Eos

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Eos

Eos (Greek , or ??? "dawn") is, in Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
, the Titanic

Titan (mythology)

In Greek mythology, the Titans ; were a race of powerful deities that ruled during the legendary golden age. Their role as Elder Gods was overthrown by a race of younger gods, the Twelve Olympians, effected a mythological paradigm shift that the Greeks borrowed from the Ancient Near East....
goddess

Goddess

A goddess is a female deity. Often deities are part of a polytheism system that includes several deities in a pantheon .Common associations of goddesses are the Earth goddess, the Mother Goddess, Love goddess, and the hearth goddess, reflecting historical gender roles....
of the dawn, who rose from her home at the edge of Oceanus

Oceanus

Oceanus was believed to be the World Ocean in classical antiquity, which the Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece considered to be an enormous river encircling the world....
, the Ocean that surrounds the world, to herald her brother Helios

Helios

Helios is the god of sun.In Greek mythology the sun was personified as Helios . Homer often calls him simply Titan or Hyperion , while Hesiod and the Homeric Hymn separate him as a son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia or Euryphaessa and brother of the goddesses Selene, the moon, and Eos, the dawn....
, the sun.

The Greek worship of the dawn as a goddess is believed to be inherited from Indo-European

Proto-Indo-Europeans

The Proto-Indo-Europeans were the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language, and likely lived around 4000 BC, during the Copper Age and the Bronze Age, or possibly earlier, during the Neolithic or Paleolithic eras....
times. The name Eos is cognate

Cognate

Cognates in linguistics are words that have a common etymology origin.An example of cognates within the same language would be English shirt vs....
to Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
Aurora

Aurora (mythology)

Aurora is the Latin word for dawn, the goddess of dawn in Roman mythology and Latin poetry. Aurora is comparable to the Greek mythology goddess Eos, though Aurora did not bring with her any resonance of a greater archaic goddess....
, to Vedic

Historical Vedic religion

The religion of the Vedic period is the historical predecessor of Hinduism. Its liturgy is reflected in the Mantra portion of the four Vedas, which are compiled in Sanskrit....
Ushas

Ushas

Ushas , Sanskrit for "dawn", is a Vedic deity, and consequently a Hindu deities as well.Ushas is an exalted divinity in the Rig Veda, sometimes spoken of in the plural, "the Dawns." She is portrayed as welcoming birds and warding off evil spirits, and as a beautifully adorned young woman riding in a golden chariot on her path across the sk...
.

81.]] As the dawn goddess, Eos with "rosy fingers" opened the gates of heaven so that Apollo could ride his chariot across the sky every day.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Eos'

Start a new discussion about 'Eos'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Eos in Greek literature

, 1881.]] As the dawn goddess, Eos with "rosy fingers" opened the gates of heaven so that Apollo could ride his chariot across the sky every day. In Homer

Homer

Homer is traditionally held to be the author of the ancient Greek language epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, as well as of the Homeric Hymns....
, her saffron-colored

Saffron (color)

Saffron is a shade of Gold yellow resembling color of the tip of the saffron crocus thread, from which the spice saffron is derived....
robe is embroidered or woven with flowers; rosy-fingered and with golden arms, she is pictured on Attic vases as a supernaturally beautiful woman, crowned with a tiara

Tiara

A tiara is a form of Crown . There are two possible types of crown that this word can refer to.Traditionally, the word "tiara" refers to a high crown, often with the shape of a cylinder narrowed at its top, made of fabric or leather, and richly ornamented....
or diadem

Diadem (personal wear)

A diadem is a type of Crown , specifically an ornamental headband worn by Eastern monarchs and others as a badge of royalty. The word derives from the Greek language d??d??a diadema, from d??d?? diadeo to bind round, or fasten....
and with the large white-feathered wings of a bird.

From The Iliad
ILiad

The iLiad is an electronic handheld device, or e-book device, which can be used for document reading and editing. Like the Sony Reader or Amazon Kindle, the iLiad makes use of an electronic paper display....
:

Quintus Smyrnaeus

Quintus Smyrnaeus

Quintus Smyrnaeus was a Greece Epic poetry poet whose Posthomerica, following "after Homer" continues the narration of the Trojan War.The dates of Smyrnaeus's life are controversial, but they are traditionally placed in the latter part of the fourth century....
pictured her exulting in her heart over the radiant horses (Lampos and Phaithon) that drew her chariot, amidst the bright-haired Horae

Horae

In Greek mythology, the Horai, Latinized Horae were three goddesses controlling orderly life. They were daughters of Zeus and Themis, half-sisters to the Moirae....
, the feminine Hours, climbing the arc of heaven and scattering sparks of fire. from South Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
, 430–420 BC, Staatliche Antikensammlungen

Staatliche Antikensammlungen

The Staatliche Antikensammlungen in the Kunstareal of Munich is a museum for the Bavarian state's antique collections for Greek art, Etruscan civilization and Roman art....
]]

She is most often associated with her Homeric epithet

Epithet

An epithet is a descriptive word or phrase accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a person or thing, which has become a fixed formula....
"rosy-fingered" (rhododactylos), but Homer also calls her Eos Erigeneia:

Hesiod

Hesiod

Hesiod was a Greek language oral poet, his date is uncertain but leading scholars agree that Hesiod lived in the latter half of the Eighth-century BCE....
wrote:

Thus Eos, preceded by the Morning Star

Morning Star

Morning star or Morning Star may refer to:*The planet Venus, when in the East*Eosphorus, the "dawn-bearer" in Greek mythology*Morning star , a spiked mace...
(Venus

Venus

Venus is the second-closest planet to the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus , the Roman mythology goddess of love....
), is seen as the genetrix of all the stars and planets; her tears are considered to have created the morning dew, personified as Ersa

Ersa

In Greek mythology, Ersa is the daughter of Zeus and Eos. In other stories, however, Ersa was the goddess of dew and a daughter of Zeus and Selene....
or Herse

Herse

Herse is a figure in Greek mythology, daughter of Cecrops , sister to Aglauros and Pandrosos. According to Apollodorus, when Hephaestus unsuccessfully attempted to rape Athena, she wiped his semen off her leg with wool and threw it on the ground, impregnating Gaia ....
.

Genealogy

Eos is the daughter of Hyperion

Hyperion (mythology)

Hyperion is one of the twelve Titan gods of Ancient Greece, which were later supplanted by the Olympians. He was the son of Gaia and Uranus , and was referred to in early mythological writings as Helios Hyperion, 'Sun High-one'....
and Theia

Theia

In Greek mythology, Theia, goddess or divine, , also called Euryphaessa, wide-shining, was a Titan . The name Theia alone means simply, "goddess"; Theia Euryphaessa brings overtones of extent and brightness....
(or Pallas

Pallas (son of Crius)

Pallas is a Titan , associated with war, killed by Athena in fight with gods. Most sources indicate that he was the son of Crius and Eurybia, the brother of Astraeus and Perses , and the husband of Styx ....
and Styx

Styx (mythology)

In Greek mythology, the "River Styx" was a river which formed the boundary between Earth and the Underworld . It circles Hades nine times. The rivers Styx, Phlegethon, Acheron and Cocytus all converge at the center of Hades on a great swamp....
) and sister of Helios

Helios

Selene

Selene is the Titan goddess of the moon.In Greek mythology, Selene was an archaic lunar deity and the daughter of the Titan Hyperion and Theia....
the moon, "who shine upon all that are on earth and upon the deathless Gods who live in the wide heaven" Hesiod

Hesiod

Hesiod was a Greek language oral poet, his date is uncertain but leading scholars agree that Hesiod lived in the latter half of the Eighth-century BCE....
told in Theogony
Theogony

The Theogony is a poem by Hesiod describing the origins and genealogy of the polytheism of the ancient Greeks, composed circa 700 BC....
(371-374). The generation of Titans preceded all the familiar deities of Olympus, who supplanted them.

Children

According to Hesiod by Tithonus Eos had two sons, Memnon

Memnon (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Memnon was an Ethiopia king and son of Tithonus and Eos. At the Trojan War, he brought an army to Troy's defense and was killed by Achilles in retribution for killing Antilochus....
and Emathion

Emathion

In Greek mythology, Emathion refers to four individuals....
. Memnon fought among the Trojans in the Trojan War

Trojan War

In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy stole Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta....
and was slain. Her image with the dead Memnon across her knees, like Thetis

Thetis

Silver-footed Thetis , disposer or "placer" , is encountered in Greek mythology mostly as a sea nymph, one of the fifty Nereids, daughters of the ancient one of the seas with shape-shifting abilities who survives in the historical vestiges of most later Greek myths as Proteus ....
with the dead Achilles

Achilles

In Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greeks hero of the Trojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad, which takes for its theme ; the Wrath of Achilles....
and Isis

ISIS

ISIS is an industry standard interface for technologies, developed by Pixel Translations in 1990 .ISIS is an open standard for scanner control and a complete image-processing framework....
with the dead Osiris

Osiris

Osiris was an Egyptian mythology, usually called the god of the Afterlife.Osiris is one of the oldest gods for whom records have been found; one of the oldest known attestations of his name is on the Palermo Stone of around 2500 BC....
, are icon

Icon

An 'icon' is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity. More broadly the term is used in a wide number of contexts for an image, picture, or representation; it is a sign or likeness that stands for an object by signifying or representing it either concretely or by analogy, as in semiotics; by extension, ...
s that inspired the Christian Pietà

Pietà

The Piet? is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus, most often found in sculpture. As such, it is a particular form of the Lamentation of Christ, a scene from the Passion of Christ found in cycles of the Life of Christ....
. (Louvre).]]

The abduction of Cephalus had special appeal for an Athenian audience because Cephalus was a local boy, and so this myth element appeared frequently in Attic vase-paintings and was exported with them. In the literary myths Eos kidnapped Cephalus

Cephalus

Cephalus is an Ancient Greek name, used both for historical persons and for characters in Greek mythology. The word cephalus is Greek for "head", perhaps used here because Cephalus was the founding "head" of a great family that includes Odysseus....
when he was hunting and took him to Syria. The second-century CE traveller Pausanias was informed that the abductor of Cephalus was Hemera

Hemera

In Greek mythology Hemera was the personification of day and one of the Protogenoi or primordial deities. She is the goddess of the daytime and, according to Hesiod, the daughter of Erebos and Nyx ....
, goddess of Day. Although Cephalus was already married to Procris

Procris

In Greek mythology, Procris was the daughter of Erechtheus, king of Athens and his wife, Praxithea. She married Cephalus#Cephalus the husband of Procris, the son of Deion....
, Eos bore him three sons, including Phaeton

Phaeton

Phaeton, Pha?ton, Phaethon, or Pha?thon may refer to:*Pha?ton, in Greek mythology, either the son of Helios, the sun god; or son of Eos, the Dawn Goddess...
and Hesperus

Hesperus

In Greek mythology, Hesperus , the Evening Star is the son of the dawn goddess Eos and brother of Eosphorus , the Morning Star....
, but he then began pining for Procris, causing a disgruntled Eos to return him to her — and put a curse on them. in Hyginus' report telling Cephalus accidentally killed Procris some time later after he mistook her for an animal while hunting; in Ovid's Metamorphoses vii, Procris, a jealous wife, was spying on him and heard him singing to the wind, "Aura", but thought he was serenading his ex-lover Aurora (Eos).

Etruscan interpretations

Among the Etruscans, the generative dawn-goddess was Thesan

Thesan

In Etruscan mythology, Thesan was the goddess of the dawn and was associated with the generation of life. She was identified with the Roman mythology Aurora and Greek mythology Eos....
. Depictions of the dawn-goddess with a young lover became popular in Etruria in the fifth century, probably inspired by imported Greek vase-painting. Though Etruscans preferred to show the goddess as a nurturer (Kourotrophos) rather than an abductor of young men, the late Archaic sculptural acroterion

Acroterion

An acroterion or acroterium is an architectural ornament placed on a flat base called the acroter or plinth, and mounted at the apex of the pediment of a building in the classical architecture style....
from Etruscan Cære (Cerveteri

Cerveteri

Cerveteri is a town and comune of the northern Lazio, in the province of Rome. Originally known as Caere, it is famous for a number of Etruscan civilization necropoleis that include some of the best Etruscan tombs anywhere....
), now in Berlin, showing the goddess in archaic running pose adapted from the Greeks, and bearing a boy in her arms, has commonly been identified as Eos and Cephalus

Cephalus

Cephalus is an Ancient Greek name, used both for historical persons and for characters in Greek mythology. The word cephalus is Greek for "head", perhaps used here because Cephalus was the founding "head" of a great family that includes Odysseus....
. On an Etruscan mirror Thesan is shown carrying off a young man, whose name is inscribed TINTHU[N].

Roman interpretation

Her Roman

Roman mythology

Roman mythology, or more appropriately, Latin mythology, refers to the mythology beliefs of the Italic people inhabiting the region of Latium and its main city, Rome....
equivalent is Aurora

Aurora (mythology)

Etruscan mythology

The Etruscan civilizations were a people of unknown origin living in Northern Italy, who were eventually integrated into Roman culture and politically became part of the Roman Republic....
equivalent is Thesan

Thesan

In Etruscan mythology, Thesan was the goddess of the dawn and was associated with the generation of life. She was identified with the Roman mythology Aurora and Greek mythology Eos....
. The Dawn became associated in Roman cult with Matuta; later known as Mater Matuta she was also associated with the sea harbors and ports. She had a temple on the Forum Boarium

Forum Boarium

The Forum Boarium was the cattle Forum Venalium of Ancient Rome and the oldest forum that Rome possessed. It was located at a flat place near the Tiber between the Capitoline Hill, the Palatine Hill and Aventine hills....
. On June 11, the Matralia was celebrated at that temple in honor of Mater Matuta; this festival was only for women in their first marriage.

List of consorts and children

]]

The following are lovers of Eos, described in various myths, and her children by them.

With Astraios

Boreas
Eurus
Eosphoros
Hesperos
Hesperus

In Greek mythology, Hesperus , the Evening Star is the son of the dawn goddess Eos and brother of Eosphorus , the Morning Star....
Notus
Notus

Notus may refer to:*Notus - the south wind in Greek mythology .*Notus, Idaho - a town in the United States....
All the stars/planets
Zephyrus

With Tithonus
Tithonus

In Greek mythology, Tithonus or Tithonos was the lover of Eos, Titan of the dawn. He was a Troy by birth, the son of King Laomedon of Troy by a Naiad named Strymo ....

Emathion
Emathion

In Greek mythology, Emathion refers to four individuals....
Memnon
Memnon (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Memnon was an Ethiopia king and son of Tithonus and Eos. At the Trojan War, he brought an army to Troy's defense and was killed by Achilles in retribution for killing Antilochus....

With Cephalus
Cephalus

Cephalus is an Ancient Greek name, used both for historical persons and for characters in Greek mythology. The word cephalus is Greek for "head", perhaps used here because Cephalus was the founding "head" of a great family that includes Odysseus....

Phaëton
Phaeton

Phaeton, Pha?ton, Phaethon, or Pha?thon may refer to:*Pha?ton, in Greek mythology, either the son of Helios, the sun god; or son of Eos, the Dawn Goddess...
Tithonos
Tithonos

In Greek mythology, Tithonos was a son of Eos and Cephalus. The name of Eos' lover, Tithonus, is also sometimes spelled Tithonos....

With Zeus
Zeus

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....

Ersa
Ersa

In Greek mythology, Ersa is the daughter of Zeus and Eos. In other stories, however, Ersa was the goddess of dew and a daughter of Zeus and Selene....
Carae

Sources

Kerenyi, Karl
Karl Kerényi

One of the founders of modern studies in Greek mythology, K?roly Ker?nyi was born in Temesv?r, Hungary , and then lived in Hungary....
. The Gods of the Greeks. Thames and Hudson, 1951.

Eos