Nyx

Goddess of The Night

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Nyx

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyx

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In Greek mythology, Nyx (/nɪks/ NIX; Ancient Greek: Νύξ Nýx, [nýks], "Night") is the goddess and personification of the night. In Hesiod's Theogony, she is the offspring of Chaos, and the mother of Aether and Hemera (Day) by Erebus (Darkness). By herself, she produces a brood of children which are personifications of primarily negative forces.

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She features in a number of early cosmogonies, which place her as one of the first deities to exist. In the works of poets and playwrights, she lives at the ends of the Earth, and is often described as a black-robed goddess who drives through the sky in a chariot pulled by horses. In the Iliad, Homer relates that even Zeus fears to displease her.

Read More Erebus God of The Primordial Darkness click

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Night is a prominent figure in several theogonies of Orphic literature, in which she is often described as the mother of Uranus and Gaia. In the earliest Orphic cosmogonies, she is the first deity to exist, while in the later Orphic Rhapsodies, she is the daughter and consort of Phanes, and the second ruler of the gods. She delivers prophecies to Zeus from an adyton, and is described as the nurse of the gods. In the Rhapsodies, there may have been three separate figures named Night.

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In ancient Greek art, Nyx often appears alongside other celestial deities such as Selene, Helios and Eos, as a winged figure driving a horse-pulled chariot. Though of little cultic importance, she was also associated with several oracles. The name of her Roman equivalent is Nox.

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Cult

There exist few examples of Nyx having played a role in cult. 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. 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, while according to Menander Rhetor, Apollo competed with Nyx, Poseidon, and Themis for control of the site.

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Plutarch similarly refers to an oracle which belonged to Nyx and Selene. 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. Several Roman authors also mention animals which were sacrificed to Night: Ovid refers to black roosters slain to her, Statius black bulls, and Virgil a black sheep.

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The Cult of Nyx

Posted on May 2, 2015 by cultofnyx

Source: https://cultofnyx.wordpress.com/2015/05/02/hello-world/

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Nyx was the ancient Greek goddess of night; which is to say that the Greeks considered her ancient. She was primordial, pre-dated the gods and the titans and was pretty much as old as creation. In one account Night is born of Chaos at the beginning of time(2); in another she is described as the first creature born(3).

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Night was old, and powerful, and terrifying. In Homer’s ‘Iliad’, Hypnos, god of sleep, angers Zeus. Hypnos flees to Nyx, his mother, for protection, and the king of the gods backs off for fear of upsetting her(4). Night was accorded respect.

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Just as the sun is found as an object of deification throughout history and across the world, so it doesn’t come as a huge surprise to discover an abundance of nocturnal gods alongside the lunar deities and star-depicted heroes of mythology. There are several notable gods of night mentioned in the literature of world religion, in faiths both faded and surviving, and while the sun has generally been regarded as male, so the night is often a goddess.

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One of the oldest gods in the ancient Egyptian pantheon is Nut, whose name means ‘Sky’. While she later came to represent the sky entire, her origin is that of a goddess of the night(12). The Egyptian gods got about a bit in their day, culturally speaking. For instance towards the end of the Roman empire there was a temple to Isis in as far flung a city from the Nile Delta as London(13). Nut is likely an antecedent of Nyx, from the name upwards. But there are some more interesting parallels that we can draw.

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Nut was directly associated with death and the dead, her iconography appearing on sarcophagi and in burial chambers(14). A devoted mother, she risked angering Ra, the sun, to birth some of the key figures in the Egyptian pantheon, including Osiris, Isis and Set and, as punishment, was separated forever from her lover Geb, the earth(15). Antiquity, motherhood, death and tragic romance; the details and context vary wildly but the motif remains the same.

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Speaking of names it’s worth noting that while Nut may have become Nyx, Nyx certainly become Nox for the Romans(16). It would be interesting to know whether it’s her influence that brings us Nott, goddess of night and grandmother of Thor in the Norse pantheon. Though quite what their relationship is with Hine-NUI-te-po (my emphasis), the Maori goddess of night, is anyone’s guess.

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In the Semitic languages, the tri-consonantal root L-Y-L gives us the names Laila which means night(17), and from the same root the name Lilith(18). Lilith is the name of a demon from Hebrew folklore who was said to be Adam’s first wife, made from the same earth as him. Strong-willed and overtly sexual she refused to be subservient and left Adam and Eden behind to go and become the mother of abominations, another demonised night-goddess(19). Different context, same motif.