Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Mythology Explained. In today’s video, we’re going
to be discussing the goddess Nyx. Nyx is the personification of night, and she’s one
of five primordial deities to have emerged from chaos, the great void from which the
original forces of the universe emerged. The four other primordial deities that emerged
from chaos were tartarus, the abyss, Gaia, the earth, Eros, desire, and Erebus, darkness.
There was a union between Erebus and Nyx, and together they begot Aether, Heaven, and
Hemera, day.
After their coupling, Nyx went on to independently produce several children that represented
many aspects of the human condition.
These children are Moros, doom, Oneiroi, dreams, Nemesis, retribution, Momus, blame, Geras,
old age, Thanatos, death, Hypnos, sleep, Eris, strife, Apate, deceit, Oizys, distress, Moirae,
the fates, the Hesperides, the nymphs of the evening, Philotes, friendship, the Keres,
who personified violent death and were attracted to bloody battle fields, and she even bore
Charon, the ferryman who transported recently deceased souls across the river Styx; and
in some versions even the furies came from Nyx
According to Hesiod, both Nyx and Hemera shared the same dwelling, although they never occupied
it simultaneously. Both Nyx and Hemera only resided at their abode while it was the other’s
turn to affect the world. At night, Nyx’ dark shroud covered the earth, and during
the day, Hemera’s light illuminated the land; and like this they went, endlessly alternating,
forever continuing the eternal cycle of day and night.
As one of the original beings of the universe and as the incarnation of night, one of the
universe’s elemental aspects, Nyx was a being of incredible power, so much so that
even Zeus - king of the gods, ruler of the cosmos, and conqueror of titans - gave her
a wide berth and perhaps even feared her.
A quote from the Iliad is the reason we know Zeus maintained a healthy respect for Nyx’
power. The quote is of a conversation between Hypnos and Hera in which Hypnos recounts what
transpired the last time he was persuaded to use his potent abilities, ensnaring Zeus’
mind with sleep’s spell. Here it is:
“That time I laid to sleep the brain in Zeus of the aegis and drifted upon him still
and soft, but your mind was devising evil, and you raised along the sea the blasts of
the racking winds, and on these swept him [Hercules] away to Kos, the strong-founded,
with all his friends lost, but Zeus awakened in anger and beat the gods up and down his
house, looking beyond all others for me, and would have sunk me out of sight in the sea
from the bright sky had not Nyx (Night) who has power over gods and men rescued me. I
reached her in my flight, and Zeus let be, though he was angry, in awe of doing anything
to swift Nyx' displeasure.’"
People who argue Nyx as being more powerful build their position atop a platform supported
by two pillars of supporting evidence. They say that Nyx is one of the first five beings
to emerge from chaos - older by far than Zeus himself - and that she birthed many of the
integral forces that give shape to the universe and to humanity. They say this because they
think that being so ancient and being so integral to both the fabric of reality and sentience
inherently gives her a strength Zeus cannot match, for he is far younger and is a denizen
of the universe Nyx had a central role in creating. The second argument is the above
quote from the Iliad that essentially states that Zeus relented, turning away from his
pursuit of Hypnos, after the sleep god sought his mother’s protection, hiding behind her
skirts.
There’s nothing definitive here, all we can really do is spout conjecture because
there isn’t any concrete evidence that supports either Nyx or Zeus being more powerful. Is
Nyx more powerful because she’s one of the founding forces of the universe, or is Zeus
more powerful because he rules the universe Nyx partly embodies and helped create; Is
Nyx more powerful because her presence was enough to give Zeus pause and cause him to
abandon his chase, or is Zeus actually more powerful but just couldn’t be bothered to
overcome Nyx; maybe Nyx was formidable but slightly less powerful than Zeus, and even
though Zeus could have eventually subdued her, he didn’t think it worth the effort
for something as trivial as being put to sleep.
Zeus backing off from Nyx isn’t exactly a feather in his cap. That said, it does seem
like each new generation of greek deities is more powerful than the one before. Uranus
being castrated by Cronus was symbolic of the Titans being more powerful than the primordial
deities, and then, of course, the Titans were cast down into Tartarus by the Olympians.
Continuing along this trajectory, there was even a son prophesied to be more powerful
than Zeus, but Zeus prevented that eventuality by swallowing Metis - an Oceanid and the woman
who could have born this child - after tricking her into transforming into a fly, thereby
ending the cycle of son usurping father, of each new generation being more powerful than
the preceding one. This is what Zeus had in mind in God of War when he tricked Kratos
and killed him with the Blade of Olympus.
What do you guys think? Let us know in the comment section below.