Les origines sombres de Nyx, la Déesse Primordiale de la Nuit (Mythologie Grecque)

As one of the oldest and most powerful deities of Greek mythology, Nyx, the dark goddess who personified the night, occupied a very important place in the beliefs and myths of the Greeks of Antiquity. She was in charge of bringing with her the night and the darkness on earth every day when she left her home hand in hand with her companion and brother Ereb, the god who personified the darkness. Today we will see together its origins in history and what she represented in classical myths. The origins of Nyx date back to the writings of Hesiod who described her in the Theogony as the incarnation of the darkness of the night. She is one of the primordial Greek deities, just like Gaia, the personification of the earth, and Eros, the personification of love. Hesiod also mentions that with Ereb she gave birth to Ether, the god of the upper part of the sky, and to Emera, the goddess of the light of day. Apart from these two deities, she is also known today for giving birth alone to some of the most famous creatures, gods and goddesses of Greek mythology. Among them we find, for example, the god of death, Thanatos, his brother Hypnos, or the goddess of heavenly punishment, Nemesis. The rest of Nyx's children are generally associated with the darker and more mysterious aspects of creation, such as the Moors, the Keres, or the Esperids. In the Theogony, it is mentioned that Nyx resided in the darkest part of the underworld, including the Tartar, with his daughter Emera. And as a personification of the night, she was often represented in ancient art riding a chariot pulled by black horses to bring with her the darkness of the night and the stars. She was therefore a descendant of Helios, the god of the sun, who was riding his celestial chariot pulled by white horses and who brought with him the day. She also appeared quite often in the stories of creation related to Orphism, which was a religious doctrine of Antiquity inspired by the myths around the Orphic hero. For some historians, Nyx was probably a supreme deity in the first Orphic beliefs, since some hymns referred to her as a mother goddess who had created the gods and mortals. When we talk about Nyx's iconography, apart from some pottery, statues and engravings here and there, there are actually quite few visual representations of the goddess in the art of Antiquity compared to other deities, because it lacks a specific, defined appearance. But generally, she was often represented as a goddess draped in long floating black robes adorned with sparkling stars, or as a winged goddess wrapped in dark clothes. You know, Nyx had the reputation of being one of the most feared goddesses in all of Greek mythology. After all, even the king of Olympus, Zeus, respected her the most. She had this reputation because of a passage in Homer's Iliad where it is mentioned that one day, when Zeus had woken up from a very deep sleep caused by the god Hypnos, he was so furious that he absolutely wanted to find him and throw him into the depths of the sea. However, Hypnos had the brilliant and wise idea to flee under the protection of his mother, Nyx. This is why Zeus, despite his anger, had finally decided not to take on the god of sleep, because he absolutely did not want to do anything that could displease the goddess of the night. As for the cult that the ancient Greeks devoted to her, well again, the sources on this subject are quite limited. She didn't really have a cult or a temple that was completely dedicated to her, because she was rather venerated as part of the religious celebrations of other gods and goddesses. Posanias, the Greek traveler at the origin of the book Description of Greece, mentions, for example, that during one of his travels, he had fallen on a cedar chest in the temple of Hera in Olympia, on which there was an engraving that represented Nyx carrying two children in his arms, Thanatos and Hypnos. Finally, when we talk about her presence in modern popular culture, well, she may not be as appreciated as other more famous deities, but she is still mentioned in certain TV series, in music, and even in literature. She is also present in Marvel comics, where she is presented as the mother of the night, or even in video games, as in Persona 3, or even Hades. In the end, Nyx is a goddess very little known to the general public, and it is because the information we have about her is so limited. But she remains an essential goddess of classical mythology, and who played a key role in the creation of the universe, and who gave birth to some of the most important deities of Greek mythology. In short, this concludes this little video on one of my favorite goddesses of Greek mythology. If you liked it, and you want to see more similar content, I invite you to subscribe to the channel if you haven't already, to leave a comment, and to share it. Thank you again to all those who follow the channel, and I'll see you soon for a new video.