For many mammals, night is a time of necessary regeneration, which means vulnerability. Most of us hole up in a dark place, and pray for the best, as predators lurk all around the periphery of our dreams, red in tooth and claw. From our humblest biological beginnings, sleep and death have been children of the night.

The Greeks understood this well, and it is consistently reflected in their theologies. From Hesiod and Homer to the Orphic Mystery traditions, night, known as Nyx, plays a central cosmological role, as do her children. In this post, I’m going to stick with Hesiod, though most other lists follow in a similar vein. So let’s start at the start:

[116] Verily at the first Chaos came to be, but next wide-bosomed Earth, the ever-sure foundations of all the deathless ones who hold the peaks of snowy Olympus, and dim Tartarus in the depth of the wide-pathed Earth, and Eros (Love), fairest among the deathless gods, who unnerves the limbs and overcomes the mind and wise counsels of all gods and all men within them.

From Chaos came forth Erebus and black Night; but of Night were born Aether and Day, whom she conceived and bare from union in love with Erebus.

And Earth first bare starry Heaven, equal to herself, to cover her on every side, and to be an ever-sure abiding-place for the blessed gods. And she brought forth long Hills, graceful haunts of the goddess-Nymphs who dwell amongst the glens of the hills. She bare also the fruitless deep with his raging swell, Pontus, without sweet union of love.

THE THEOGONY, TRANSLATED BY H. G. EVELYN-WHITE

So we begin with Chaos; next there appear Gaia (Earth), Tartarus (the Underworld) and Eros (Love). Whether Gaia, Tartarus and Eros are children of Chaos, or co-apparent with Chaos is unclear. Gaia gives birth to the Hills (Ourea), the Sea (Pontus) and the Heavens (Ouranos) – the last of whom she mates with to produce the race of Titans, and subsequently the Olympians, led by Zeus. But Chaos definitely has two children: Erebus, Darkness, and Nyx, Night.

While it might seem strange to separate Darkness from Night, follow my thread of reasoning: before humanity mastered fire, we took refuge from the night in dark places; many creatures borrow or nest, while we took to caves, but no matter where we took shelter, it was dark. The night might be filled with terrors, but there is a certain safety in the dark.

So Erebus, the Darkness, and Nyx, the Night, mated and produced two children: a daughter, Hemera, the Day, and a son, Aether, the Bright Upper Sky; the union of dark and night bringing forth day and light.

However, Nyx is not done producing offspring, without the aid of Erebus. Two, in particular, are central to our relation to the night: Sleep (Hypnos, from which we derive the word hypnosis) and Death (Thanathos). Back to Hesiod:

[736] And there, all in their order, are the sources and ends of gloomy earth and misty Tartarus and the unfruitful sea and starry heaven, loathsome and dank, which even the gods abhor. It is a great gulf, and if once a man were within the gates, he would not reach the floor until a whole year had reached its end, but cruel blast upon blast would carry him this way and that. And this marvel is awful even to the deathless gods.

[744] There stands the awful home of murky Night wrapped in dark clouds. In front of it the son of Iapetus stands immovably upholding the wide heaven upon his head and unwearying hands, where Night and Day draw near and greet one another as they pass the great threshold of bronze: and while the one is about to go down into the house, the other comes out at the door. And the house never holds them both within; but always one is without the house passing over the earth, while the other stays at home and waits until the time for her journeying come; and the one holds all-seeing light for them on earth, but the other holds in her arms Sleep the brother of Death, even evil Night, wrapped in a vaporous cloud.

[758] And there the children of dark Night have their dwellings, Sleep and Death, awful gods. The glowing Sun never looks upon them with his beams, neither as he goes up into heaven, nor as he comes down from heaven. And the former of them roams peacefully over the earth and the sea’s broad back and is kindly to men; but the other has a heart of iron, and his spirit within him is pitiless as bronze: whomsoever of men he has once seized he holds fast: and he is hateful even to the deathless gods.

THE THEOGONY, TRANSLATED BY H. G. EVELYN-WHITE

Let’s summarize these passages:

• Nyx’s abode is in Tartarus, the Underworld, that might be her sibling, via Chaos, or might be more primordial.
• The Titan Atlas stands in front of her home: “the son of Iapetus stands immovably upholding the wide heaven”.
• She shares it with her daughter Hemera, Day, though they never co-occupy it; “Night and Day draw near and greet one another as they pass the great threshold of bronze”.
• She carries Sleep and Death in her arms as she “passes over the Earth”.
• Both Sleep and Death abide nearby.
• Sleep is personified as being “kindly to men”, while Death is “hateful even to the deathless gods”.

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Nyx’s catalog of self begotten children makes for a very long list, regardless of the genealogist; here is Hesiod’s:

[211] And Nyx (Night) bare hateful Moros (Doom) and black Ker (Violent Death) and Thanatos (Death), and she bare Hypnos (Sleep) and the tribe of Oneiroi (Dreams). And again the goddess murky Nyx, though she lay with none, bare Momus (Blame) and painful Oizys (Misery), and the Hesperides* … Also she bare the Moirai (Fates) and the ruthless avenging Keres (Death-Fates) … Also deadly Nyx bare Nemesis (Revenge) to afflict mortal men, and after her, Apate (Deceit) and Philotes (Friendship)** and hateful Geras (Old Age) and hard-hearted Eris (Strife)

THE THEOGONY, TRANSLATED BY H. G. EVELYN-WHITE

* Note: The Hesperides, who guard Hera’s sacred apple orchard, are given multiple genealogies, numbers, and individual/group names, depending on the storyteller. Their primary name appears to be derived from Hesperis, (Vesper for the Romans), who is the morning star, Venus. However, among those authors who count the Titan Atlas (who stands in front of Nyx’s abode) as their father, they are also called Atlantides, with Hesperis being their mother. They are also known as the “Western Maidens”, the “Daughters of Evening” (Erythrai) and the “Sunset Goddesses”. The word Hesper is etymologically linked to the English word “West”. Since the Sun sets in the West, and Venus is the first “star” to rise from the night, the connection between the Hesperides and Nyx starts to make sense; if we accept Atlas as their father, his presence on Nyx’s front yard also fits into the greater narrative.

** Like the Hesperides, Philotes, the minor Goddess of sexual and social intercourse (“friendship”), seems an odd inclusion for one of Nyx’s children. However, the pre-Socratic philosopher Empedocles fleshes this out. Empedocles is most famous for championing animal rights, reincarnation, and a cosmology based on the four classical elements (Earth, Wind, Air and Fire); he also argued that these elements were mixed and separated by two competing forces, both children of Nyx: Love (Philotes) and Eris (Strife). He also connects Philotes with Kypris (Cypris, another name for Aphrodite), which in turn connects her to the Roman Venus, who in classical astrology becomes the planet Venus, which leads us back to the Hesperides/ Hesperis.

In addition, many a Philotian activity occurs at night, making the connection to Nyx more apparent (though in the age of light pollution and night hour shifts, Philotes now also comes out to play during the day).

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Nyx’s children are often embodiments of dark forces; however, given that her two primary offspring are opposed (sleep and death, one being friendly to men, the other hateful to the undying gods), it isn’t surprising that other dichotomies like Philotes and Eris exist. Night, in reality, is complicated, as is Nyx in mythology.

So what’s the take-away? The next time your body succumbs to the call of Hypnos, may be you by visited by the kindest of the Oneroi. Or, in plain English, Good Night, and Sweet Dreams.