis and Wolkow, p. 48)] (Fates daughters of Night); Nonnus, Dionysiaca [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/nonnos-dionysiaca/1940/pb_LCL354.431.xml 31.117 (pp. 430, 431)] (Sleep son of Night). The Roman authors Cicero and Hyginus provide Nox, the Roman counterpart of Nyx, with similar lists of offspring (see below). Other early sources, however, give genealogies which differ from Hesiod's. According to one such account, she is the mother of Tartarus by Aether,Chrysanthou, p. 303; Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA8 p. 8]; Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA92 p. 92]; Epimenides [https://archive.org/details/diefragmenteder02diel/page/190/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 5 Diels, p. 190]. while in others, she is described as the mother of Eros by Aether,Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA6 p. 6]; Cook, [https://archive.org/details/zeusstudyinancie02pt1cook/page/314/mode/2up?view=theater p. 315 n. 4]; West, p. 209 n. 106; Acusilaus, [https://books.google.com/books?id=j0nRE4C2WBgC&pg=PA6 fr. 6c Fowler, pp. 6–7]. or the mother of Aether, Eros, and Metis by Erebus.Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA5 pp. 5–6]; Brill's New Pauly, [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/nyx-e827340 s.v. Nyx]; Acusilaus, [https://books.google.com/books?id=j0nRE4C2WBgC&pg=PA6 fr. 6b Fowler, p. 6]. The poet Bacchylides apparently considered Nyx to be the mother of Hemera by Chronos (Time),Bacchylides, Victory Odes [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/bacchylides-victory_odes/1992/pb_LCL461.157.xml 7.1–2 (pp. 156, 157)]. and elsewhere mentions Hecate as her daughter.Gantz, p. 26; Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA33 p. 33]; Bacchylides, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/bacchylides-fragments/1992/pb_LCL461.253.xml fr. 1B Campbell, pp. 252–5] [= Scholia on Apollonius of Rhodes, [https://books.google.com/books?id=0lkhbarJcukC&pg=PA233 3.467 (Wendel 1999, p. 233)]] [= P. Oxy. 2366.3–8]. Aeschylus mentions Nyx as the mother of the Erinyes (Furies),Gantz, p. 13; Karusu, [https://archive.org/details/limc_20210516/Lexicon%20Iconographicum%20Mythologiae%20Classicae/LIMC%20II-1/page/n463/mode/2up p. 905]; Aeschylus, Eumenides [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-oresteia_eumenides/2009/pb_LCL146.395.xml 321–2 (pp. 394, 395)], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-oresteia_eumenides/2009/pb_LCL146.407.xml 416 (pp. 394, 395)], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-oresteia_eumenides/2009/pb_LCL146.455.xml 791–2 (pp. 454, 455)], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-oresteia_eumenides/2009/pb_LCL146.457.xml 821–2 (pp. 456, 457)], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-oresteia_eumenides/2009/pb_LCL146.483.xml 1034 (pp. 482, 483)]. According to Sommerstein, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-oresteia_eumenides/2009/pb_LCL146.395.xml p. 395 n. 82 to line 322], Aeschylus here seemingly identifies the Erinyes with the Keres, who are daughters of Nyx in Hesiod. See also Lycophron, Alexandra [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/lycophron-alexandra/1921/pb_LCL129.357.xml 437 (pp. 356, 357)]. while Euripides considered Lyssa (Madness) to be the daughter of Nyx and Uranus.Parada, p. 110; Keightley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JxQHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA44 p. 44]; Karusu, [https://archive.org/details/limc_20210516/Lexicon%20Iconographicum%20Mythologiae%20Classicae/LIMC%20II-1/page/n463/mode/2up p. 905]; Euripides, Herakles [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-heracles/1998/pb_LCL009.387.xml 823 (pp. 386, 387)] (daughter of Night), [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-heracles/1998/pb_LCL009.389.xml 834 (pp. 388, 389)] (daughter of Night), [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-heracles/1998/pb_LCL009.389.xml 844 (pp. 388, 389)] (daughter of Night and Heaven).

Nox, the Roman equivalent of Nyx, features in several genealogies given by Roman authors. According to Cicero, Aether and Dies (Day) are the children of Nox and Erebus, in addition to Amor (Love), Dolus (Guile), Metus (Fear), Labor (Toil), Invidentia (Envy), Fatum (Fate), Senectus (Old Age), Mors (Death), Tenebrae (Darkness), Miseria (Misery), Querella (Lamentation), Gratia (Favour), Fraus (Fraud), Pertinacia (Obstinacy), the Parcae, the Hesperides, and the Somnia (Dreams).Cicero, De Natura Deorum [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/marcus_tullius_cicero-de_natura_deorum/1933/pb_LCL268.329.xml 3.44 (pp. 328, 329)]. In the genealogy given by the Roman mythographer Hyginus, Nox is the offspring of Chaos and Caligo (Mist), alongside Dies (Day), Erebus (Darkness), and Aether.Fontenrose, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wqeVv09Y6hIC&pg=PA222 pp. 222–3]; Hyginus, Fabulae Theogony 1 ([https://books.google.com/books?id=vczTNMWLGdoC&pg=PA95 Smith and Trzaskoma, p. 95]; [https://latin.packhum.org/loc/1263/1/0#0 Latin text]). According to Fontenrose, this genealogy may be derived from Eumelus (8th century BC), the author of the Titanomachia; see also Kovaleva, p. 143. With Erebus, she produces Fatum (Fate), Senectus (Old Age), Mors (Death), Letum (Destruction), Continentia (Strife), Somnus (Sleep), the Somnia (Dreams), Epiphron (Thoughtfulness), Hedymeles, Porphyrion, Epaphus, Discordia (Discord), Miseria (Misery), Petulantia (Petulance), Nemesis, Euphrosyne (Cheerfulness), Amicitia (Friendship), Misericordia (Pity), Styx, the Parcae (Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos), and the Hesperides (Aegle, Hesperia, and Erythea).Hyginus, Fabulae Theogony 1 ([https://books.google.com/books?id=vczTNMWLGdoC&pg=PA95 Smith and Trzaskoma, p. 95]; [https://latin.packhum.org/loc/1263/1/0#0 Latin text]). Several other Roman sources mention Nox as the mother of the Furies, with Pluto sometimes given as the father.Virgil, Aeneid [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Verg.+A.+6.236 6.250], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Verg.+A.+7.323 7.323–332], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Verg.+A.+12.843 12.845–6]; Ovid, Metamorphoses [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-metamorphoses/1916/pb_LCL042.211.xml 4.451–2 (pp. 210, 211)].

In an early Orphic source, in which Nyx is the first deity to exist, she is the mother of Uranus, possibly without a father.Betegh, p. 158; Bernabé 2019, p. 110; Orphic fr. 10 Bernabé (I p. 21) [= Derveni papyrus, col. 14.6 (Kouremenos, Parássoglou and Tsantsanoglou, pp. 133)]. There is debate surrounding whether there was a father, and his identity. Bernabé and Cristobal, p. 88 argue that there was no father, while Betegh, p. 336 considers him to be Aether, and Almqvist, p. 88 suggests he is Phanes. In an earlier Orphic work, in which Nyx is again the first deity, scholars have proposed that she is the mother of Uranus, as well as Gaia; see Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA95 p. 95]; Betegh, p. 147; West, pp. 117–9. In a later account, she is described as both the consort and daughter of Phanes, by whom she becomes the mother of Uranus and Gaia.West, p. 70; Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA168 pp. 168–9]; Orphic fr. 149 I Bernabé (I p. 146). In another account, likely derived from an Orphic cosmogony,See Betegh, pp. 148–9; Chrysanthou, pp. 301–3. Nyx gives birth to a "wind-egg", from which Eros emerges.Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA25 p. 25]; Aristophanes, Birds [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0019.tlg006.perseus-eng1:685-707 693–9]. In later Orphic sources, she is mentioned as the mother of the Stars (by Uranus?),Morand, p. 331; Orphic Hymn to the Stars (7), [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780891301196/page/8/mode/2up?view=theater 3 (Athanassakis and Wolkow, p. 9)]. and, in one account, is the daughter of Eros.Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA172 p. 172]; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=nyx-bio-1 s.v. Nyx]; Orphic Argonautica, 14–5 (Vian, p. 75) [= fr. 238 Bernabé (I p. 200) = [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/64/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 224T Kern]]. Elsewhere, the late Greek poet Quintus Smyrnaeus mentions Nyx as the mother of Eos (Dawn),Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica [https://archive.org/details/falloftroy00quin/page/112/mode/2up?view=theater 2.625–6]; see also Aeschylus, Agamemnon [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0085.tlg005.perseus-eng1:258-280 265], which calls Night the mother of Dawn. while according to Byzantine author Tzetzes, she is the mother of the Moirai, apparently by the Titan Cronus.Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=moira-bio-1 s.v. Moira]; Tzetzes on Lycophron's Alexandra, [https://archive.org/details/isaakioukaiiann00mlgoog/page/n653/mode/2up?view=theater 406 (pp. 584–6)]. In the Dionysiaca of Nonnus, Nyx is the offspring of Chaos, as she is in Hesiod's Theogony,Rouse, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/nonnos-dionysiaca/1940/pb_LCL354.431.xml p. 435 note c to 31.176]; Verhelst, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZbhRDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA60 p. 60]; Nonnus, Dionysiaca [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/nonnos-dionysiaca/1940/pb_LCL354.435.xml 31.176 (pp. 434, 435)]. while in a genealogy given by the 12th-century writer Michael of Ephesus (incorrectly attributed to Alexander of Aphrodisias),Kotwick, p. 84. she is the offspring of Oceanus, and the mother of Uranus.Betegh, p. 150; Pseudo-Alexander of Aphrodisias (Michael of Ephesus), in Aristotle, Metaphysics 821.16 [= fr. 367 Bernabé (I p. 295) = [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/170/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 107 Kern]].

{{multiple image | direction = horizontal | total_width = 400 | image1 = Altar Pérgamo Moiras 15.JPG | image2 = Altar Pérgamo Moiras 01.JPG | footer = A goddess, which some scholars have identified as Nyx, battles a Giant, Gigantomachy frieze, Pergamon Altar, 2nd century AD}}

Homer, in the Iliad (c. 8th century BC), relates a story in which Nyx saves Hypnos from the anger of Zeus.Pucci, pp. 182–3; Homer, Iliad [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.193-14.241 14.231–61]. When Hera comes to Hypnos and attempts to persuade him into lulling Zeus to sleep,Homer, Iliad [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.193-14.241 14.231–41]. he refuses, reminding her of the last time she asked the same favour of him, when it had allowed her to persecute Heracles without her husband's knowledge.Homer, Iliad [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.242-14.269 14.242–55]. Hypnos recounts that once Zeus awoke, he was furious, and would have hurled him into the sea, had he not fled to the protection of Nyx, as Zeus, despite his anger, was "in awe of doing anything to swift Night's displeasure".Homer, Iliad [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.242-14.269 14.56–61]. The translation quoted here is that given by Lattimore, [https://archive.org/details/iliadofhome00home/page/300/mode/2up?view=theater p. 301]. According to Janko, p. 193 on lines 256–61, she likely saves him by making him invisible. Keightley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JxQHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA45 p. 45] sees no reason to believe that Hypnos is Nyx's daughter in this narrative, and also states "[t]he dwelling of both would seem to be on Olympos". It has been suggested that the apparent status which Nyx has in Homer's account may indicate he was aware of a genealogy in which she came before even Oceanus and Tethys (often believed to be the primeval couple in the Iliad),West, p. 120; Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA99 p. 99]; see also Kirk, Raven and Schofield, p. 17. For Oceanus and Tethys as primeval parents, see Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA11 p. 11]; West, pp. 119–20. and Pietro Pucci suggests that the story may have been derived from an earlier work, which contained a more detailed account of the event.Pucci, p. 183 n. 75. He suggests "an earlier Gigantomachy or Herakleia" as candidates.

In Hesiod's Theogony (late 8th century BC), which the Greeks considered the "standard" account of the origin of the gods,Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA21 p. 21]. Nyx is one of the earliest beings to exist, as the offspring of Chaos alongside Erebus (Darkness); in the first sexual coupling,Gantz, p. 4; Betegh, p. 169. she and Erebus produce their personified opposites, Aether and Hemera (Day).Almqvist, p. 37; Caldwell, [https://archive.org/details/hesiodstheogony00hesi/page/6/mode/2up?view=theater p. 6]. Hesiod also makes Nyx, without the aid of a father, the mother of a number of abstract personifications, which are primarily negative in nature.Almqvist, p. 37; Hesiod, Theogony [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:207-239 211–25]. Despite their abstract nature, however, to the Greeks these deities would have represented forces which "exercise[d] a real power in the world".Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA26 p. 26]. Hesiod locates the home of Nyx at the far western end of the Earth,Grimal, [https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas0000grim/page/314/mode/2up?view=theater s.v. Nyx, p. 314]; Keightley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JxQHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA45 p. 45]; Gantz, pp. 5, 129; Hesiod, Theogony [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:270-303 274–6]. though it is unclear whether or not he considered it to be beyond Oceanus, the river which encircles the world.Keightley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JxQHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA45 p. 45]. In a (somewhat confused) section of the Theogony, Hesiod seems to locate her home near the entrance to the underworld, and describes it as being "wrapped in dark clouds".Gantz, pp. 127, 129. Hesiod, Theogony [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:729-766 744–5]. He reports that the Titan Atlas, who is holding up the sky, stands outside of the house, and that the homes of two of her children, Hypnos and Thanatos, are situated nearby.Gantz, pp. 5, 127, 129; Hesiod, Theogony [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:729-766 746–8], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:729-766 758–9]. He relates that Nyx and her daughter Hemera live in the same dwelling, and that each day they pass one another at the entrance to the house, with one of them leaving and the other one entering; throughout the day, one passes across the Earth, while the other stays inside, waiting for their turn to leave.Kouremenos, Parássoglou and Tsantsanoglou, p. 186; Hesiod, Theogony [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:729-766 744–59]. In her journey over the world, Hesiod describes Nyx as "wrapped in a vaporous cloud", and as holding her son Hypnos in her arms.Hesiod, Theogony [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:729-766 756–7].

Nyx features in a number of early cosmogonies other than Hesiod's, where she is similarly mentioned among the earliest deities. The philosopher Philodemus, writing in his De pietate (On Piety), reports that the legendary poet Musaeus considered Tartarus and Night to be the first beings to exist, followed by Air.Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA7 p. 7]; Gantz, p. 2; Musaeus [https://archive.org/details/diefragmenteder02diel/page/182/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 14 Diels, pp. 182–3] [= fr. 81 Bernabé (II.2 p. 40) = Philodemus, De pietate 47 (Obbink, [https://books.google.com/books?id=D4tDMNaqKfIC&pg=PA351 p. 351])]. Philodemus also writes that, according to Epimenides (7th or 6th century BC), the two first principles are Air and Night, from which "everything else is constituted";Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA7 p. 7]; Epimenides [https://archive.org/details/diefragmenteder02diel/page/190/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 5 Diels, p. 190] [= fr. 46 II Bernabé (II.2 p. 154) = BNJ [https://scholarlyeditions.brill.com/reader/urn:cts:greekLit:fgrh.0457.bnjo-3-tr1-eng:f4a 457 F4a] = Philodemus, De pietate 47 (Obbink, [https://books.google.com/books?id=D4tDMNaqKfIC&pg=PA351 p. 351])]. The translation used here is that given by Obbink. According to Fowler, in his placement of Night, Epimenides' "inspiration surely came from Orphic theogony". the Neoplatonist Damascius adds to this, stating that from Air and Night is born Tartarus, who in turn produces two Titans (by Night?).Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA8 p. 8]; Chrysanthou, p. 303; Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA92 p. 92]; Epimenides, [https://archive.org/details/diefragmenteder02diel/page/190/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 5 Diels, p. 190] [= fr. 46 I Bernabé (II.2 pp. 153–4) = BNJ [https://scholarlyeditions.brill.com/reader/urn:cts:greekLit:fgrh.0457.bnjo-3-tr1-eng:f4a 457 F4a] = Damascius, De Principiis 124]. According to Fowler, Tartarus produces the two Titans either by a mother who "would have to be Night", or without a mother. The identity of the two Titans is also unclear: Fowler suggests Cronus and Rhea, and Oceanus and Tethys as possibilities. Damascius also writes that the logographer and mythographer Acusilaus (6th century BC) believed that Chaos precedes Erebus and Night, and that this pair then produce Aether, Eros, and Metis;Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA5 pp. 5–6]; Cook, [https://archive.org/details/zeusstudyinancie02pt1cook/page/314/mode/2up?view=theater p. 315 n. 4]; Acusilaus, [https://books.google.com/books?id=j0nRE4C2WBgC&pg=PA6 fr. 6b Fowler, p. 6] [= Damascius, De Principiis 124]. a scholium on Theocritus, in contrast, states that Acusilaus considered Night and Aether to be the parents of Eros.Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA6 p. 6]; West, p. 209 n. 106; Acusilaus, [https://books.google.com/books?id=j0nRE4C2WBgC&pg=PA7 fr. 6c Fowler, pp. 6–7] [= Scholia on Theocritus, Idylls [https://archive.org/details/scholiaintheocr00wendgoog/page/258/mode/2up?view=theater 13.1/2c (Wendel 1914, p. 258)]]. In the cosmogony given by the comic playwright Antiphanes (4th century BC), as recorded by the Christian writer Irenaeus, Night is first deity to exist alongside Silence, and out of this initial pair comes Chaos. From Night and Chaos then springs Eros (Love), who in turn produces Light and the first generation of the gods.Santamaría, pp. 377–8; Antiphanes, PCG 104 (Kassel and Austin, pp. 366–7) [= Irenaeus, Against Heresies 2.14.1]. According to Santamaría pp. 378–9, Silence may have been an invention on the part of Antiphanes, though he also suggests that the figure may not have been present in Antiphanes' original account, and that the first god alongside Night was instead Tartarus or Erebus, with Irenaeus later inserting the figure of Silence in their place in his retelling. Philodemus, writing in his De pietate, also records that Night is described as the "first goddess" in the first book of Chrysippus' Physics,Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA95 pp. 95–6]; Betegh, p. 154; Chrysippus, SVF [https://archive.org/details/stoicorumveterum02arniuoft/page/192/mode/2up?view=theater 636 (Arnim, p. 192)] [= Philodemus, De pietate 14]. According to Meisner, while this fragment has been considered Orphic, "there is no compelling reason" to believe Chrysippus's source was an Orphic theogony. Bremmer 2008, [https://books.google.com/books?id=YTfxZH4QnqgC&pg=PA5 p. 5 n. 23] states that the genealogy later given by Cicero (see above) "probably refers to this text". and mentions another cosmogony (the origin of which he does not specify), in which Night and Tartarus are the first pair, from whom "all things are born".Philodemus, De pietate 47 (Obbink, [https://books.google.com/books?id=D4tDMNaqKfIC&pg=PA351 p. 351]).

File:Terracotta lekythos (oil flask) MET DP225322 (cropped).jpg white-ground lekythos, c. 500 BC, showing Nyx in her horse-pulled chariot]]

Authors following Hesiod similarly describe Nyx as living at the ends of the Earth. The choral lyric poet Alcman (7th century BC), as recorded by a scholium on Sophocles, considered Nyx to live in the far north, describing the Riphean Mountains as being "breast of black night".Brill's New Pauly, [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/nyx-e827340 s.v. Nyx]; Karusu, [https://archive.org/details/limc_20210516/Lexicon%20Iconographicum%20Mythologiae%20Classicae/LIMC%20II-1/page/n463/mode/2up p. 905]; Keightley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JxQHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA45 p. 45]; Alcman, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/alcman-fragments/1988/pb_LCL143.457.xml fr. 90 Campbell, pp. 456, 457] [= PMG 90 (Page, p. 60) = Scholia on Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus, 1248 (Xenis, pp. 195–6)]. The scholiast mistakenly claims that the mountains are located in the far west; see Bolton, p. 187 n. 4 to p. 41. In the Geryoneis of Stesichorus (6th century BC), Nyx appears to live beyond Oceanus in the far west, as Stesichorus writes that after Helios crosses the river at the end of the day, he "reach[es] the depths of holy, dark night".Keightley, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=JxQHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA45 45], [https://books.google.com/books?id=JxQHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA48 48], [https://books.google.com/books?id=JxQHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA49 49]; Stesichorus, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/stesichorus_i-fragments/1991/pb_LCL476.79.xml fr. 17 Campbell, pp. 78, 79] [= PMG 185 (Page, pp. 100–1) = Athenaeus, Deipnosophists [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/atheneus_grammarian-learned_banqueters/2007/pb_LCL274.277.xml 11.469e (pp. 276–9)]]. The Pre-Socratic philosopher Parmenides (6th or 5th centuries BC), in the proem to his philosophical treatise, appropriates Hesiod's description of the alternation of Nyx and Hemera, referring to "the gates of the ways of Night and Day",Miller, p. 220; Parmenides, fr. 1.11 Kirk, Raven and Schofield, pp. 242–3. The translation used here is that given by Miller. and, according to Walter Burkert, he considered the Heliades to live in the house of Night.Burkert, pp. 93, 95–6, 100; see Parmenides, fr. 1.9 Kirk, Raven and Schofield, pp. 242–3: "the daughters of the Sun made haste to escort me, having left the halls of Night". Burkert points to Stesichorus, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/stesichorus_i-fragments/1991/pb_LCL476.79.xml fr. 17 Campbell, pp. 78, 79] (see above), which states that once Helios reaches the "depths of holy, dark night", he will see "his mother and wedded wife and dear children", as attestation of this elsewhere. In tragedy, the Orestes of Euripides (5th century BC) states that Nyx has her abode in Erebus,Brill's New Pauly, [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/nyx-e827340 s.v. Nyx]; Euripides, Orestes [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-orestes/2002/pb_LCL011.431.xml 176 (pp. 430, 431)]. while a fragment of Sophocles mentions the "springs of Night", which are located in the north.Keightley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JxQHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA45 p. 45]. Later, Apollonius of Rhodes (3rd century BC) writes in his Argonautica that the Eridanus river "ris[es] from the end of the earth, where the gates and precincts of Night are located",Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/apollonius_rhodes-argonautica/2009/pb_LCL001.379.xml 4.629–30 (pp. 378, 379)]. locating her home in the far west.Race, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/apollonius_rhodes-argonautica/2009/pb_LCL001.379.xml p. 379 n. 84]; see also Keightley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JxQHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA45 p. 45].

Among descriptions of Nyx in 5th century BC tragedy, Euripides, in his play Ion, represents her as being "robed in black", and her chariot as being pulled by two horses.Euripides, Ion [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-ion/1999/pb_LCL010.457.xml 1150–1 (pp. 456, 457)]. He reports that she prepares her chariot as Helios finishes his journey across the sky at the end of the day, and that the stars are her companions in her course through the sky.Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=nyx-bio-1 s.v. Nyx]; Euripides, Ion [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-ion/1999/pb_LCL010.457.xml 1149–51 (pp. 456, 457)]. In a fragment from his Andromeda, he refers to her driving her chariot through Olympus,Keightley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JxQHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA45 p. 45]; Euripides, Andromeda [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL504.133.xml fr. 114 Collard and Cropp, pp. 132, 133]; see also Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0019.tlg008.perseus-eng1:1056-1097 1065–9]. and in his Orestes, he describes her as having wings,Karusu, [https://archive.org/details/limc_20210516/Lexicon%20Iconographicum%20Mythologiae%20Classicae/LIMC%20II-1/page/n463/mode/2up p. 905]; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=nyx-bio-1 s.v. Nyx]; Euripides, Orestes [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-orestes/2002/pb_LCL011.431.xml 176 (pp. 430, 431)]; see also Anonymous [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/greek_lyric_anonymous_fragments/1993/pb_LCL144.325.xml fr. 929g Campbell, pp. 324, 325]. while according to Aeschylus she wears a black robe which is "studded with colourful stars".Brill's New Pauly, [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/nyx-e827340 s.v. Nyx]. Following the 5th century BC, Apollonius of Rhodes describes her as "putting the yoke on her horses" as the sun is setting,Keightley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JxQHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA45 p. 45]; Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/apollonius_rhodes-argonautica/2009/pb_LCL001.311.xml 3.1193 (pp. 310, 311)]. and Theocritus (3rd century BC) mentions the stars as the "attendants at the chariot of quiet Night".Keightley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JxQHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA45 p. 45]; Theocritus, Idylls [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/theocritus-poems_i-xxx/2015/pb_LCL028.57.xml 2.166 (pp. 56, 57)].

File:BnF MS Gr139 folio 419 verso - detail - Nyx.jpg, a 10th-century Greek manuscript, National Library of FranceLIMC [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-73d5f06e0c542-2 3559 (Nyx 6)].]]

In the works of Roman poets, descriptions of Nox (the Roman equivalent of Nyx) put a greater emphasis on her terrifying nature.Brill's New Pauly, [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/nyx-e827340 s.v. Nyx]; Papastavrou, [https://archive.org/details/limc_20210516/Lexicon%20Iconographicum%20Mythologiae%20Classicae/LIMC%20VI-1%20Kentauroi%20et%20Kentaurides-O%C4%B1ax/page/n577/mode/2up p. 941]. In Virgil's Aeneid (1st century BC) she seems to have lived in the underworld,Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=nyx-bio-1 s.v. Nyx]; Virgil, Aeneid [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/virgil-aeneid/1916/pb_LCL063.559.xml 6.390 (pp. 558–61)]. and drives a chariot across the sky,Virgil, Aeneid [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/virgil-aeneid/1916/pb_LCL063.521.xml 5.721 (pp. 520, 521)]. while Tibullus (1st century BC) describes her chariot as being pulled by four horses,Tibullus, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/tibullus-elegies/1913/pb_LCL006.295.xml 3.4.17 (pp. 294, 295)]. and relates that the Stars come behind her in her journey, with Sleep following after them.Tibullus, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/tibullus-elegies/1913/pb_LCL006.259.xml 2.1.87–90 (pp. 258, 259)]. In the Thebaid, Statius reports that Sleep is her "charioteer",Keightley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JxQHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA46 p. 46]; Statius, Thebaid [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.99.xml 2.59–60 (pp. 98, 99)]. Cf. Brill's New Pauly, [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/nyx-e827340 s.v. Nyx], which calls him her "coachman". while Ovid, in his Fasti, describes her as wearing a "wreath of poppy" around her head.Brill's New Pauly, [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/nyx-e827340 s.v. Nyx]; Ovid, Fasti [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-fasti/1931/pb_LCL253.237.xml 661–2 (pp. 236, 237)].

In the works of Greek poets, Thetis is a Nereid who attracts the attention of both Zeus and Poseidon, until they receive a prophecy from the Titan Themis warning them that any son she produces will be greater in power than his father;Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA52 p. 52]. according to the late Greek writer Libanius (4th century AD), however, it is Nyx who delivers this prophecy, rather than Themis.Barringer, p. 70; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA25 pp. 25–6]; Westermann, [https://archive.org/details/mythographoiscri00westuoft/page/378/mode/2up?view=theater p. 379]. In the Dionysiaca of Nonnus (5th century), the goddess Iris, on the request on Hera, approaches Hypnos in the "ugly form" of his mother Nyx, and in a lengthy speech persuades him to help set Zeus to sleep.Verhelst, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZbhRDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA56 p. 56]; Nonnus, Dionysiaca [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/nonnos-dionysiaca/1940/pb_LCL354.431.xml 31.110–96 (pp. 430–7)]. Verhelst compares this to the story in the Iliad in which Hera tries to convince Hypnos (see above).

Several passages from early authors, which seem to be Orphic in influence, have been taken as evidence of the existence of an "old" or "ancient" Orphic theogony, in which Night was one of the earliest figures.Bernabé 2004, pp. 72–3, p. 73 on fr. 64, p. 74 on fr. 65; Bernabé and Casadesús, pp. 295–6; Bernabé 2007, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/30032220?seq=30 p. 128]; Brisson 1995, pp. 3–4, I pp. 390–2, III pp. 38–9, IV pp. 2876–7; Calame, pp. 236–7; see also West, pp. 111–2. The earliest of these is a passage from Aristophanes' comedy The Birds (414 BC), which presents a parody of a cosmogony, often considered to have been derived from an Orphic theogony.Brisson 1995, pp. 3–4, I pp. 390–1, III pp. 38–9, IV pp. 2876–7; Bernabé 2004, p. 73 on fr. 64; Bernabé 2007, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/30032220?seq=30 p. 128]; see also West, p. 111. For discussions of whether Aristophanes' source is an Orphic theogony, see Betegh, pp. 148–9; Chrysanthou, pp. 301–3; Meisner, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA89 89], [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA92 92–4]. Chrysanthou, p. 303 suggests that his source is Epimenides, but says it is "more probable that [he] has in mind an Orphic Theogony", while Betegh, p. 149 states that it is most likely he "created a comic pastiche of different theogonies". Night is described as one of the first beings to come into existence, alongside Chaos, Erebus and Tartarus, and lays a "wind-egg" from which Eros is born:Brisson 1995, pp. 3–4. The meaning of the term "wind-egg" here is not clear; see Meisner, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA89 89–90]. Bremmer 2008, [https://books.google.com/books?id=YTfxZH4QnqgC&pg=PA415 p. 15] (following Dunbar) states that it likely indicates that Night gives rise to the egg pathogenetically.

{{blockquote|text=In the beginning were Chaos and Night and black Erebus and broad Tartarus, and no Earth, Air, or Sky. And in the boundless bosom of Erebus did black-winged Night at the very start bring forth a wind egg, from which as the seasons revolved came forth Eros the seductive, like to swift whirlwinds, his back aglitter with wings of gold.Aristophanes, The Birds [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/aristophanes-birds/2000/pb_LCL179.117.xml 693–9 (pp. 116, 117)] [= Orphic fr. 64V Bernabé (I pp. 73–5) = [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/80/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 1 Kern]].}}

A passage from Euripides' play Hypsipyle (performed c. 411–407) also makes reference to Night and other early deities, seemingly containing traces of an early Orphic theogony:Bernabé 2004, p. 74 on fr. 65; Calame, p. 232; Chrysanthou, p. 305; Bremmer 2011, p. 5; see also West, p. 112.

{{blockquote|O mistress ... of the gods ... inscrutable (light) ... first-born (in) mist (or heaven) ... Erôs willed, when (Night) ... and was nurtured then ... family of gods ...Euripides Hypsipyle [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL506.305.xml fr. 758a.1103–8 Collard and Cropp, pp. 304, 305] [= Orphic fr. 65V Bernabé (I pp. 75–7) = [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/80/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 2 Kern]].}}

Several modern scholars have interpreted these fragments as evidence of an early Orphic theogony in which Night featured as one of the first deities. According to Luc Brisson, the cosmogony which Aristophanes parodies came from a work which he calls the "ancient version" (la version ancienne), which he sees as the earliest Orphic theogony. In this work, he believes that Night is, by herself, the first being to exist (a position she loses in later Orphic theogonies), and that she produces an egg from which comes Eros (as she does in Aristophanes' parody), from whom all things arise.Brisson, pp. 3–4, I pp. 390–2, III pp. 38–9, IV pp. 2876–7. {{ill|Alberto Bernabé|es}} similarly sees these fragments as alluding to an "ancient" theogony (priscae Orphicae theogoniae) which centred around the birth of Eros from an egg, produced by "Chaos-Night".Bernabé 2004, p. 72; Bernabé and Casadesús, pp. 295–6; Bernabé 2007, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/30032220?seq=30 pp. 128–9].

Night seems to have been considered the first deity in the earliest known Orphic cosmogonies.Edmonds, p. 228. The oldest Orphic theogony in which Night is known to have appeared is the Eudemian Theogony (5th century BC),Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 p. 1]. which receives its name from the philosopher Eudemus of Rhodes, a student of Aristotle, who spoke of an Orphic theogony in one of his works; this theogony was later referred to by the Neoplatonist Damascius, in his De Principiis (On First Principles), using Eudemus as his source.Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA87 p. 87]; Orphic fr. 20 I Bernabé (I p. 35) [= Eudemus fr. 150 Wehrli = Damascius, De Principiis 124]. The only piece of information known for certain about this theogony is that it started with Night;Edmonds, p. 228; Betegh, p. 146. as Damascius writes:

{{blockquote|text=The theology described in the Peripatetic Eudemus as being that of Orpheus is silent about the entire realm of the intelligible for it is completely inexpressible and unknowable by the method of exposition and narration: it made its start from Night, from whom also Homer begins, although he did not make his genealogy continuous.Damascius, De Principiis 124 [= Orphic fr. 20 I Bernabé (I p. 35)]. The translation used here is that given by Betegh, p. 146.}}

Aristotle similarly refers to earlier authors who attributed a primordial role to Night, presumably commenting upon the same text as his pupil.Bernabé 2008, p. 35 on fr. 20. In his Metaphysics, he makes reference to theologians "who make Night parent of all",Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA94 p. 94]; Fowler, p. 13; Orphic fr. 20 II Bernabé (I p. 35) [= [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/94/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 24 Kern] = Aristotle, Metaphysics 1071^b 26]. The translation used here is that given by Fowler. and describes Night as being one of the deities who are placed as "the first" by "the ancient poets".Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA94 p. 94]; Orphic fr. 20 IV Bernabé (I p. 35) [= Aristotle, Metaphysics 1091^b 4]; see also Orphic fr. 20 III Bernabé (I p. 35) [= Aristotle, Metaphysics 1072^a 7]. In addition, the Byzantine author John the Lydian writes in his De Mensibus that "three first beginnings of generation sprouted out, according to Orpheus: Night, Ge, and Ouranos",Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA95 p. 95]; Orphic fr. 20 V (I p. 35) [= [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/98/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 28a Kern] = John the Lydian, De Mensibus 2.8]. a passage which scholars have seen as referring to the Eudemian Theogony.Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA95 p. 95]. Because of this, it has been proposed that Night, presumably on her own, is described as the mother of Uranus and Gaia in the work;Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA95 p. 95]; Alderink, [https://archive.org/details/creationsalvatio0000alde/page/36/mode/2up?view=theater p. 37, table 3]. West takes this further, claiming that Night is the mother of Uranus and Gaia, and that they are the parents of Oceanus and Tethys, who produce the Titans.West, pp. 117–9. West takes this genealogy from Plato, Timaeus [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/plato-philosopher_timaeus/1929/pb_LCL234.87.xml 40e (pp. 86, 87)] [= fr. 21 Bernabé (I p. 36) = [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/88/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 16 Kern]], which contains the same sequence of generations, excluding Night. West explains the absence of Night from the passage by arguing that in the Timaeus "night cannot be a god, being merely something produced by the earth's shadow and a unit of time".

In the Derveni Theogony (4th century BC), an Orphic poem known through the commentary on the work found in the Derveni papyrus,Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 p. 1]. Night appears to have been the first deity;Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA37 p. 37]; Bernabé 2018, p. 350; Brisson 1995, I pp. 399–400; cf. West, p. 86, who considers Phanes the first deity. according to Bernabé, she exists eternally before the creation of the cosmos, at a time when the universe sits in a state of "cold and passive darkness".Bernabé 2018, p. 350. In a surviving line from the poem, quoted in the Derveni papyrus, she is described as the mother of Uranus:Bernabé 2018, p. 350; Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA70 p. 70].

{{blockquote|Ouranos, son of Night, who was the first to become kingOrphic fr. 10 I Bernabé (I p. 21) [= Derveni papyrus, col. 14.6 (Kouremenos, Parássoglou, and Tsantsanoglou, pp. 133)]. The translation used here is that given by Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA70 p. 70].}}

It is unclear, however, whether or not there was a father, and, if there was, what his identity was: Bernabé argues that Night produces him without a partner (though this view has been criticised),Bernabé and Cristobal, p. 88 argue that the use of the matronymic Οὐρανὸς Εὐφρονίδης ("son of Night") in reference to Uranus precludes the existence of a father; Almqvist, p. 87, however, is sceptical of this. while other scholars have suggested that Aether may have been the father,Betegh, p. 336. or Phanes.Almqvist, p. 88. Gábor Betegh also adds Gaia as the offspring of Night in the poem, alongside Uranus.Betegh, p. 336.

In the poem, Night was called the "immortal nurse of the gods" (as quoted in the Derveni papyrus),Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA82 p. 82]; Orphic fr. 6 I Bernabé (I p. 16) [= Derveni papyrus, col. 10.9–12 (Kouremenos, Parássoglou and Tsantsanoglou, pp. 80–1)]. and in its narrative she nurtures and gives shelter to the young Zeus.Betegh, p. 207 Later in the work, after Zeus overthrows his father Cronus and becomes king, he consults Night on how he can consolidate his rule.Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA68 p. 68]. She is described as she "who knows all the oracles", and delivers a prophecy to him from within her shrine (adyton); several reconstructed lines from the work describe this:

{{poem quote|And Zeus [... came to the cave, where]

Night sat, immortal nurse of the gods, knowing all oracles

... to prophesy from the innermost shrine.

She prophesied all that it was permitted him to achieve,

how he would hold the lovely seat in snowy Olympus.Bernabé 2007, pp. 104–5; Orphic fr. 6 Bernabé (I pp. 16–7).}}

After Zeus receives this prophecy from Night (and one from his father Cronus), he apparently swallows either the phallus of Uranus (or, as other have suggested, the body of Phanes).Meisner, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA69 69], [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA71 71]. Bernabé 2007, pp. 107–8 and Betegh, p. 121 see it as Uranus's phallus which Zeus swallows, while West, pp. 86–8 takes it to be the body of Phanes.

The role which Night plays in the Derveni Theogony has been compared to that which Gaia plays in Hesiod's Theogony.Edmonds, pp. 228–9; Almqvist, p. 87; Betegh, p. 168; West, p. 87; Santamaría, p. 375. It has pointed out that both are described as the mother of Uranus, and occupy a similar position at the beginning of creation, with Gaia being the second being to exist in the Theogony.Betegh, p. 168; Almqvist, p. 87. Gaia is described as coming into existence after only Chaos, and produces Uranus without a father; see Hesiod, Theogony [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:104-138 117], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:104-138 126–7]. In addition, following the creation of world, rather than becoming rulers themselves, both deities remain present and occasionally offer guidance and assistance to younger generations.Edmonds, p. 228–9. The prophecy which Night delivers to Zeus, which causes him to swallow Phanes, has been compared to the prophecy Gaia and Uranus report to Zeus in the Theogony, which leads him to swallow his wife Metis.West, pp. 87–8; Betegh, p. 146. For the prophecy delivered by Gaia and Uranus, see Hesiod, Theogony [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:886-900 886–900]. In the Theogony, Zeus is also given to Gaia after his birth, which has been connected to the role Night plays in nurturing the young Zeus in his infancy.Betegh, p. 146; see also Almqvist, p. 87. For Gaia being given the newborn Zeus, see Hesiod, Theogony [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:453-491 479].

In the longest Orphic poem, the Rhapsodic Theogony, or Rhapsodies (1st century BC/AD),Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 p. 1]. though the first deity to exist is Chronos, several fragments appear to assign a primordial role to Night.Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA205 p. 205]. Several writers describe the elemental mass from which Chronos emerges as dark and shadowy in nature,Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA178 p. 178]. while the Byzantine author John Malalas reports that in Orpheus it is "gloomy Night" who "[comes] first",Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA178 p. 178]; Orphic fr. 107 I Bernabé (I pp. 115–6). In Orphic fr. 97T Bernabé (I pp. 104–5), Malalas similarly states that Night exists in the beginning, alongside Chronos, Aether, and Chaos. See also Orphic fr. 107 III Bernabé (I p. 116). and Damascius similarly refers to Night as the "first being".Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA206 p. 206]; Orphic fr. 112 II Bernabé (I p. 121). When the god Phanes springs from the cosmic egg created by Chronos, there emerges a bright light, at which point Night is the only one who looks upon him.Orphic fr. 123 I Bernabé (I pp. 128–9). According to Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA195 p. 195], Night is "the only one who can handle looking at him", while West, p. 70 states that he is "invisible except to Night". Phanes then creates the cosmos, doing so from within the cave of Night;Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA208 p. 208]. a passage from the Rhapsodies states that "these things are what the father made in the misty cave", and the Neoplatonist philosopher Hermias describes Phanes as being seated in the "shrine of Night".Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA208 p. 208]; Orphic frr. 163 (I p. 153) [= [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/162/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 97 Kern]], 164 II (I p. 154) [= [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/168/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 105 Kern]] Bernabé. Damascius similarly records that the two deities live together, while Proclus refers to the couple as the "two rulers in the sky ... seated eternally in the innermost shrine".Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA208 p. 208]; Orphic frr. 148 IV (I p. 145) [= [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/164/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 98 Kern]], 164 I [= [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/166/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 104 Kern]] Bernabé. In the poem's narrative, Night is both the consort and his daughter of Phanes,Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA168 p. 168]; Betegh, p. 141; Orphic fr. 147 I Bernabé (I p. 144). and, by him, becomes the mother of Uranus and Gaia.Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA169 p. 169]; Orphic fr. 149 I Bernabé (I p. 146); see also Orphic fr. 174 I Bernabé (I p. 158), which calls Uranus the son of Night. The relationship between Uranus and Gaia is described as the first marriage, while that between Phanes and Night is not; see Betegh, p. 119; West, p. 71. She is described as the second ruler of the gods, being preceded in this role by Phanes, and followed by her son Uranus.Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA168 pp. 168–9]; Orphic frr. 98T I (I p. 105), II (I pp. 105–6), V (I p. 106), 174 (I p. 158) Bernabé. West, pp. 234–5 characterises the reign of Nyx as "entirely eventless". Proclus relates that Phanes passes on his rule to Nyx by giving her a sceptre which he created himself, handing it on to her willingly, and that after her own time as ruler, she too passes on the sceptre voluntarily, giving it to her son Uranus.West, p. 71; Chrysanthou, p. 360; Orphic frr. 98T III (I p. 106), IV (I p. 106), 168 I (I p. 156) Bernabé. When Phanes gives her the sceptre, he seemingly also confers upon her the gift of prophecy.Chrysanthou, p. 311; West, p. 71.

Proclus reports that Night is called the "immortal nurse of the gods" in the Rhapsodies, as she is the Derveni Theogony,Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA205 p. 205]; Orphic fr. 112 I Bernabé (I p. 121). and Damascius similarly refers to her as the "nurse of all things".Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA206 p. 206]; Orphic fr. 112 II Bernabé (I . 121). In the poem's narrative, she is described as raising her grandson Cronus,Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA206 p. 206]; Orphic frr. 182 I (I p. 166), II (I p. 166) Bernabé. though West suggests that she may have nurtured all of the Titans.West, p. 87. According to Hermias, the young Zeus is reared in the cave of Night by the nymphs Amalthea and Adrasteia, the latter of which protects the child by standing at the door of the cave, clanging cymbals.Meisner, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA208 208], [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA216 216]; Orphic fr. 209 I (I pp. 181–2), fr. 211 (I p. 183) Bernabé. Once Zeus reaches adulthood, Night delivers several prophecies to him, presumably from this same cave.Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA208 p. 208]. During the reign of Cronus, she prophesies to Zeus that he will become the fifth king of the gods,Brisson, V p. 61; West, p. 72; Orphic fr. 219 Bernabé (I p. 188). and advises him on how he can overthrow his father. She directs him to use a "trick through honey", and then wait until Cronus is standing "under trees with high foliage, drunk with the works of loud-buzzing bees", before binding him.Meisner, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA207 207], [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA216 216–7]; Edmonds, p. 234; Orphic fr. 220 Bernabé (I p. 189). After becoming king, Zeus returns to Night, and asks her how he can solidify his rule, to which she responds:Meisner, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA206 206], [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA221 221]; Brisson 1995, V p. 62; cf. West, p. 72, who places this during the same consultation in which Night advises him to bind Cronus.

{{poem quote|Surround all things with unspeakable aither, and in the middle

place the sky, and therein the boundless earth, and the sea,

and therein all the constellations, which the sky has surrounded.

But when you have stretched a firm bond over everything,

suspend a golden chain from the aither.Orphic fr. 237 Bernabé (I pp. 197–9). The translation used here is that given by Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA221 p. 221].}}

After hearing this advice, Zeus consumes his ancestor Phanes, and, in doing so, takes in the entire creation, which he contains in his stomach.Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA222 p. 222]. Following this, Zeus keeps Night as his advisor, and it is on her recommendation that he takes Nomos (Law) to sit beside him.Brisson 1995, V p. 64; West, p. 73; Orphic fr. 247 II Bernabé (I p. 216) [= [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/196/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 160 Kern]]. Night also prophesies that Themis, who becomes Zeus's consort, will continue to be a virgin until a son of Cronus and Rhea is born.Brisson, V p. 64; West, p. 73; Orphic fr. 251 Bernabé (I p. 218).

Several fragments from the Rhapsodies seem to refer to three separate deities named Night. Hermias reports that "three Nights have been transmitted in Orpheus", and gives them the following descriptions:

{{blockquote|He says the first [Night] prophesies, which is connected with understanding, and he calls the middle [Night] revered, which is connected with moderation, and he says the third [Night] gave birth to justice.Orphic fr. 113 Bernabé (I p. 201). The translation used here is that given by Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA201 p. 201].}}

Clémence Ramnoux interprets these three Nights as forming a "feminine trinity" around Phanes, the first being his mother, the second his consort, and the third his daughter.Ramnoux, pp. 231–3. Bernabé, in his collection of Orphic fragments, arranges passages relating to Night into three groups, interpreting the Nights as three separate deities who appear in different parts of the poem's narrative.Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA202 pp. 202–4]; Bernabé 2004, pp. 115–21, 142–54, 156–7. He sees the first Night as a primordial deity, eternal in nature, and the offspring of Chronos, and interprets this as the Night who observes Phanes at his emergence from the egg; he views her as the same figure described as the nurse of the gods, as well as the Night who prophesies, claiming that she receives the gift of prophecy from Chronos.Bernabé 2004, p. 121 on fr. 112, p. 121 on fr. 113, p. 129 on fr. 123. A passage from Proclus relates that Phanes "brings forth the Nights and, as a father, has intercourse with the middle one",Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA203 p. 203]; Orphic fr. 148 I Bernabé (I p. 145) [= [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/164/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 99 Kern]]. which Bernabé sees as referring to the second Night giving birth to the third.Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA206 p. 206]; Bernabé 2004, p. 144 on fr. 147. Brisson interprets Night as the feminine aspect of the bisexual deity Phanes, who is simultaneously his mother, sister, and daughter, and argues that when he mates with Night he is copulating with this feminine half.Brisson 1997, pp. 85, 87. He claims that this explains why the relationship between Uranus and Gaia is called the first marriage; as Phanes and Night are two aspects of the same being, intercourse between them cannot be considered "marriage". Dwayne Meisner, however, rejects the idea that there were three separate Nights in the poem, and interprets Hermias's passage in terms of Neoplatonic allegory.Meisner, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA202 202], [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA204 204]. One passage from Proclus apparently describes there as being five Nights, as opposed to three.Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA202 p. 202]; Orphic fr. 113 V Bernabé (I p. 122) [= [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/164/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 99 Kern]].

The fifth of the Orphic Hymns (2nd century AD?) is dedicated to Night, and describes her as the "mother of gods and men", who "gave birth to all";Orphic Hymn to Night (3), [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780891301196/page/6/mode/2up?view=theater 1–2 (Athanassakis and Wolkow, pp. 6–7)]. in this role as a progenitor, she is addressed in the Hymn as Cypris (an epithet of Aphrodite).Ramnoux, p. 250; Orphic Hymn to Night (3), [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780891301196/page/6/mode/2up?view=theater 2 (Athanassakis and Wolkow, pp. 6–7)]. In the proem to the Hymns, in which Orpheus addresses Musaeus, she is similarly called the "oldest of all".Orpheus to Musaeus (Orphic Hymns), [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780891301196/page/4/mode/2up?view=theater 24 (Athanassakis and Wolkow, p. 4)]. The later Orphic Argonautica (4th or 5th centuries AD)Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA172 p. 172]. also mentions "holy oracles of Night about the lord Bacchus", seemingly referring to the Rhapsodies.West, pp. 99–100; Orphic Argonautica, 28 (Vian, p. 76) [= Orphic fr. 238 Bernabé (I p. 200) = [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/64/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 224T Kern]].

File:Arte romana, statuetta di nyx o selene, I secolo ac.JPG bronze statuette of Nyx velificans or Selene (Getty Villa)]]

In ancient Greek and Roman art, Nyx is often difficult to identify, as she lacks a specific defined appearance,Papastavrou, [https://archive.org/details/limc_20210516/Lexicon%20Iconographicum%20Mythologiae%20Classicae/LIMC%20VI-1%20Kentauroi%20et%20Kentaurides-O%C4%B1ax/page/n577/mode/2up p. 941]; Oxford Classical Dictionary, [https://archive.org/details/oxfordclassicald0000unse_w0u7/page/1056/mode/2up?view=theater s.v. Nyx, p. 1056]. and it can be hard to distinguish her from other deities, such as Selene and Eos.Brill's New Pauly, [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/nyx-e827340 s.v. Nyx] (Selene, Eos, Artemis); Hurwit, p. 530 (Selene); Papastavrou, [https://archive.org/details/limc_20210516/Lexicon%20Iconographicum%20Mythologiae%20Classicae/LIMC%20VI-1%20Kentauroi%20et%20Kentaurides-O%C4%B1ax/page/n577/mode/2up p. 941] (Eos). According to Pausanias, she was depicted on the chest of Cypselus (6th century BC) as the nurse of Hypnos and Thanatos, where she held the two gods, portrayed as children, in each of her hands.Shapiro, p. 132; Pausanias, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:5.18.1 5.18.1]. In the 5th century BC, Nyx appears on a number of vases alongside other celestial deities such as Helios, Selene, and Eos.Karusu, [https://archive.org/details/limc_20210516/Lexicon%20Iconographicum%20Mythologiae%20Classicae/LIMC%20II-1/page/n465/mode/2up p. 909]. The earliest surviving representation of Nyx is an Attic lekythos (c. 500 BC), which shows her driving a two-horse chariot away from Helios, who is ascending into the sky in his quadriga at the start of the new day.Ferrari, [https://books.google.com/books?id=oXbG_4TRs8QC&pg=PA40 p. 40]; Karusu, pp. [https://archive.org/details/limc_20210516/Lexicon%20Iconographicum%20Mythologiae%20Classicae/LIMC%20II-1/page/n465/mode/2up 906], [https://archive.org/details/limc_20210516/Lexicon%20Iconographicum%20Mythologiae%20Classicae/LIMC%20II-1/page/n465/mode/2up 909]; LIMC [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-747162b6cd15f-2 14520 (Astra 3)]; Metropolitan Museum of Art [https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/254196 41.162.29]. Most depictions of Nyx portray her as having wings, and in early representations she is usually shown riding in a chariot.Karusu, [https://archive.org/details/limc_20210516/Lexicon%20Iconographicum%20Mythologiae%20Classicae/LIMC%20II-1/page/n465/mode/2up p. 909]. On the lid of a 5th-century BC Athenian pyxis, for example, she is a winged figure driving a chariot pulled by four horses, with stars dotted above her head; she rides towards a column which signifies the edge of the world, and is followed by Selene and Helios (or Eos).Ferrari, [https://books.google.com/books?id=oXbG_4TRs8QC&pg=PA39 p. 39]; Karusu, [https://archive.org/details/limc_20210516/Lexicon%20Iconographicum%20Mythologiae%20Classicae/LIMC%20II-1/page/n465/mode/2up p. 907]; LIMC [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-745fb3655f076-8 13274 (Astra 8)]. She is sometimes also shown wearing a dress which has black borders, or has a black piece of cloth placed on her clothes;Parisinou, p. 34 on an Attic kylix, for example, is a winged figure (probably Nyx) wearing a black-bordered peplos, walking behind the horse of Selene.Karusu, pp. [https://archive.org/details/limc_20210516/Lexicon%20Iconographicum%20Mythologiae%20Classicae/LIMC%20II-1/page/n465/mode/2up 906], [https://archive.org/details/limc_20210516/Lexicon%20Iconographicum%20Mythologiae%20Classicae/LIMC%20II-1/page/n465/mode/2up 909]; LIMC [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-7565ed9ad5134-2 31765 (Astra 5)].

Following the 5th century BC, depictions of Nyx no longer show her alongside other celestial deities, and most representations are uncertain.Karusu, [https://archive.org/details/limc_20210516/Lexicon%20Iconographicum%20Mythologiae%20Classicae/LIMC%20II-1/page/n465/mode/2up p. 909]. She has been identified as one of the deities fighting against the Giants on the Gigantomachy frieze of the Pergamon Altar (2nd century BC), where she is shown grabbing the edge of a shield belonging to bearded giant, and in her other hand holds a jar with a snake wrapped around it.Honan, p. 29. The figure has also been identified as Persephone; see Ridgway, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Y6Jj6rcIup4C&pg=PA57 p. 57 n. 51 to p. 36]. According to Honan, the snake is symbolic of the constellation Hydra, which Nyx pulls from the sky during the battle. In later depictions, Nyx is often portrayed as a velificans (with a veil billowing behind her head), and on Roman sarcophagi is a figure who puts others to sleep.Papastavrou, [https://archive.org/details/limc_20210516/Lexicon%20Iconographicum%20Mythologiae%20Classicae/LIMC%20VI-1%20Kentauroi%20et%20Kentaurides-O%C4%B1ax/page/n577/mode/2up p. 941].

There exist few examples of Nyx having played a role in cult.Athanassakis and Wolkow, [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780891301196/page/76/mode/2up?view=theater p. 77]. According to Pausanias, there was an oracle which belonged to Night on the acropolis of Megara, alongside temples to Dionysus Nyktelios and Zeus, and a sanctuary of Aphrodite.Athanassakis and Wolkow, [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780891301196/page/76/mode/2up?view=theater p. 77]; Pausanias, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.40.6 1.40.6]. A scholiast on Pindar claims that Nyx was the earliest owner of the Oracle of Delphi, and was followed in this role by Themis and Python,Fontenrose, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wqeVv09Y6hIC&pg=PA396 p. 396]. while according to Menander Rhetor, Apollo competed with Nyx, Poseidon, and Themis for control of the site.Fontenrose, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wqeVv09Y6hIC&pg=PA395 p. 395]. Plutarch similarly refers to an oracle which belonged to Nyx and Selene.Bernert, [https://elexikon.ch/RE/XVII,2_1669 p. 1670]; Plutarch, Moralia [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/plutarch-delays_divine_vengeance/1959/pb_LCL405.289.xml 566 C]. In addition to her association with oracles, Pausanias records that there was a statue of Night in the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, created by the artist Rhoecus.Murray, [https://books.google.com/books?id=1MR5gQh5rccC&pg=PA1 p. 1]; Pausanias, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:10.38.6 10.38.6]. Several Roman authors also mention animals which were sacrificed to Night: Ovid refers to black roosters slain to her,Ovid, Fasti [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-fasti/1931/pb_LCL253.33.xml 1.445 (pp. 32, 33)]. Statius black bulls,Statius, Thebaid [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.77.xml 1.507 (pp. 76, 77)]. and Virgil a black sheep.Virgil, Aeneid [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/virgil-aeneid/1916/pb_LCL063.549.xml 6.249–50 (pp. 548, 549)].

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