Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, Aether, Æther, Aither, or Ether (; (Brightness) ) is the personification of the bright upper sky. According to

Hesiod Hesiod ( or ; ''Hēsíodos''; ) was an ancient Greece, Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer.M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press (1966), p. 40.Jasper Gr ...

, he was the son of

Erebus In Greek mythology, Erebus (; ), or Erebos, is the personification of darkness. In Hesiod's ''Theogony'', he is the offspring of Chaos, and the father of Aether and Hemera (Day) by Nyx (Night); in other Greek cosmogonies, he is the father of A ...

(Darkness) and Nyx (Night), and the brother of Hemera (Day). In Orphic cosmogony Aether was the offspring of

Chronos Chronos (; ; , Modern Greek: ), also spelled Chronus, is a personification of time in Greek mythology, who is also discussed in pre-Socratic philosophy and later literature. Chronos is frequently confused with, or perhaps consciously identified ...

(Time), and the brother of Chaos and Erebus.

Genealogy

According to

's ''

Theogony The ''Theogony'' () is a poem by Hesiod (8th–7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogy, genealogies of the Greek gods, composed . It is written in the Homeric Greek, epic dialect of Ancient Greek and contains 1,022 lines. It is one ...

'', which contained the "standard" Greek genealogy of the gods, Aether was the offspring of

and Nyx, and the brother of Hemera. However, other early sources give other genealogies. According to one, the union of Erebus and Nyx resulted in Aether,

Eros Eros (, ; ) is the Greek god of love and sex. The Romans referred to him as Cupid or Amor. In the earliest account, he is a primordial god, while in later accounts he is the child of Aphrodite. He is usually presented as a handsome young ma ...

, and Metis (rather than Aether and Hemera), while according to another, Aether and Nyx were the parents of Eros (in Hesiod, the fourth god to come into existence after Chaos,

Gaia In Greek mythology, Gaia (; , a poetic form of ('), meaning 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea (), is the personification of Earth. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthenogenic—of all life. She is the mother of Uranus (S ...

(Earth), and

Tartarus In Greek mythology, Tartarus (; ) is the deep abyss that is used as a dungeon of torment and suffering for the wicked and as the prison for the Titans. Tartarus is the place where, according to Plato's '' Gorgias'' (), souls are judged after ...

). Others tell us that

Uranus Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It is a gaseous cyan-coloured ice giant. Most of the planet is made of water, ammonia, and methane in a Supercritical fluid, supercritical phase of matter, which astronomy calls "ice" or Volatile ( ...

(Sky) (in Hesiod, the son of

) was Aether's son, and that "everything came from" Aether. In Orphic cosmogony Aether was the offspring of Chronus (Time), the first primordial deity, and the brother of Chaos and Erebus. And made from (or placed in) Aether was the

cosmic egg ''Cosmic Egg'' is the second studio album by Australian rock band Wolfmother, released on 23 October 2009. It is the first album by the second lineup of the band, featuring vocalist, songwriter and lead guitarist Andrew Stockdale, bassist and ...

, from which hatched Phanes/Protogonus, so Aether was sometimes said to be his father. The '' Orphic Argonautica'' gives a theogony that begins with Chaos and Chronus, and has Chronus producing Aether and Eros. Aether also played a role in Roman genealogies of the gods.

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

says that Aether and Dies (Day) were the parents of

Caelus Caelus or Coelus (; ) was a primordial List of Roman deities, god of the sky in Roman mythology and Religion in ancient Rome, theology, Roman art, iconography, and Latin literature, literature (compare 'sky', 'heaven', whence English ''celestia ...

(Sky), and reports that according to the "so called theologians" Aether was the father of one of the "three Jupiters". According to

Hyginus Hyginus may refer to: People *Hyginus, the author of the '' Fabulae'', an important ancient Latin source for Greek mythology. *Hyginus, the author of the ''Astronomia'', a popular ancient Latin guide on astronomy, probably the same as the author ...

's (possibly confused) genealogy, Nox (Night), Dies, Erebus, and Aether were the offspring of Chaos and Caligo (Mist), and Aether and Dies were the parents of Terra (Earth),

(Sky) and Mare (Sea), and Aether and Terra were the parents of:

Sources

Early

For the ancient Greeks, the word aether (unpersonified), referred to the upper atmosphere, a material element of the cosmos. For example, Homer has Sleep climb: However, Aether (personified) figured prominently in early Greek cosmogony. In

's ''

'', Chaos was the first being after which came

(Earth),

, and

, then from Chaos came

(Darkness) and Nyx (Night), and from Erebus and Nyx came Aether and Hemera (Day): According to a fragment of Hesiod, by his sister Hemera he is the father of a figure named Brotus. Aether perhaps also figured in the lost epic poem the ''

Titanomachy In Greek mythology, the Titanomachy (; ) was a ten-year war fought in ancient Thessaly, consisting of most of the Titans (the older generation of gods, based on Mount Othrys) fighting against the Twelve Olympians, Olympians (the younger generati ...

'' (late seventh century BC?). Two ancient sources report statements about Aether, which they attribute to the "author of the ''Titanomachy''". The ''Homeric Parsings'' (from Methodius), reports that Uranus was Aether's son, while

Philodemus Philodemus of Gadara (, ''Philodēmos'', "love of the people"; – prob. or 35 BC) was an Epicurean philosopher and poet. He studied under Zeno of Sidon in Athens, before moving to Rome, and then to Herculaneum. He was once known chiefly for h ...

, in his ''De Pietate'' (''On Piety''), reports that "everything came from Aither". Aether also appears in genealogies attributed to the sixth-century BC logographer and mythographer

Acusilaus Acusilaus, Acusilas, Acousileos, or Akousilaos () of Argos, Peloponnese, Argos, son of Cabas or Scabras, was a Greece, Greek logographer (history), logographer and mythographer who lived in the latter half of the 6th century BC but whose work surv ...

. According to the

Neoplatonist Neoplatonism is a version of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a series of thinkers. Among the common id ...

Damascius Damascius (; ; 462 – after 538), known as "the last of the Athenian Neoplatonists", was the last scholarch of the neoplatonic Athenian school. He was one of the neoplatonic philosophers who left Athens after laws confirmed by emperor Jus ...

(c. early sixth century), Acusilaus said that Aether was, along with

and Metis, the offspring

and Nyx. However, a scholion to

Theocritus Theocritus (; , ''Theokritos''; ; born 300 BC, died after 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily, Magna Graecia, and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry. Life Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from his writings ...

reports that, according to Acusilaus, Aether and Nyx were the parents of Eros.

Orphic

Aether played a significant role in Orphic cosmogony. There are a large number of ancient texts which have been called "Orphic", a few are extant, such as the ''

Orphic Hymns The ''Orphic Hymns'' are a collection of eighty-seven ancient Greek hymns addressed to various deities, which were attributed in antiquity to the mythical poet Orpheus. They were composed in Asia Minor (located in modern-day Turkey), most likel ...

'', but most are not. Several important Orphic texts, which exist now only in fragments, have been called theogonies, since they contained material, similar to Hesiod's ''Theogony'', which described the origin of the gods. At least three of these, the so-called "Derveni Theogony", the "Hieronyman Theogony", and the "Rhapsodic Theogony" or Rhapsodies, contained references to Aether the personification as well as aether the material element.

Derveni Theogony

The oldest of these theogonies, the Derveni Theogony, is a text which is extensively quoted in the

Derveni papyrus The Derveni papyrus is an Ancient Greek papyrus roll that was discovered in 1962 at the archaeological site of Derveni, near Thessaloniki, in Central Macedonia. A philosophical treatise, the text is an allegorical commentary on an Orphic poem, a ...

(fourth century BC). One of these quotes contains a reference to aether the material element: Also possibly from the Derveni Theogony is the idea, from a fragment of

Chrysippus Chrysippus of Soli (; , ; ) was a Ancient Greece, Greek Stoicism, Stoic Philosophy, philosopher. He was a native of Soli, Cilicia, but moved to Athens as a young man, where he became a pupil of the Stoic philosopher Cleanthes. When Cleanthes ...

(preserved in

, ''De Pietate'' (''On Piety'')), that "everywhere is aither, which itself is both father and son".

Hieronyman Theogony

The early 6th-century

, in his ''De principiis'' (''On First Principles'') comments on an Orphic text, which he describes as "under the names of Hieronymus and Hellanicus, if indeed this is not the same". This text is called the "Hieronyman Theogony" (second century BC). Damascius says that the Hieronyman Theogony had "serpent Time" as the father of three offspring, "moist Aether", "limitless Chaos" and "misty Erebos".

Rhapsodic Theogony

Also in his ''De principiis'',

briefly summarizes the "standard Orphic theology" as found in another text, which he refers to as "these Orphic ''Rhapsodies'' currently circulating". According to Damascius, the Rhapsodies (first century BC/AD?), began with Chronus from which came two offspring, Aether and Chaos: The 5th-century Greek

Proclus Proclus Lycius (; 8 February 412 – 17 April 485), called Proclus the Successor (, ''Próklos ho Diádokhos''), was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major classical philosophers of late antiquity. He set forth one of th ...

, in his ''Commentary on Plato's Republic'', quotes the following verses from the Rhapsodies: Here Chasm is another name for Chaos. In another passage from the ''De principiis'', Damascius quotes other verses from the Rhapsodies: While Proclus, in his ''Commentary on Plato's Timaeus'', describes the Orphic cosmic egg as "born from Aither and Chaos", and calls Phanes the "son of Aither". Proclus also says that, when Phanes hatched from the cosmic egg, Aether and Chasm were split. Aether, the material element is also mentioned twice in a thirty-two line hymn-like passage to Zeus which was apparently part of the Rhapsodies in which various parts of the physical cosmos are associated with parts of Zeus' body. Line 8 lists things contained in Zeus' body: while line 17 says: Also possibly drawn from the Rhapsodies is an account of the creation of the world attributed to "Orpheus" by the sixth century AD chronographer John Malalas: Another Orphic verse fragment, also possibly from the Rhapsodies, is quoted in the '' Etymologicum Magnums entry on the name Phanes:

''Hymn to Aether''

The ''

'' (2nd or 3rd centuries AD?) are a collection of eighty-seven poems addressed to various deities or abstractions. The fifth ''Orphic Hymn'', which prescribes an offering of saffron,Malamis, p. 31. addresses Aether as follows:

Notes

References

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

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De Natura Deorum ''De Natura Deorum'' (''On the Nature of the Gods'') is a philosophical dialogue by Roman Academic Skeptic philosopher Cicero written in 45 BC. It is laid out in three books that discuss the theological views of the Hellenistic philosophies of ...

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Fabulae The ''Fabulae'' is a Latin handbook of mythology, attributed to an author named Hyginus, who is generally believed to have been separate from Gaius Julius Hyginus. The work consists of some three hundred very brief and plainly, even crudely, told ...

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The Oxford Classical Dictionary The ''Oxford Classical Dictionary'' (''OCD'') is generally considered "the best one-volume dictionary on antiquity," an encyclopædic work in English consisting of articles relating to classical antiquity and its civilizations. It was first pub ...

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Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' is a biographical dictionary of classical antiquity, edited by William Smith (lexicographer), William Smith and originally published in London by John Taylor (English publisher), Tayl ...

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