Erebus
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| Personified concepts | |
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| Primordial deities | |
In Greek mythology, Erebus (ˈer.e.bus) or Erebos or Erebes (Ancient Greek: Ἔρεβος; English translation: "deep blackness/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.
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[edit] 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]
[edit] Family
[edit] 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).
[edit] 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]
[edit] 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, where they remained for the rest of time. Erebus is synonymous for Hades, the Greek god of the underworld. Erebus has also been compared to darkness in general without personification.[6]
[edit] Other usage
[edit] Place names
Erebus is the name of the world's largest walk-through haunted house, located in Pontiac, Michigan.[7] It is also the name of a volcano on Ross Island, Antarctica, which is the southernmost historically active volcano.[8]
[edit] In literature
William Wordsworth, in the "Prospectus" (written between 1798 and 1800) to The Excursion (published 1814), composed the following lines:
"Not Chaos, not
The darkest pit of lowest Erebus,
Nor aught of blinder vacancy, scooped out
By help of dreams—can breed such fear and awe
As fall upon us often when we look
Into our Minds, into the Mind of Man—
My Haunt, and the main region of my song."[9][10]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001). "Online Etymology Dictionary: Erebus". http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=erebus&searchmode=none.
- ^ Hansen, p. 164.
- ^ Morford, and Lenardon, p. 36.
- ^ a b Turner and Coulter, p. 170.
- ^ Randall, p. 55.
- ^ Randall, p. 52
- ^ "Erebus haunted house grows in Pontiac, starts Halloween theme downtown". MetroMode. October 1,, 2007. http://www.metromodemedia.com/devnews/erebuspontiac0040.aspx. Retrieved on June 6, 2009.
- ^ "Erebus". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution. http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1900-02=. Retrieved on June 6, 2009.
- ^ Quoted at Hartman, p. 14.
- ^ Wordsworth, William (1853). The Excursion: A Poem. London: Edward Moxon. p. x (Preface). http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=R8UPv8fRGvYC&dq=william+wordsworth+the+excursion&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=Gp04GpJs6_&sig=xJb-3BhJ5WtXqQUCaN1C8_DnlHc&hl=en&ei=YdEsSrbGEKW6jAeD_IyICw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2#PPR10,M1.
[edit] 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.
