In
Greek mythology, Erebus (/ˈɛrəbəs/;[1]Ancient Greek: Ἔρεβος,
romanized: Érebos,
lit. '"darkness, gloom"'),[2] or Erebos, is the personification of darkness. In
Hesiod's Theogony, he is the offspring of
Chaos, and the father of
Aether and
Hemera (Day) by
Nyx (Night); in other Greek cosmogonies, he is the father of Aether,
Eros, and
Metis, or the first ruler of the gods. In genealogies given by Roman authors, he begets a large progeny of personifications upon Nox (the Roman equivalent of Nyx), while in an
Orphic theogony he is the offspring of
Chronos (Time). The name "Erebus" is also used to refer either to the darkness of the
Underworld, the Underworld itself, or the region through which souls pass to reach
Hades, and can sometimes be used as a synonym for
Tartarus or Hades.
In a number of Greek cosmogonies, Erebus is described as one of the first beings to exist. In
Hesiod's Theogony (late 8th century BC), which the Greeks considered the "standard" account of the origin of the gods,[5] he is the offspring of
Chaos, alongside
Nyx (Night).[6] In the first instance of sexual intercourse, he mates with Nyx, producing
Aether and
Hemera (Day),[7] the pair of which represent the personified opposites of their parents.[8] The Neoplatonist
Damascius attributes to
Acusilaus (6th century BC) a cosmogony in which Chaos is the first principle, after which comes Erebus and Night, and from this pair are then born Aether,
Eros, and
Metis.[9] The philosopher
Philodemus records that in the work On the Gods by one "Satyros", Erebus is the first of five rulers of the gods, and is succeeded as sovereign by Chaos (though others have suggested this figure may be Eros).[10] According to a hymn by the poet
Antagoras (3rd century BC), one of the possible parentages of Eros is Erebus and Night.[11]
Erebus also features in genealogies given by Roman authors. According to
Cicero (1st century BC), Erebus and Nox (the Roman equivalent of Nyx) are the parents of Aether and
Dies (Day), as well as Amor (Love), Dolus (Guile), Metus (Fear), Labor (Toil), Invidentia (Envy), Fatum (Fate), Senectus (Old Age), Mors (Death), Tenebrae (Darkness), Miseria (Misery), Querella (Lamentation), Gratia (Favour), Fraus (Fraud), Pertinacia (Obstinacy), the Parcae, the
Hesperides, and the Somnia (Dreams).[12] In the Fabulae by the Roman mythographer
Hyginus (1st century BC/AD), Erebus is the offspring of Chaos and Caligo (Mist), alongside Dies (Day), Erebus (Darkness), and Aether.[13] By Nox, he becomes the father of Fatum (Fate), Senectus (Old Age), Mors (Death), Letum (Destruction), Continentia (Strife), Somnus (Sleep), the Somnia (Dreams), Lysimeles (Thoughtfulness), Epiphron (Hedymeles), Porphyrion, Epaphus, Discordia (Discord), Miseria (Misery), Petulantia (Petulance), Nemesis, Euphrosyne (Cheerfulness), Amicitia (Friendship), Misericordia (Pity),
Styx, the Parcae (Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos), and the Hesperides (Aegle, Hesperia, and Erythea).[14]
In a cosmogony given by
Aristophanes in his play The Birds (414 BC), which is often believed to be a parody of an Orphic theogony,[15] Erebus is one of the first deities to exist, alongside Chaos, Night, and
Tartarus. At the beginning of creation, Night lays a "wind-egg" in the "boundless bosom of Erebus", from which springs golden-winged Eros.[16] In an Orphic theogony recorded by Damascius in his work De principiis (On First Principles), known as the
Hieronyman Theogony (2nd century BC?),[17] Erebus, alongside Aether and Chaos, is the offspring of
Chronos (Time), who has the form of a serpent.[18]
Name or region of the Underworld
The name "Erebus" is often used by ancient authors to refer either to the darkness of the Underworld,[19] to the Underworld itself,[20] or to the subterranean region which souls of the dead travel through to reach Hades,[21] and it is sometimes used synonymously with Tartarus or
Hades.[22]Homer uses the term to refer to the Underworld:[23] in the Odyssey, souls of the dead are described as "gather[ing] from out of Erebus", on the shore of
Oceanus at the edge of the Earth,[24] while in the Iliad Erebus is the location in which the
Erinyes live,[25] and from which
Heracles must fetch
Cerberus.[26] In the Theogony, it is the subterraneous place to which Zeus casts the Titan
Menoetius (here meaning either Tartarus or Hades),[27] and from which he later brings up the
Hecatoncheires.[28] In the Homeric Hymn to
Demeter, Erebus is used to refer to Hades, the location in which the god
Hades and his wife
Persephone reside,[29] while in
Euripides' play Orestes, it is where the goddess Nyx lives.[30] Later, in Roman literature,
Ovid calls
Proserpina the "queen of Erebus",[31] and other authors use Erebus as a name for Hades.[32]
^Hyginus, Fabulae Theogony 1.2–3 (Smith and Trzaskoma, p. 95; Marshall, p. 10).
^Hyginus, Fabulae Theogony 1.2–8 (Smith and Trzaskoma, p. 95; Marshall, p. 10).
^Brisson, I pp. 390–1; Bernabé 2004, p. 73 on fr. 64; Chrysanthou, p. 303.
^Brisson, pp. 3–4; Luján, p. 86;
Aristophanes, Birds693–9 (pp. 116, 117) [= Orphic fr. 64V Bernabé (pp. 73–5) =
fr. 1 Kern]. Luján, pp. 86–7 compares this progression of "Erebos – Egg – Eros" to the Indian Rigveda 10.129.3a–4b, in which Darkness exists in the beginning, and out of Darkness comes the "One", from which arises Desire.
^See Meisner,
p. 1 with n. 3. Damascius states that the text is "referred to by Hieronymus and Hellanicus, unless he is the same person"; see Meisner,
p. 122.
^Meisner, pp.
126,
129; West, pp. 198–9; Brisson, I p. 395; Orphic fr. 78 Bernabé (p. 88) [=
fr. 54 Kern]. Meisner,
p. 144 says that Chronos produces these children by
Ananke (Necessity), though West, p. 198 and Brisson, I p. 396 consider Chronos alone to be the parent. Brisson, V p. 55 also sees Orphic fr. 106 Bernabé (p. 114), from the later Orphic
Rhapsodies, as alluding to Erebus; see also West, pp. 230–1.
^Smith,
s.v. E'rebos; Coulter and Turner, s.v. Erebus, p. 170; cf.
LSJ,
s.v. Ἔρεβος: "a place of nether darkness, forming a passage from Earth to Hades".
^Gantz, p. 154; Hard, p. 49;
Hesiod, Theogony514–5. According to Gantz, "it is not clear whether Hesiod means by this Tartaros, or that Menoitios met the fate of a mortal", while West 1966, p. 310 on line 515 states that "whether [Erebus] means Tartarus or Hades here [...] depends on whether Hesiod thought of Menoitios as god or mortal", while Hard says that it refers to "the nether darkness, presumably of Tartaros".
Almqvist, Olaf, Chaos, Cosmos and Creation in Early Greek Theogonies: An Ontological Exploration, London, Bloomsbury Academic, 2022.
ISBN978-1-350-22184-0.
Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004,
ISBN978-0415186360.
Google Books.
Hyginus, Gaius Julius, Fabulae in Apollodorus' Library and Hyginus' Fabulae: Two Handbooks of Greek Mythology, Translated, with Introductions by R. Scott Smith and Stephen M. Trzaskoma, Hackett Publishing Company, 2007.
ISBN978-0-87220-821-6.