Encyclopedia Mythica

Erebos is the God of Darkness. By that I don't mean the evil kind. There were no real "evil" Gods. Evil is something that is a human invention to describe the unpleasant things of life like to kill to live.

He's married to Nyx and they have many childeren among the famous ones: Morpheus, Thanatos, Hemera, Aether, Nemesis, etc… In fact most of the childeren Nyx gave birth to are fathered by Erebos.

His thick mists of darkness were said to envelop the edges of the world where the domed sky met the earth and fill the hollow caverns beneath the earth. These dark mists his wife Nyx drew up across the heavens each night to bring darkness to the world and his daughter Hemera (Day) scattered each morning to bring day - the one blocking out the glowing light of Aither (the glowing upper air and son of Erebos) and the other clearing the darkness to let his light shine again upon the earth. Erebos' name was often used to describe the underworld of Hades. Hesiod mentions Khaos/ Chaos as his parent. I say parent because the gender of Khaos is undetermined. One source says Khaos is male, another female. Erebos is not only the God of Darkness but also the personification of darkness that surrounded the Underworld or Tartarus but like I said before. It was also used to describe the Underworld. The union between Erebos and Nyx is special because even though Nyx is the Night, the Night is nothing without the Darkness. In my opinion Erebos doesn't just represent the darkness of the night but also of space where again is always night can be said that wherever Darkness can be found, it will unite again with the Night when the Day (Hemera) leaves. Hyginus gives us the names of both the parents as his siblings in his preface of his Latin Mythography. He calls his parents Chaos and Caligine, which is also Darkness. He says from Chaos and Caligine Nox (Nyx- Night), ), Dies (Day), Erebus, Aether.
From Nox (Night) and Erebus: Fatum (Fate), Senectus (Old Age), Mors (Death), Letum (Dissolution), Continentia (Continence), Somnus (Sleep), Somnia (Dreams), Amor – that is Lysimeles, Epiphron, Porphyrion, Epaphus, Discordia (Discord), Miseria (Wretchedness), Petulantia (Wantonness), Nemesis, Euphrosyne, Amicitia (Friendship), Misericordia (Compassion), Styx; the three Parcae (Fates), namely Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos; the Hesperides Aegle, Hesperie and Aerica. One sources calls Erebos Skotos, Gaia Tekmor and Chaos Poros who came after Thetis (Creation). Moon is called Melana and Day Amar that was created to differentiate matter. Both Homeros and Hesiodos use Erebos to describe the Underworld. But his name is never use as another name for the Underworld. Erebos' name was only used at most as another name for Tartarus or the darkness that separated Tartarus from the rest of the Underworld.

Erebos has another name: Skotos. Both names mean Darkness. In Latin it is Erebus Scotus. Erebos is pronounced {air'-i-buhs}

Aristophanes: the Birds

Nyx is the Goddess of the Night. Her Roman/ Latin name is Nox. She is one of the Prôtogenoi who came into existence out of Khaos. Hesiod makes her the mother of most evils in the world, death, etc… Her union with Erebos (Darkness) makes the night as dark as it is now. She personify the Night. She is the daughter of Khaos (Air) and mother to Aether, Hemera and many spirits. She was depicted as a winged goddess with a star manteld clothe on, who rode across the sky in her two horse chariot drawing her dark mists across the sky. Nyx is one of these deities who don't have a good reputation for bringing such pain and misery into the world. But than again it was mostly Hesiod who makes these claims and I have been told he hated women. But Nyx is more a kind of Goddess who is powerfull but yet not dangerous or deadly as Hesiod claims and other authors. The only reason why She was seen this way because the Night hold many terrors. Several accounts (Hesiod, Homer) tell us that even Zeus didn't want to defy this Goddess as Hecate and the Moirai. If Nyx had any cult or temples, I'm not sure of but She did had a oracle at Megara.

Nyx is the goddess and embodiment of the night. According to Hesiod in his Theogony (11.116-138), "From Khaos came forth Erebos and black Night Nyx; of Night were born Aether being the bright upper atmosphere and Day Hemera, whom she conceived and bore from union with Erebus her brother". Also from the Theogony (11. 211-225); "And Night bore hateful Doom Moros and black Fate and Death Thanatos, and she bore Sleep Hypnos and the tribe of Dreams. And again the goddess murky Night, though she lay with none, bare Blame and painful Woe, and the Hesperides who guard the rich golden apples and the trees bearing fruit beyond glorious Ocean. Also she bore the Destinies and ruthless avenging Fates who were regarded as old women occupied in spinning, Clotho the Spinner of the thread of life and Lachesis the Disposer of Lots, she who allots every man his destiny and Atropos She Who Cannot Be Turned, who finally cuts the thread of life who give men at their birth both evil and good to have, and they pursue the transgressions of men and of gods, and these goddesses never cease from their dread anger until they punish the sinner with a sore penalty. Also deadly Night bore Nemesis Indignation to afflict mortal men, and after her, Deceit Apate and Friendship and hateful Age and hard-hearted Strife.

From that great work we find that Nyx produced a host of offspring. Other sources give Charon who ferried the dead over the rivers of the infernal region as being the son of Erebus and Nyx, although according to the Theogony he was born from Chaos. Also according to Aristophanes, Birds 693 ff, "in the infinite bosom of Erebus, Night with black wings first produced an egg without a seed. From it, in the course of the seasons, Eros was born--the desired, whose back sparkled with golden wings, Eros like swift whirlwinds".

From the Encyclopedia Mythica by Ron Leadbetter

Nyx had many childeren including ones who didn't have a father like Eris and Hekate (but Hekate' s parentage is somewhat a debate since one source mentions Perses and Astraia and another Nyx, etc..) I'm going to give the list of childeren with the sources where they are mentioned.

Names & Titles:

Gaia has several names Gaia, Gaea, Gaiê, Gê, Khthon (which all means Earth). Her titles are Mater Pantôn (Mother of All) and Kourotrophe (Nurse of the Young). The Latin spelling of her name is Gaea and her Roman name is Terra/ Tellus. Meter/ Mater (Mother) and Physis (Nature) are her epithets. GAIA was Mother Earth, an ancient primeval goddess or Protogenos, who emerged at the creation of the universe, second only to Khaos (Air). She was depicted as a buxom, matronly woman, shown half risen from the earth, unable to completely separate herself from her element. Gaia, known as Earth or Mother Earth (the Greek common noun for "land" is ge or ga).

Fruit, cornocopiae

All of them.

Any grain, flowers, or plants, except for beans and aromathic herbs.

The Earth, in the ancient cosmology, was a disk surrounded by the river Okeanos. It was called the foundation of all, because trees, men, and animals, but even the hills, sea and the solid dome of the sky were supported by it. Gaia was seen as the mother of the Gods, a function that was passed down to Gaia's daughter Rhea and than to Demeter. Kybele was compared to Rhea, Demeter and Gaia and thought to be Rhea. What these Goddesses have in common is not only their agricultural function but also their mother earth function. Gaia played a big role in Titanomachia as in the Gigantomachia as the one who started these wars. She also was the one who provided Kronos or possible one of her servants with the weapons to castrate his father. One version of this myth tells us that Kronos killed his father, another tells us he only castrated his father. She did this because She couldn't stand that her children were suffering. When Kronos only released the Titans and not the Cyclops and not the Hekatonkheires, She was furious for this. When Zeus began the Titanomachy, Gaia was on his side when he released the Cyclops and the Hekatonkheires. But when Zeus imprisened the Titans She again sought to remove Zeus from Olympos with the help of Typhoeus and the Gigantes. One version of the birth of Zeus tells us that Rheia sought counsel with her parents and they advised her to give Kronos a rock instead of the baby and to hide it on Krete. She was an early earth goddess and it is written that Gaia was born from Khaos, the great void of emptiness within the universe, and with her came Eros (Himeros). She gave birth to Pontos (the Sea) and Ouranos(the Sky). This was achieved parthenogenetically (without male intervention). Other versions say that Gaia had as siblings Tartarus (the lowest part of the earth, below Hades itself) and Eros, and without a mate, gave birth to Ouranos(Sky), Ourea (Mountains) and Pontos(Sea). Ge was the original Greek earth- and mother-goddess. Because her mythology is difficult to equate with earth goddesses in the other religions, she has been suspected as being pre-Greek in origin. Still, she is a familiar primordial earth goddess married to the primordial sky god.

Gaia took as her husband Uranus, who was also her son, and their offspring included the Titans, six sons and six daughters. She gave birth to the Cyclopes and to three monsters that became known as the "Hekatonkheires". The spirits of punishment known as the Erinyes were also offspring of Gaia and Uranus. The Gigantes, finally, were conceived after Uranus had been castrated by his son Kronos, and his blood fell to earth from the open wound. To protect her children from her husband, (the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires, as he was fearful of their great strength), Gaia hid them all within herself. One version says that Uranus was aghast at the sight of his offspring so he hid them away in Tartarus, which is the bowels of the earth. Gaia herself found her offspring uncomfortable and at times painful, when the discomfort became to much to bear she asked her youngest son Cronus to help her. She asked him to castrate Uranus, thus severing the union between the Earth and Sky, and also to prevent more monstrous offspring. To help Cronus achieve his goal Gaia produced an adamantine sickle to serve as the weapon. Cronus hid until Uranus came to lay with Gaia and as Uranus drew near, Cronus struck with the sickle, cutting the genitalia from Uranus. Blood fell from the severed genitals and came in contact with the earth and from that union was born the Erinyes (Furies), the Giants and the Meliae (Nymphs of the manna ash trees).

After the separation of the Earth from the Sky, Gaia gave birth to other offspring, these being fathered by Pontus. Their names were the sea-god Nereus, Thaumas, Phorkys, Ceto and Eurybia. In other versions Gaia had offspring to her brother Tartarus; they were Echidna and Typhon, the later being an enemy of Zeus. Apollo killed Typhon when he took control of the oracle at Delphi , which Gaia originally provided, and then the "Sibyl" sang the oracle in Gaia's shrine. Ge was the original Greek earth- and mother-goddess. Because her mythology is difficult to equate with earth goddesses in the other religions, she has been suspected as being pre-Greek in origin. Still, she is a familiar primordial earth goddess married to the primordial sky god.

None because she was one of the first Protogenoi who came into existence after the creation of the universe.

"[Indian Deriades calls on his comrades to pray to the gods:] ‘Pray to both – stretch out your hands to the Water [of the River-God Hydsapes] and pray to Mother Gaia (Earth), and with truthful lips vow to both sacrifice after victory; at the altar let bullshaped Hydaspes hold a hornstrong bull, and let black Gaia receive a black ram [it was traditional to sacrifice black animals to the Khthonion gods]." –Dionysiaca 29.62 This tell us something about the cult parctices of Gaia. Gaia being the primordial element from which all the gods originated was worshiped throughout Greece, but later she went into decline and was supplanted by other gods. In Roman mythology she was known as Tellus or Terra. Gaia's blessing is life. All things that draw breath and nourishment, and have their homes upon the earth, do so through her. Every plant, animal, bird, fish, tree, rock is special to her. But that kind of love is impersonal. Because she cares for all things, she must consider what is best for the overall balance. And so the lion thins the herd of gazelle out, because otherwise they would eat up all their food and starve to death. From the perspective of the individual gazelle this can seem cruel and uncaring - but when seen within the larger picture, we see that she does nothing needlessly, or overly cruel. Delphi was her primary cult center. The best way to honor Gaia is to care for the natural world. Clean up pollution, protect wildlife, donate time and money to ecological concerns. Recycle. Buy wholesome foods that are made without pesticides or come without all the extra packaging. Conserve energy. Carpool or walk instead of driving. Be mindful of how your actions will affect the rest of the world. The Roman goddess of the earth, equated with the Greek goddess Gaia(Terra Mater- Mother Earth) and also with the fertility goddess Ceres. Telles ("earth") had a temple on the Forum Pacis, built in 268 BCE. On her festival, the Fordicidia, held on April 15, cows (being with young) were sacrificed. On January 24 - 26 the Sementivae were held in honor of Tellus and Ceres and during these days they were called upon for protection of the seed and the sower. Fama was thought to be her daughter. "Earth". The personified Roman goddess of the earth. She is also a fertility goddess, known as Bona Dea.

Festivals:
Earth Day: 21 April (modern)
Genesios: 5 Boedromion (September-October) more info on this later.

Encyclopedia Mythica

Theoi Project

Khronos means Time and is the Protogenos of Time. He is the God of Time. He is described as an old white-haired man with a long Grey beard, who turned the wheels of time (perhaps revolving the heavenly constellations). He was the First Protogenos who was born. Through Him, we know of time and experience it and its effects can be seen throughout the whole universe as it effects everything. Khronos is seen as the personification of Time itself and in most myths, there is a reference to Him nut not to Him but to time itself. He is often mistaken with the Titan Kronos but to some Kronos himself later overshadowed Khronos so that this mistake was often made. Its through this deity that we know of Father Time.

Aiôn

Phanês

Both names mean Time and appear in the Pelasgian and the Orphic cosmology.

None, He was one of the first Protogenoi who came into existence after the creation of the universe.

The Bacchylides mention Nyx and Khronos as the father of Hemera. But in the Dionysiaca it is stated that the 12 Horai are children of Khronos but no mother is mentioned.

Theoi project

Encyclopedia Mythica

The Dionysiaca

The Bachylides

Tartaros was one of the first beings that emerged out of the creation of the universe, which personified the great stormy pit beneath the earth where the Titans were imprisoned. He was probably conceived of as a great solid dome similar to Ouranos (the Sky) but opposite to him and lying instead beneath the earth rather than above it.
The name was often used as a synonym of Haides the underworld. His name means Hell. The Latin name is Tartarus. His name is pronounced as tahr'-tuh-ruhs. Both Apollodorus as Hesiod are saying that Typhoeos is the son of Tartaros and Gaia. Hesiod also tells us how Typhoeos was conceived with the help of Aphrodite after the defeat of the Gigantes. But Hyginus Fabulae tells us that Tartaros begot by Tartara Typhon who was described as a creature with immense size and fearful shape, who had a hundred dragonheads springing from his shoulders. It is clear that Tartaros was not only the personification of Hell but the God of it ass well like the Underworld is called Hades but at the same time it is also the name of its God. This is a clear distinction made in the Theogony and later in all other myths where the name Tartaros shows up. Upon the fight between Zeus and Typhon Hesiod tells us that in his anger, he threw Typhon into Tartaros. It is said that if a anvil would fall into Tartaros from Heaven, it would take nine nights and days and upon the tenth day it would reach Tartaros. Round it runs a fence of bronze (which was made by Poseidon, and night spreads in triple line all about it like a neck-circlet, while above grow the roots of the earth and unfruitful sea. Walls runs all round it on every side and are the sources and ends of gloomy earth and misty Tartaros and the unfruitful sea and starry heaven, loathsome and dank, which even the gods abhor. It is a great gulf, and if once a man were within the gates, he would not reach the floor until a whole year had reached its end, but cruel blast upon blast would carry him this way and that. And this marvel is awful even to the deathless gods. The four Telchines are mentioned to be children of Nemesis and Tartaros or of Nemesis, the daughter of Tartaros. Apollodorus says that Tartaros was the places were Ouranos threw his children (the Cyclops and the Titans)) in and where Gaia told Zeus to find allies that would help him win the Titanomachia. While Hades is the main realm of the dead in Greek mythology, Tartarus also contains a number of characters. In early stories, it is primarily the prison for defeated gods; the Titans were condemned to Tartarus after losing their battle against the Olympian gods, and the Hekatonkheires stood over them as guards at the bronze gates. When Zeus overcomes the monster Typhus, born from Tartarus and Gaia, he hurls it too into the same abyss.

However, in later myths Tartarus becomes a place of punishment for sinners. It resembles Hell and is the opposite of Elysium, the afterlife for the blessed. When the hero Aeneas visits the underworld, he looks into Tartarus and sees the torments inflicted on characters such as the Titans, Tityos, Otus and Ephialtes, and the Lapiths. Rhadymanthus (and, in some versions, his brother Minos and in other version Minos, Rhadymanthys and Aeakas) judges the dead and assigns punishment.

The Theoi Project

Harris, Stephen L. and Platzner, Gloria. Classical Mythology: Images and Insights. Sacramento: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1998, pp. 211-2.

Rose, H.J. A Handbook of Greek Mythology. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1959.

Homer. Odyssey. Book XI, 576 ff.

Vergil. The Aeneid. Book VI, 539-627.

The Theoi Project

Encyclopedia Mythica

The Nesoi are the personifications of the Islands itself. It was believed that they were once mountains but through Poseidon were cast into the sea by his trident. It was believed that each island had its own deity that personified the island and that their parents were Gaia and Ouranos. Callimachus tells us that each island had a deity that personified the island but that the island wasn't named after its deity. So he tells us of Asteria, mother of Hekate who fled from Zeus, jumped into the sea and became the island of Delos. I think that the reference to daimon is justified here, that each island had a daimon (spirit) that was the patron/ matron of the island but that the story of Asteria becoming the island of Delos was added later.

The Theoi Project

The Ourea was seen as spirits of mountains and very few mountains were personified by spirits. It is said that they were bearded. The Theogony mentioned no father but Gaia as the mother. The names of the Ourea were Kithairon (Cithaeron) and Helikon (Helicon) of Boiotia, Tmolos (Tmolus- it was Him who was the judge in a musical contest between Pan and Apollo) and Olympos (Olympus- not the home of the Gods) from Phrygia and Aitna of Sicely( Aetna/ Etna, who gave birth to the Palikoi by hephaestos). A single Ourea was a Ouros and the name Ourea means mountains. Nonnos in his Dionysiaca tells us of the Kikilian mountain called Tauros who brayed a victorious noise after the defeat of Typhon. I think of them as i think of the Nesoi, that they are spirits/ Daimones.

The Theoi Project

Aithêr is the Protogenos of the Bright, Glowing, Upper Air. His name means Light/ Upper Air. His other name is Akmôn which means Untiring/ Anvil. There are two different spelling of his name. First the Latin one: Aether, Acmon and second the English: Ether. He is not only its God but also the personification of the upper air as opposed to the gloomy lower air of the Earth. His parents are Nyx and Erebos mentioned in the Theogony but Hyginus Pref mentioned Khaos as his parent. His mother Nyx (Night) drew the dark mists of Erebos across the sky beneath him to create night, while his sister Hemera (Day) drew away these mists to reveal his shining glow and bring the day. Night and day were regarded as independent of the sun in the ancient theogonies. He has several offspring but Hyginus seem to confuse him with Ouranos when saying that Aither has many children by Gaia. Hyginus is also our source for telling us that Aither is the father of Ouranos, Gaia and Thalassa by Hemera (his sister. But another source tells us that it is just Ouranos who is his child. And like Tartaros and Erebos, He too became the personification of his element and is mentioned in this way. In Hellas He might had shrines but no temples and probably no cult either. In the Orphic hymns, He is mentioned as the soul of the world from which all life emanates. As Akmon, Callimachus who calls Ouranos Akmonides is called him the father of Ouranos. Eustathius in Alcman tells us that the sons of Ouranos were called Akmonidai.

Hesiod : The Theogony

Hyginus, Preface- Latin Mythography

Eustathius- Greek Lyric II Alcman

Pontos or Pontus how it is written in Latin means Sea and is the God of the Sea as its personification. He is said to be the father of most of ancients of Sea Gods. Hesiod tells us that Gaia brought Him into the world with no help from a father but Hyginus says that Pontos' parents were Aither and Gaia. Its also Hesiod and Apollodorus who say that Eurybia (Sea Goddess whose name means wide- force and She is the wife of the Titan Krios), Keto (whose name means sea monster and is a sea goddess/ daimone who personified the dangers and terrors of the sea and is married with Phorkys), Thaumas, Nereus and Phorkys are children of Gaia. But Hyginus says by Thalassa, Pontos fathered the fish and by Gaia Thaumas. In the Titanomachia, it is stated that Pontos is father of Aigaion (Aigaion was an alley of the Titans and after him the Aegean Sea was named after- the name itself means Aegean Sea or Goatish).) by Gaia and in the Bachylides it is stated that by Gaia He became father of the Telkhines. The Telkhines were magicians who later angered Zeus who cast them into the depths of the sea or into Tartaros. The name Telkhines means maligners. They were four mysterious magicians who were considered daimones of the sea. Pontos like most Sea Gods was more likely to be worshipped by seamen and fishers than people who were on the land.

THESIS was the personification of creation, and one of the oldest of the Protogenoi (first born gods). She was the first being to emerge and set into order the universe as the primeval deities came into being one by one: Khaos, Gaia, Erebos, Nyx and Hemera. She has another name: Thetis and both names mean Creation. Alcman is our only source for Her: "[First came] Thetis (or Thesis= Creation). After that, ancient Poros [=Khaos] and Tekmor’ [=Gaia]: Tekmor came into being after Poros .. Thereupon ... called him Poros since the beginning provided all things; for when the matter began to be set in order, a certain Poros came into being as a beginning. So Alcman represents the matter of all things as confused and unformed. Then he says that one came into being [Thesis] who set all things in order, then that Poros came into being, and that when Poros had passed by Tekmor followed. And Poros is as a beginning, Tekmor like an end. When Thetis (Creation) had come into being, a beginning and end of all things came into being simultaneously, and all things have their nature resembling the matter of bronze, while Thetis has hers resembling that of a craftsman, Poros and Tekmor resembling a beginning and the end. He uses the word ancient for old. ‘And the third, Skotos’ ( Darkness) [=Erebos]: since neither sun nor moorn had come into being yet, but matter was still undifferentiated. So at the ssame moment there came into being Poros and Tekmor and Skotos. ‘Amar (Day) [=Hemera] and Melana (Moon) [=Selene] and third, Skotos as far as Marmarugas (= Flashings stars?)’: days does not mean simply day, but contains the idea of the sun. Previously there was only darkness, and afterwards, when it had been differentiated, light came into being."

As Thetis, She is the Sea Goddess who gave birth to the hero Achilles by Peleus. The reason why She was wed to a mortal was for the fear of a son who will become more powerful than the father. This is why Zeus allowed this after He desired Her but was warned by Prometheus not having sex with Her. Another source tells us that it was Themis who made the prophecy. But this Thetis is not the same Thetis as the one whose name means creation. This Thetis is a Nereide, a daughter of Nereus. So these Goddesses might be confused with another plus that there is only source for the Goddess Thesis/ Thetis and that is one of a Greek Lyric dating back as the 7th century BC. She might have been honored but having a cult is something I have my doubts of.

Homeros, Illiad

Apollonius Rhodius; Argonautica

Thalassa is the female equivalent of Pontos and is a Sea Goddess herself. Her name also means Sea. Her parents are Aither and Hemera and by Pontos She begat the fishes, by Ouranos Aphrodite (the severed members of Ouranos) and Aigaion. She, like Pontos was seen as the personification of the sea. Thalassa, also known as Thalatta, Thalath, or Tethys is the Greek personification of the sea. Aither and Hemera were her parents. She¹s called the mother of Aphrodite by Zeus. She was the wife of Pontos and the mother of nine Telchines, who are known as fish children because they have flippers for hands; yet, they have the head of a dog. In some Greek stories, she is known as the mother of all. "Thalassa even goes by fish mother" This name is not only because she bore Telchines, it¹s also because she is creator of all sea life. Thalassa¹s name means 'sea'. A mercantile sea kingdom is also associated with her name: Thalassocracy. In Greece, she is specifically the personification of the Mediterranean Sea. Thalassa did not have god-like qualities. She was more of a metaphor than a person. She was also a vast, lonely sea on non-populated shores. So, she was never a goddess. In most accounts, She is seen as the mother of most Leviathans and in the temples of Poseidon, that She too has a statue dedicated to Her.

The Theoi Project

Hemera was the female personification of day and one of the Protogenoi (the first born elemental gods). She was married to her brother Aither (Light). Hemera is the Goddess of the Day. She is the daughter of Erebos and Nyx 'Theogony 124). Alcman tells us that Erebos is the father of Hemera with no father suggesting a similar birth like the one Athena had. In Bacchylides it is stated that Nyx and Khronos are the parents but Hyginus mentions Khaos as the mother/ father. The name itself: Hemera means Day. She has other names like Amar or Dies which both of them mean Day. Dies is the Roman equivalent of Hemera. Hemera is the Latin spelling. The correct Greek spelling would be Hêmerê and means day. Hyginus is also our source when it comes to her offspring. He tells us that Ouranos, Gaia and Thalassa are her children with Aither. And like her brother and her parents, She is the personification of the Day. Pausanias seems to confuse Her with Eos when saying that She carried Kephalos away. Pausanias makes this identification with Eos upon looking to the tiling of the royal portico in Athens where the myth of Eos and Kephalos is illustrated. He makes this identification again at Amyklai and at Olympia upon looking at statues and illustrations where Eos (Hemera) is present.

Okeanos is the Titan of the (River) Oceans. In Antiquity the oceans were seen as the rivers that surrounded the earth. He is the son of Gaia and Ouranos. This is certain as Hesiod, Apollodorus Rhodius and Diodolus Siculus all mention this. He is the source of fresh water, wells and rains. Unlike his siblings He was also a cosmological deity both as personification of the ocean as its manifestation. Like his sons, the River Gods, He was depicted as a Horned God with a tail of a serpentine fish. His name in Greek Ökeanos as his other name Ogenos mean ocean. He has two titles: Bathudine and Bathupous. Bathudine means Deep-Eddying. Bathupous mean Deep-Flowing.

The Theogony mentions the Okeanides and the Potamoi as the children of Okeanos by Tethys. Diodorus Siculus says that only the Potamoi are his children while the Cercopes says it are the Kerkopes by Theia, daughter of Memnon, who are his children. But Apollodorus tells us that Triptolemos who is his son by Gaia.

The Theogony tells us the entire cosmology of the Hellenes including the birth and offspring of Okeanos. Hesiod tells us also in his Theogony that on Okeanos' advice, Styx came to Olympos to align herself with Zeus. Apollodorus tells us that not all the Titans attacked Ouranos. Only Okeanos stood aside when Gaia (Ge) persuaded the Titans to attack Ouranos. Tethys, the wife of Okeanos whom the Gods greatly revere, was the foster mother of Juno who on request of Juno forbade the constellation of the Bear to set in the Oceanus. (Hyginus Fab 177, Metamorphoses 2.512-547) When Palaemon jumped into the sea and became Glaucus, He called on Tethys and Oceanus to take away his mortal essences. (Metamorphoses 13.950-952)

The Dionysiaca states that after the slaughter of what they call the first Dionysos (Zagreus), Gaia was attacked by Zeus with avenging brand and he shut up the murderers of the horned Dionysos within the gate of Tartaros after a long war. Okeanos poured rivers of tears from his eyes and when Zeus claimed his wraith and pitied her, He washed away the wounds and ruins of the land with water in the flood of Deukalion. In the Dionysiaca it is said that Hera was afraid of Zeus whom She called Kronides for being banished from Heaven due a earthly marriage. She went to Tethys and Okeanos and than with to Ophion. The Iliad and the Homeric Hymns tell us that Okeanos was not only the place where the night sky came out of but also the place where the sun went under at the end of each day. It was also the place where Goddesses bath themselves. It is also said that at the end of the world, the entrance to the Underworld could be found and where the Gorgones and the Hesperides lived. It is even told in Aeschylus' work: Prometheus Bound that Okeanos went to visit Prometheus in the Caucasus to talk to Prometheus. Okeanos seem to be the wisest and oldest of all the Gods and its no wonder that the Gods revered Him. His wisdom and his pacifistic attitude is what kept him out of trouble with the other Gods. I say pacifistic because to me, Okeanos doesn't seem to come over as a violent Titan. Thanks to Jessy/ Arionssite I have a list of the Titans with their functions and attributes. For Okeanos this is the Water Element, Shape Shifting, Psychism, personification of the 6th month and Titan of the Water/ Sea. He has learned this over the years. And to be honest, it is one of the few things I don't mind considering how little we know of the Titans.

Hesiod, Theogony - Greek Epic C8th-7th BC

Homerica, The Cercopes - Greek Epic BC

Homerica, The Cypria - Greek Epic BC

Homer, The Odyssey - Greek Epic C9th-8th BC

Homer, The Iliad - Greek Epic C9th-8th BC

The Homeric Hymns - Greek Epic C8th-4th BC

Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound - Greek Tragedy C6th-5th BC

Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd BC

Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History - Greek History C1st BC

Ovid, Metamorphoses - Latin Epic C1st BC - C1st AD

Hyginus, Fabulae - Latin Mythography C2nd AD

Valerius Flaccus, The Argonautica – Latin Epic C1st AD

Nonnos, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C6th AD

Tethys is the Titaness of the Sea, Beaches, Islands, Fishing, Harbours. She created the coral and silver. She represents the 4th month. She is also the Titaness of Nursing and Underground Flow of Fresh Water. Married to Okeanos and mother of the Potamoi and the Okeanides. Her name Têthys means Nurse/ Grandmother/ Aunt. The pronounciation of her name is: thee'-thus. Her Roman name is Salacia. At the wedding, She is accompanied by Eileithyia, the Goddess of Childbirth. Tethys is usually depicted as a woman usually accompanied by Eileithyia, the Goddess of Childbirth due to be the mother of so many children. Hesiod gives her many names like Tethys the Lovely, Lady Tethys and Lovely- Haired Tethys. (Theogony) She is even called Fertile Tethys as reference to Her as the mother of so many children. (Prometheus Bound 139) She is like Okeanos seen as the personification of her element.

Hesiod, Apollodorus Rhodius as Diodorus Siculus seem to agree that Ouranos and Gaia are her parents but neither agree on who her children are. Hesiod mentions as Hyginus the Okeanides and the Potamoi. But Diodorus Siculus says it are only the Potamoi who are her children. She was even the foster mother of Hera (Juno) but I think this is truly Roman. That as Salacia, She was the foster mother of Juno. But I'm not sure about this. Salacia, a Roman sea goddess. The god Neptunus wanted to marry her but she ran off and hid from him in the Atlantic ocean. Neptune sent a dolphin to look for her and when the animal found her it brought her back to him. Salacia agreed to marry Neptune and the dolphin was awarded a place in the heavens. Salacia bore Neptune three children. She is identified with the Greek god, Amphitrite. But this can't be true either. This could mean that Tethys and Okeanos were adopted deities who were adopted into the Roman pantheon as Tethys and Oceanus because they had no Roman counterparts.

Hesiod, Theogony - Greek Epic C8th-7th BC

Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound - Greek Tragedy C6th-5th BC

Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd BC

Hyginus, Fabulae - Latin Mythography C2nd AD