Erebus

 

(ĕr'ĭbəs) , in Greek religion and mythology, personification of darkness. According to Hesiod, Erebus sprang from Chaos and was the father of Day. His name was sometimes used for Hades.

Greek deities series
Titans and Olympians
Aquatic deities
Chthonic deities
Personified concepts
Other deities
Primordial deities
Chaos Aether Gaia Uranus Hemera Chronos	Eros Erebus Nyx Ophion Tartarus

In Greek mythology Erebus (Έρεβος Erebos, "Deep blackness/darkness or shadow " from Ancient Greek Ἔρεβος) was the son of a primordial God, Chaos, the personification of darkness and shadow, which filled in all the corners and crannies of the world. He was the offspring of Chaos alone. He was brother of Nyx and father with her of Aether and Hemera, according to Hesiod (c. 700 BC). According to Hyginus (c. AD 1), he was the father of Geras.

According to some later legends, Erebus was part of Hades, the underworld. It was where the dead had to pass immediately after dying. After Charon ferried them across the river Acheron, they entered Tartarus, the underworld proper. Erebus was often used as a synonym for Hades, the Greek god of the underworld.

The word is probably from Proto-Indo-European language, *h₁reg^wos, cognate to Old Norse rœkkr, Gothic riqis "darkness", Sanskrit rajani "night", Tocharian orkäm "darkness". Another suggestion is a loan from Semitic, c.f. Hebrew erebh and Akkadian erebu "sunset, evening" (hence, "darkness"). The same etymology of "sunset" has been suggested for Europe.

Donate to Wikimedia