Erebus

In Greek mythology, Erebus (pronounced /ˈɛrəbəs/), also Erebos or Erebes (Ancient Greek: Ἔρεβος, "deep darkness or shadow"), was the son of a primordial god, Khaos, 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 included Aether, Hemera, Nemesis, and Charon.

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 Khaos, mother is Gaia goddess of the earth.

Chaos

Erebus's father, Khaos, 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 Khaos and darkness itself, without intercourse,^[2] and brother to Nyx. Khaos' 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 (death), Momus (god of satire and the like), Nemesis ( goddess of revenge), and Charon, the ferryman.^[4] He was also the father of Geras according to Hyginus (c. AD 1). Some accounts attest that Erebus is the father of the Fates 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]

See also

• Greek mythology in popular culture

References

Notes

Sources

• William F. Hansen (2004). Handbook of Classical Mythology. ABC-CLIO. 
• Geoffrey H. Hartman (1987). The Unremarkable Wordsworth. University of Minnesota Press. 
• Mark P. O. Morford; Robert J. Lenardon (1999). Classical Mythology. Oxford University Press. 
• Alice Elizabeth Sawtelle Randall (1896 (digitized 2006)). The Sources of Spenser's Classical Mythology. Harvard University. 
• Patricia Turner; Charles Russell Coulter (2001). Dictionary of Ancient Deities. Oxford University Press.