Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities ...

, Erebus (; grc, Ἔρεβος, Érebos, "deep darkness, shadow".), or Erebos, is the personification of darkness and one of the primordial deities.

Hesiod Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet ...

's ''

Theogony The ''Theogony'' (, , , i.e. "the genealogy or birth of the gods") is a poem by Hesiod (8th–7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods, composed . It is written in the Epic dialect of Ancient Greek and contain ...

'' identifies him as one of the first five beings in existence, born of

Chaos Chaos or CHAOS may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional elements * Chaos (''Kinnikuman'') * Chaos (''Sailor Moon'') * Chaos (''Sesame Park'') * Chaos (''Warhammer'') * Chaos, in ''Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy'' * Cha ...

Etymology

The perceived meaning of ''Erebus'' is "darkness"; the first recorded instance of it was "place of darkness between earth and Hades". The name Ἔρεβος itself originates from

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo- ...

"darkness" (cf.

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

'' rájas'',

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

'' riqis'',

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

'' røkkr'').

Mythology

The Greek oral poet

's ''

'' (8th century BCE) portrays Erebus as the offspring of

, and as the brother of Nyx, by whom he is the father of Aether and

Hemera In Greek mythology, Hemera (; grc, Ἡμέρα, Hēméra, Day ) was the personification of day. According to Hesiod, she was the daughter of Erebus (Darkness) and Nyx (Night), and the sister of Aether. Though separate entities in Hesiod's '' ...

. According to the ''

Fabulae Gaius Julius Hyginus (; 64 BC – AD 17) was a Latin author, a pupil of the scholar Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Caesar Augustus. He was elected superintendent of the Palatine library by Augustus according to Suetonius' ''De Grammati ...

'' of

Hyginus Gaius Julius Hyginus (; 64 BC – AD 17) was a Latin author, a pupil of the scholar Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Caesar Augustus. He was elected superintendent of the Palatine library by Augustus according to Suetonius' ''De Grammati ...

, Erebus, Nox (Night), Aether and Dies (Day) are the offspring of Chaos and Caligine (Mist); and Erebus, by Nox, is the father of Fate, Old age, Death, Destruction, Strife, Sleep, Dreams, Thoughtfulness, Hedymeles, Porphyrion, Epaphus, Discord, Misery, Petulance, Nemesis, Cheerfulness, Friendship, Pity, Styx, the

Parcae In ancient Roman religion and myth, the Parcae (singular, Parca) were the female personifications of destiny who directed the lives (and deaths) of humans and gods. They are often called the Fates in English, and their Greek equivalent were the ...

(

Clotho Clotho (; el, Κλωθώ) is a mythological figure. She is the youngest of the Three Fates or Moirai who spins the thread of human life; the other two draw out ( Lachesis) and cut (Atropos) in ancient Greek mythology. Her Roman equivalent is ...

Lachesis Lachesis ( ; grc, Λάχεσις, Lákhesis, disposer of lots; from , 'to obtain by lot, by fate, or by the will of the gods'), in ancient Greek religion, was the second of the Three Fates, or Moirai; the others were her sisters, Clotho and ...

, and

Atropos Atropos (; grc, Ἄτροπος "without turn") or Aisa, in Greek mythology, was one of the three Moirai, goddesses of fate and destiny. Her Roman equivalent was Morta. Atropos was the oldest of the Three Fates, and was known as "the Infle ...

), and the

Hesperides In Greek mythology, the Hesperides (; , ) are the nymphs of evening and golden light of sunsets, who were the "Daughters of the Evening" or "Nymphs of the West". They were also called the Atlantides () from their reputed father, the Titan At ...

(Aegle, Hesperia, and Erythea). In

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

's ''

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 ...

'', the following are "fabled" to be the children of Erebus and Nox (Night): Aether, Dies (Day), 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 In Roman mythology, Fraus was the goddess or personification of treachery and fraud. She was daughter of Orcus Orcus ( la, Orcus) was a god of the underworld, punisher of broken oaths in Etruscan and Roman mythology. As with Hades, the nam ...

(Fraud), Pertinacia (Obstinacy), the

(the Fates), the

and the Somnia (Dreams). A cosmogony attributed to Alcman ( 7th century BCE) apparently makes Erebus the fourth being to come into existence, after Thetis, Poros and Tekmor. In

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme Kydathenaion ( la, Cydathenaeum), was a comic playwright or comedy-writer of ancient Athens and a poet of Old Attic Comedy. Eleven of his for ...

' comedy ''The Birds'', Chaos, Erebus, Nyx and

Tartarus In Greek mythology, Tartarus (; grc, , }) 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 judg ...

were the first beings, before the existence of earth, air or heaven. Nyx "laid a germless egg in the bosom of the infinite deeps of Erebus", from which came Eros. Aether is also called the son of Erebus. Erebus functions as the unanthropomorphized personification of darkness in the ''Theogony'', and features little in Greek mythological tradition and literature. Though he plays no active role as a deity in later works, "Erebus" is used as a name for a region of the Greek underworld where the dead pass immediately after dying, and is sometimes used interchangeably with

.For example, later in the ''

'', the word "Erebus" is used to refer to the place below the earth to which

Menoetius Menoetius or Menoetes (; grc-gre, Μενοίτιος, Μενοίτης ''Menoitios''), meaning ''doomed might'', is a name that refers to three distinct beings from Greek mythology: * Menoetius, a second generation Titan, son of Iapetus an ...

is sent by

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek reli ...

, and from which the

Hecatoncheires In Greek mythology, the Hecatoncheires ( grc-gre, Ἑκατόγχειρες, , Hundred-Handed Ones), or Hundred-Handers, also called the Centimanes, (; la, Centimani), named Cottus, Briareus (or Aegaeon) and Gyges (or Gyes), were three monstrous ...

are brought. (

, ''

'
510–517668–671
Gantz, p. 4) The name is also used multiple times by

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

to refer to the

underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underwor ...

(''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Odys ...

'
8.366–3699.565–57316.325–329
''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Iliad'', th ...

'
10.526–52911.37-39
Gantz, p. 4.); according to Hard
p. 24
the word was used "quite often from the time of Homer onwards as a poetic name for the Underworld in its nature as a realm of gloom". (See also in the "Homeric Hymn" to Demeter (2)
335–339347–349
) In

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

's ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the ...

'',

Proserpina Proserpina ( , ) or Proserpine ( ) is an ancient Roman goddess whose iconography, functions and myths are virtually identical to those of Greek Persephone. Proserpina replaced or was combined with the ancient Roman fertility goddess Libera, whose ...

is called the "queen of Erebus"
5.572–573
, the underworld deities are called the "gods of Erebus"
10.74
, and

Circe Circe (; grc, , ) is an enchantress and a minor goddess in ancient Greek mythology and religion. She is either a daughter of the Titan Helios and the Oceanid nymph Perse or the goddess Hecate and Aeëtes. Circe was renowned for her vas ...

"invoke the aid of Night ( Nyx) and all the gods of Night from Erebus and Chaos"
14.394–396
. Similarly, in Quintus Smyrnaeus, ''

Fall of Troy In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and has ...

''
12.18–19
"When rose the dawn (

Eos In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Eos (; Ionic and Homeric Greek ''Ēṓs'', Attic ''Héōs'', "dawn", or ; Aeolic ''Aúōs'', Doric ''Āṓs'') is the goddess and personification of the dawn, who rose each morning from her home at ...

), and thrust back kindly night ( Nyx) Erebus...". , , ,

Namesake

Five ships of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

have been named HMS ''Erebus'' after Erebus.

Mount Erebus Mount Erebus () is the second-highest volcano in Antarctica (after Mount Sidley), the highest active volcano in Antarctica, and the southernmost active volcano on Earth. It is the sixth-highest ultra mountain on the continent. With a summ ...

, the second-highest volcano in Antarctica, was named after HMS ''Erebus'' used by Sir

James Clark Ross Sir James Clark Ross (15 April 1800 – 3 April 1862) was a British Royal Navy officer and polar explorer known for his explorations of the Arctic, participating in two expeditions led by his uncle John Ross, and four led by William Edwa ...

on his Antarctic expedition in 1841, later used in the ill-fated

Franklin Expedition Franklin's lost expedition was a failed British voyage of Arctic exploration led by Captain Sir John Franklin that departed England in 1845 aboard two ships, and , and was assigned to traverse the last unnavigated sections of the Northwes ...

Notes

References

, '' Birds'' in ''The Complete Greek Drama, vol. 2.'' Eugene O'Neill, Jr. New York. Random House. 1938
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Beekes, Robert S. P., ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', 2 vols. Leiden: Brill, 2009. * Caldwell, Richard, ''Hesiod's Theogony'', Focus Publishing / R. Pullins Company (1987). . * Campbell, David A., ''Greek Lyric, Volume II: Anacreon, Anacreontea, Choral Lyric from Olympus to Alcman'', edited and translated by David A. Campbell, Loeb Classical Library No. 143, Cambridge, Massachusetts,

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retir ...

, 1988
Online version at Harvard University Press
* Cicero, Marcus Tullius, ''

'' in ''Cicero: On the Nature of the Gods. Academics'', translated by H. Rackham, Loeb Classical Library No. 268, Cambridge, Massachusetts,

, first published 1933, revised 1951.
Online version at Harvard University PressInternet Archive
*Fowler, R. L. (2013), ''Early Greek Mythography: Volume 2: Commentary'', Oxford University Press, 2013. . * Gantz, Timothy, ''Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: (Vol. 1), (Vol. 2). *Hard, Robin, ''The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology"'', Psychology Press, 2004,
Google Books
*

, ''Theogony'' from ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica'' with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website
*

, ''The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes''. Cambridge, Massachusetts,

; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
*

, ''The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes''. Cambridge, Massachusetts,

; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Hyginus, Gaius Julius, ''

'' in ''Apollodorus' ''Library'' and Hyginus' ''Fabulae'': Two Handbooks of Greek Mythology, Translated, with Introductions by R. Scott Smith and Stephen M. Trzaskoma'', Hackett Publishing Company, 2007. . * Morford, Mark P. O., Robert J. Lenardon, ''Classical Mythology'', Eighth Edition, Oxford University Press, 2007. . *

, ''

'', Brookes More, Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Quintus Smyrnaeus, ''Quintus Smyrnaeus: The Fall of Troy'', translated by A.S. Way, Cambridge, Massachusetts,

, 1913
Internet Archive
* Schmitz, Leonhard
"E'rebos"
in Smith, William (ed.) ''

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' (1849, originally published 1844 under a slightly different title) is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans three volumes and 3,700 ...

'', London, John Murray, 1848. {{Authority control Night gods Underworld gods Greek primordial deities Greek death gods Characters in Greek mythology Locations in the Greek underworld Darkness Personifications