Νύξ Nyx Night | Greek for night, the darkness that covers the evening Earth. Mated with Erebos to produce Aether and Hemera. Then Nyx went to live in Tartaros, emerging every evening to bring her darkness to the cosmos just as her daughter Hemera was returning. Without a mate, Nyx gave rise to her own dark offspring, these powerful abstractions:Moros Fate, doom | Greek for fate, doom; impending doom. Twin of Oizus. |
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Ὀϊζύς Oizus Miserea
| Greek for misery, which is derived from her Latin name. Twin of Moros. |
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Thanatos Death, demise | Greek for death, demise. Roams like Hypnos, but ruthlessly brings those whose time has run out to the underworld. |
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Hypnos | Roams the earth, bringing sleep, gentle and kind. |
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Oneiroi Dreams | Greek for plural dreams. They are a tribe of a thousand. Hesiod imagined the Oneiroi as the brothers of Hypnos, but Ovid's Metamorphoses envisage them as his sons. They appear as familiar images or loved ones to those who are dreaming or day-dreaming. |
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Momos Blame | Greek for blame. Evil-spirited blame, mockery. |
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Hesperides | Singing nymphs who lived in a western garden beyond the sunset. Their number can vary from two to seven, but usually three. |
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Moirai Μοῖραι Parcae Apportioners | [Other sources have then born to Themis and Zeus.] Greek for apportioners, the Fates were three goddesses who assigned individual destinies to mortals at birth (sometimes attested as offspring of Zeus and Themis). They were Klotho (Spinner) who spun the thread of a man's life, Lachesis (Apportioner) who measured it out to its allotted length and Atropos (Inflexible) who cut it off with her shears when it was time for Thanatos (Death) to visit. |
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Κῆρες Keres Violent death | Greek for violent death. The Dooms were demonic blood-drinking zombies who thrived on the deaths of mortals, drinking their blood on the battlefield. |
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Νέμεσις Nemesis Dues | Greek for envy. Retribution and the righteous indignation felt at anyone who violates the natural order of things, whether by immorality or excess. |
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Apate | Personification of deceit. |
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Philotes | Affection, tenderness, friendship, intercourse. |
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Geras | Old age. |
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Ἔρις Eris Strife | Greek for strife. Sets in motion the Trojan War by bringing about the Judgment of Paris. She was the only child of Night to produce children of her own, the goddesses of quarrels, and Hesiod has them as disagreeable as herself:Ponos | Toil. |
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Lethe | Forgetfulness, neglect, opposite of truth. |
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Limos | Famine, starvation. |
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Algea | Plural of pain. |
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Makhai | Plural of battle. |
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Hysminai | Plural of conflict. |
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Phonoi | Plural of bloodshed, murder. |
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Androktasiai | Plural of slaughter of man. |
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Amphilogiai | Plural of dispute, quarrel. |
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Pseudologoi | Plural of lie. |
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Pretenses | |
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Δυσνομία Dysnomia | Lawlessness |
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Horkos | Oath. |
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Ate | Greek for delusion, ruin. Of all Eris' offspring, only Ate had a distinct character. A great troublemaker, Zeus sent his daughter the Litai -- prayers for forgiveness, apologies -- to follow Ate, helping heal the harm she caused. |
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Γαῖα Gaia Land, earth | Gaia produced Ouranos (Sky), Pontus (Sea) and Ourea (Mountains) from herself. With Ouranos (Sky) she produced the heavenly gods and Titans; and with Pontus (Sea) the sea gods. Οὐρανός Ouranos Sky | Ouranos personified the sky. He mated with Gaia, but hated his offspring for being a threat to his sovereignty. Ouranos inflicted great pain on Gaia by hiding them in Tartaros, deep within Gaia, and imposing endless intercourse on her. She summonsed her hidden children for help, and thus Kronos overthrew Ouranos by severing his genitals.Τιτᾶνες Titans | Okeanos, Koios, Kreios, Hyperion, Iapetos, Theia, Rheia, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoibe, Tethys, and Kronos/Cronus (not to be confused with Chronos, the personification of time). |
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Hecatonchires | Greek for hundred-handers. Terrible giants with fifty heads and a hundred arms. |
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Kuklōpes Cyclopes | Brontes (Thunderer), Steropes (Lightner) and Arges (Vivid) who would become forgers of thunderbolts for Zeus. |
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When Kronos severed Ouranos' genitals and flung them into the sea, the blood and semen which landed on Gaia gave rise to offspring: Ἐρινύες Erinyes | Greek for persecution. The Furies, goddesses of retribution, exacted punishment for murder and other heinous crimes, especially within families, and guarded the world's established order. They were later said to be three: Alekto (Relentless), Megaira (Jealous/Shrew), and Tisiphone (Avenger of Murder). |
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Giants | Monstrous beings of invincible strength, with snaky coils instead of legs. Hesiod claimed they were born with full armor, carrying long spears. |
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Meliads | Unlike the Erinyes and Giants, the Meliads were tree nymphs. |
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Kronos' genitals landed in the sea, and from the sea-foam which gathered around them came another deity: |
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Pontus | Personification of the sea. With Gaia, he produced these offspring: Nereus
| Often called the Old Man of the Sea. Like other sea deities he had both the gift of prophecy and shape-shifting. He had fifty daughters by the Oceanid Doris, the Nereids, sea nymphs renowned for their beauty. |
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Thaumas
| Obscure, presumably another sea-god, but had famous, airy children by the Oceanid Elektra: Nereids, goddess of the rainbow and messenger of the gods; and the Harpies, winged monstrous goddesses of storm-winds, snatching people away so they were never seen again. |
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Phorkys | Known as the Old Man of the Sea like his brother. Phorkys mated with his sister Κητώ Keto to breed monstrous children, collectively known as the Phorkydes: the Γραῖαι Graiai, the Γοργών Gorgons, Echidna and perhaps Ladon (maybe his grandson). |
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Κητώ Keto Sea Beast | Mated with her brother Phorkys. |
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Eurybia
| Mated with the Titan Kreios to produce Astraios, Pallas and Perses. |
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Ourea | The ten ourea, the mountains, are Aitna, Athos, Helikon, Kithairon, Nysos, Olympus 1, Olympus 2, Oreios, Parnes, and Tmolus. |
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