Erebus

Greek deities
series
Titans and Olympians
Aquatic deities
Chthonic deities
Personified concepts
Other deities
Primordial deities

In Greek mythology, Erebus (pronounced /ˈɛrəbəs/), also Erebos or Erebes (Ancient Greek: Ἔρεβος, "deep darkness or shadow"), was the son of a primordial god, Chaos, and represented the personification of darkness and shadow, which filled in all the corners and crannies of the world. His name is used interchangeably with Tartarus and Hades since Erebus is often thought of as part of the underworld. Erebus married his sister Nyx (goddess of the night) and their children include: Aether (god of sky), Hemera (goddess of day), Nemesis (goddess of revenge), Charon (the Ferryman), Momus (god of satire), Geras (god of old age), Oneiroi (god of dreams), the Moirai (Fates), the Hesperides (guardians of the golden apples), Cer (goddess of death), as well as Hypnos (god of sleep) and his twin brother Thanatos (death).

Contents

Etymology

The perceived meaning of Erebus is "darkness", but the first recorded instance of it was "place of darkness between earth and Hades". Erebh means sunset, or evening.[1]

Family

Erebus's father is Chaos; mother is Gaia, goddess of the earth.

Chaos

Erebus's father, Chaos, was said to be the entity from which all the gods were born. Gaia was the first being to exist, goddess of the earth. Chaos is described as a huge mass of nothing which separates the earth (Gaia) from the sky (Ouranos).

Offspring

According to Hesiod's Theogony, Erebus was born the son of Chaos and darkness itself, without intercourse,[2] and brother to Nyx. Chaos' other children were Eros, Tartarus, and Gaia.[3] Eventually Nyx and Erebus courted and gave birth to Hemera (goddess of day), Aether (god of sky), Cer (goddess of death), Oneiroi (god of dreams), as well as Hypnos (god of sleep), his twin brother Thanatos god of death, Momus (god of satire and the like), Nemesis ( goddess of revenge), the Hesperides (guardians of the golden apples), and Charon, the ferryman.[4] He was also the father of Geras (god of old age) according to Hyginus (c. AD 1). Some accounts attest that Erebus is the father of the Moirai with Nyx as well.[5]

As a mythological place

Erebus was later depicted as a material region, the lower half of Hades, the underworld.[4] It was where the dead had to pass immediately after dying. Charon ferried the souls of the dead across the river Styx, upon which they entered the land of the dead.

Place names

Mount Erebus is a volcano on Ross Island, Antarctica, which is the southernmost historically active volcano.[6]

Mt. Erebus is also the name of level E3M6 in the 1993 computer game Doom , as well as the name of the gallente titan in EVE Online

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Douglas Harper (2001). "Online Etymology Dictionary: Erebus". http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=erebus&searchmode=none. 
  2. ↑ Hansen, p. 164.
  3. ↑ Morford, and Lenardon, p. 36.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Turner and Coulter, p. 170.
  5. ↑ Randall, p. 55.
  6. ↑ "Erebus". Global Volcanism Program, Smithsonian Institution. http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1900-02=. Retrieved June 6, 2009. 

Sources