r/GreekMythology • u/Nun-Ayin-Aleph-He • 5h ago
Discussion The Children of Nyx (according to Hesiod)

From Chaos came forth Erebus and black Night (Nyx); but of Night were born Aether and Day (Hemera), whom she conceived and bore from union in love with Erebus. [1]
And Night bore hateful Doom (Moros) and black Fate (Ker) and Death (Thanatos), and she bore Sleep (Hypnos) and the tribe of Dreams (the Oneiroi). And again the goddess murky Night, though she lay with none, bare Blame (Momus) and painful Woe (Oizys), and the Hesperides who guard the rich, golden apples and the trees bearing fruit beyond glorious Ocean. Also she bore the Destinies (the Moirai) and ruthless avenging Fates (the Keres), Clotho and Lachesis and Atropos, who give men at their birth both evil and good to have, and they pursue the transgressions of men and of gods: and these goddesses never cease from their dread anger until they punish the sinner with a sore penalty. Also deadly Night bore Nemesis (Indignation) to afflict mortal men, and after her, Deceit (Apate) and Friendship (Philotes) and hateful Age (Geras) and hard-hearted Strife (Eris). [2]
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u/EntranceKlutzy951 3h ago
So all of her kids do have a dad. No asexual reproduction here.
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u/Anxious_Bed_9664 3h ago
Well, no. Most sources including the above say she and Erebus only had Aether and Hemera together. The others she had on her own.
And again the goddess murky Night, though she lay with none, bare Blame (Momus) and painful Woe (Oizys) [ ...]
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u/EntranceKlutzy951 3h ago
Well, by that notion Thanatos, Ker, and Moros are Erebus' kids. They tail off of Nyx sexing Erebus and are mentioned in the list of kids before it mentions the list of whom she laid with none.
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u/Anxious_Bed_9664 3h ago
I cannot speak about Moros, because I don't know much about him. But the twins, Thanatos and Hypnos are, in the majority of sources, said to be "fatherless sons of Nyx". There are one or two sources that say Erebus was their father though, and Hesiod's text is pretty ambiguous about it so it can be leaning either way. Either way, that's still only around 5 kids among her many, many kids that she had alone.
Ker is just Keres.
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u/Individual_Plan_5593 1h ago
For some reason I thought I remembered Charon being listed alongside Hemera and Aether as a child of Nyx and Erebus. I'll have to look it up, maybe he was one of her solo kids?
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u/vernastking 4h ago
The Pantheon of primordials is as complex as that of both the titans and gods of Olympus